Have You Met My Ghoulfriend? (7 page)

“Maybe you are sick,” she said at one point. “Your eyes look a little yellow.”

Those aren't my eyes. Those are the ghoul's eyes.

That's what I wanted to say. But I just nodded and kept my mouth shut. I begged her not to call my parents.

“Since you don't have an explanation, I need to talk to them,” she replied. “I just want to help you, Max.”

Yeah. You're helping me right into the Plover School.

The rest of my day was pretty tense. My
stomach gurgled and growled. I felt kind of shivery, kind of tingly.

I knew the reason—I was possessed. I kept waiting for the ghoul inside me to start his act again. All afternoon, I gripped the top of my desk and prayed I didn't leap up and go crazy.

But the ghoul must have been sleeping or something.

After school, I wanted to hurry home and talk to Nicky and Tara. Maybe somehow they could help me get this ghoul out.

But I had after-school soccer, and I didn't want to get into more trouble by cutting it.

I stepped out of the school building into a blustery, gray day with dark clouds low overhead. I zipped my jacket and leaned into the wind.

I could see some kids already kicking a ball around on the soccer field. I hate soccer. I always trip over the ball. Or else I get bonked in the head.

I sighed. Oh, well. Go do it, Max.

But then, as I crossed the playground, a huge hand poked up from under the ground and grabbed me by the ankle.

T
HE HAND TRIED TO
grip my leg.

I let out a scream.

Several kids looked up from the soccer field to see what the problem was.

I glanced down. A glove.
Not
a hand from under the grass. A brown leather glove.

Ha, ha. The joke's on me, huh? Someone dropped it on the playground. And the wind blew it against my leg.

Max, get it together, dude. You've got
enough
problems without imagining more!

I took a moment to catch my breath. Then I tossed the glove aside and continued jogging to the soccer field.

I saw four or five guys from the Jefferson team kicking a ball back and forth, warming up. Several other kids were there, doing stretching exercises, jogging in place, shoving each other, goofing around.

Coach Freeley stood at the sidelines in a T-shirt and track shorts, ignoring the cold weather
like the macho guy he is. I saw Traci Wayne and two of her friends sitting in the bleachers watching the guys practice.

I waved to Traci, but she didn't wave back.

“Hey, here comes Brainimon!” someone shouted.

“Brainimon! Brainimon! Brainimon!” a few kids started to chant.

“Okay, who wants Max on their team?” Coach Freeley called out. He blew his whistle to stop the Brainimon chant. “Who wants Max?”

No hands went up.

“Come on,” Coach Freeley shouted. “Someone has to take him.”

No hands.

Coach shook his head. “Okay. I'm going to assign him to Jared's team.”

Jared and everyone on his team groaned. That didn't bother me. I'm used to it. I trotted over to Jared. “Where do you want me to play?”

“How about in Canada?”

Jared's a very funny guy.

“Just try to stay out of the way,” he said.

I nodded. “No problem.”

The game started, and I stayed as far away from the ball as possible. As I ran back and forth, trying to look as if I was really into it, I kept glancing at Traci on the bleachers.

If only I could make one awesome play that would really impress her.

Near the end of the match, I got my wish.

The score was tied, 1 to 1. So far, I'd managed to play the whole match without touching the ball once.

With only a minute to go, I felt something move inside me. My stomach tightened. I thought I just had to burp. But a loud scream shot out of my throat.

I had been running a few yards behind Jared. As I let out my roar, I lowered my shoulder and bumped him hard from behind. Jared stumbled and fell to the ground.

Out of control. I was out of control again.

Helpless. Nothing I could do. No way to stop myself.

I kicked the ball away from Jared. Lowered my head and gut-butted a kid trying to block me. He howled and grabbed his stomach. I moved the ball past him. Kicked it through the legs of another guy. Sent him sprawling with a fist in the chest.

Other players watched in horror. A girl tried to block my path and I ran right over her. She landed hard on her backside and bounced twice. And I moved in toward the goal.

Luke West was goalie for the other team. Luke is big and mean. He's one of the stars of the real
Jefferson soccer team. He spread out his arms and tensed his back, ready for my kick.

No way could he be ready.

I opened my mouth in a deafening roar. And kicked the ball so hard, it
exploded
. The shredded soccer ball sailed over Luke's head, into the net.

Gooooooaaaaaaal!

Game over. Kids on my team began to cheer. Someone slapped me on the back. The chant began again: “Brainimon! Brainimon! Brainimon!”

Did I feel happy?

No way. I just wanted help.
I wasn't in control of my own body!

“Brainimon, how did you do that?” Jared asked, trotting up beside me.

“Jabba jabbba gummma,” I said.

He laughed. “You were great, dude!”

“Gummma jabba!”

I felt an arm on my shoulder. I turned to see Coach Freeley grinning at me. “Way to show some fighting spirit, Max. Good aggressive play. I liked your enthusiasm.”

“Jabba?”

“I need you on the team,” Coach Freeley said, his arm around my shoulder. “Come to practice tomorrow, okay? You'll start in our game on Saturday. You'll be our secret weapon.”

“Huh? Wabbba?”

He held up the torn soccer ball and shook his
head. “Good work, Max. You're going to be a star!”

But it isn't me!
I wanted to shout. I can't play soccer. I can't be the star of the team!

I need
help
!

I turned and started to jog off the field. My eyeballs burned. I knew my eyes were glowing bright yellow. The ghoul felt heavy inside me. As I trotted away, my legs suddenly felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

“Hubbba hubbba hubba,” I muttered in a deep voice—
not my voice!

Please go away! I thought. Please leave me alone.

How could I get rid of this ghoul? I knew there was only one way to remove it. Help Phears. Bring Nicky and Tara to Phears. Then Phears would send his ghoul friend away.

Could I do it? No way.

Nicky and Tara are my friends. I couldn't turn traitor and hand them over to that evil ghost.

Did that mean I was stuck with the Berserker for the rest of my life? If I didn't cooperate, would Phears send something
worse
?

That idea made me shudder.

I turned and saw Traci Wayne running after me, her blond hair flying in the wind. She came bursting up and slapped me a high five. “You were
awesome,
Max!” she said.

Whoa. Traci Wayne actually
touched
me?

Maybe life wasn't so bad after all.

Traci grinned at me. “I didn't know you were so strong. Have you been secretly practicing or something?”

Please, ghoul—let me speak. Please don't mess this up for me!

“Jabbba hubbba hubbba.”

Traci narrowed her eyes at me. “Excuse me?”

“Jabbba gummma.”

“Your brother plays soccer, right?” Traci asked. “Colin is like the big star for the middle school, right?”

“Hubbbba gubbbba.”

I wanted to be cool. I really did. This was my big moment. My one big chance to impress Traci.

But I couldn't help myself. I started bending my knees, bouncing up and down really fast like a monkey. And then I twirled around in a circle—
and I licked her face!

Oh no. Oh noooooooo. Oh no. Oh no.

I licked Traci Wayne's face.

“Eeuuuuw.” She pulled back in horror. “Max, you're so gross. You're a total freak!” She spun away and went running back to her friends.

Was she going to tell them what I did?

My life was over. I knew Traci would never speak to me again. And once word got around
school that I licked her face, kids would be laughing at me for the rest of the year. Maybe the rest of my life.

I couldn't help it. I was possessed by a ghoul.

What could I do?

I
CALLED
A
ARON AS
soon as I got home. “I have to talk to you,” I said breathlessly. “Listen to me, please. Before I go berserk again.”

“Yeah. You were weird in class this morning,” Aaron said. “What was up with all that running around the room?”

“That's what I'm trying to explain,” I said. “I think you're the only one who will believe me.”

“How was your after-school thing?” Aaron asked. I could hear him crunching on something. He likes to eat an entire bag of pistachios before dinner. He says it helps his appetite.

I know he's weird, but he's all I've got.

“I knocked everyone down and kicked the winning goal,” I said.

He laughed. “In your dreams, dude.”

“No. Really—” I protested.

“Internet chess is way cool,” Aaron interrupted. “I could really get into it.”

“Did you win?” I asked.

“I didn't move,” Aaron replied. “I sat there the
whole hour planning my first move. Then I went home.”

“Cool.” I could hear Colin clomping up the stairs. I quickly closed my bedroom door. I sat down on the edge of my bed. “Aaron, you've got to listen to me. I'm not making this up. I've been possessed by a thing called a Berserker Ghoul.”

Silence at the other end. Then he finally said, “Really?”

“Yeah. Really. That's why I went nuts this morning. It wasn't me. It was the ghoul.”

Silence again. I knew Aaron was thinking hard about this. “Which movie is this? I forget,” he said.

“I'm not describing a movie, Aaron. It's my life. An evil ghost sent this ghoul to destroy me so that I'll beg the ghost to let me help him.”

Would Aaron believe me? He was my best friend. He
had
to believe me, right?

Aaron burst out laughing. “Awesome,” he said. “Are you writing this stuff in your journal? Ms. McDonald will totally spaz out. Hey, maybe I'll write that ghoul idea too. Oh, wow. Wouldn't that be ultracool if you and I handed in our journals and they were both exactly the same?”

He cackled at that idea for nearly five minutes.

“Uh … Aaron?” I had the feeling that maybe I wasn't getting through to him.

“Mom's calling me,” Aaron said. “Dinnertime. We're having SpaghettiOs. You know. All those little Os. I try to spell words with them. Later, dude. Let's work on our journals tonight.” He hung up.

I stared at the phone, shaking my head. Then I angrily heaved it at the wall. It bounced hard and landed on my pillow.

“Take it easy,” Nicky said. He and Tara appeared suddenly on either side of me. “You're totally stressed.”

“Of
course
I'm totally stressed,” I snapped. “This ghoul is going to ruin my life. And even my best friend won't believe me.”

“We believe you, Maxie,” Tara said. She wrapped her hand around the bullet-shaped silver pendant I wear around my neck. She tucked the pendant into my T-shirt. “You're all sweaty. You've really got to relax.”

“How can I relax?” I screamed. “Any moment, I might go berserk again. I never know when this thing is going to wake up. I'm not in control of my own body. Do you know what that feels like?”

Nicky lowered his eyes. “Tara and I don't
have
bodies,” he said softly.

“We're not talking about you,” I said. “We're talking about me. You got me into this mess. What am I going to do about this ghoul? I know Phears
is going to leave him inside me until I turn you two in.”

Tara shrugged. “No problem.”

I stared at her. “Huh? No problem?”

“I have a plan,” Tara said, her dark eyes flashing. “A perfect plan. We can get Phears to take that ghoul away. Easy.”

I jumped to my feet. “Well? Maybe you'd like to share it with me?”

Before she could answer, my bedroom door swung open and Colin strode in. The ghosts vanished. Colin glanced around. “Hey, Fat Face, who were you talking to?”

“Uh … well …”

“I heard you talking to someone,” Colin said. “Who was it?”

“I was … uh … talking on the phone,” I said.

He squinted at me. “The phone? But … the phone is way over there on your bed.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I was talking
long distance.
”

He squinted harder at me. “Mom says to come downstairs for dinner,” he said.

I followed him into the kitchen. Dad was already at the table, tossing the salad. Mom turned from the oven when I came in. “Max, I got a call from Mrs. Wright at school this afternoon.”

“It's all a big misunderstanding,” I said.

“Ooh, big word for such a little man,” Colin said. He rolled up his dinner napkin and snapped it at me, hitting me in the forehead.

“She wants to see your dad and me at school,” Mom continued.

“I didn't do it. Really,” I lied.

Dad growled at me. “I warned you, Max …”

“Hey, I've got some
good
news,” I said. “Guess what, Dad? Coach Freeley asked me to be on the soccer team. I'm going to start the game on Saturday.”

A smile crossed Dad's face. “Hey, another soccer star in the family!” He reached across the table to slap me a high five. “I'm gonna have
two
all-stars in the family!”

“You're lying, right?” Colin asked, grinning at me. “You just wanted to change the subject?”

“Coach
begged
me to join the team,” I told Dad. “I'm starting practice tomorrow afternoon.”

Dad grinned at me. “I
knew
you weren't a helpless, pathetic wimp!”

I grinned back at Dad. “Thanks for the compliment.”

Colin grinned at me. “I know you're lying.”

We all grinned at each other.

“Pass the salad,” Mom said, joining us at the table. “I don't know why everyone is grinning. Max is in big trouble in school again, and I just don't know what to do.”