Secret Identity (6 page)

She frowned at me. “Well, when?”

“I… I don't know.”

We stared at each other.

Finally she said, “Nolan, I don't want you buried in your room alone all the time. And I don't like that you have secrets from me. You used to tell me everything!”

“I know, Mom. And I will! But not today.”

“Hmmmm.” She looked at me for the longest time. Finally she sighed and whispered, “You're really not going to let your dad help you with your project?”

I looked down.

“He really wanted to, you know.”

I nodded, then kind of shrugged. “Parents aren't supposed to help.”

“I know that, honey, but this is different. He
just wanted to be involved… not
do
it for you.”

I kept looking down.

“I know your dad can get a little…
excited.
And you don't even have to take his suggestions. But isn't there something he can do to be part of this?”

I felt bad. Really bad. I'd been totally ignoring my dad. Actually, I'd been
avoiding
him, wishing I'd never said a word about the project.

But what was I supposed to do about it? If Dad knew I was doing my project on Bubba—not the mayor, or a policeman, or even his boss—he'd think I was being childish.

Vengeful.

Stupid.

So I just kept looking down and said, “I wanted it to be a… surprise.”

“Oh,” she said. And when I looked up, she was smiling.

Uh-oh. What did she think that meant? Did
she think I was doing something to surprise
them?

She nodded and said, “I understand,” then held my head and kissed me on the hair. And when she let go, she said, “Say, did you have a growth spurt?”

“Mo-om!”

“I used to have to stoop way over to smooch your head!”

“Mo-om!”

“I'm serious. And you
look
taller! In the morning I'm going to measure you.”

I smiled back at her. My mom has a magic way of making me
feel
taller.

“Anyway. Do you know it's way past your bedtime? Again?”

I nodded. “I'm going.”

“Good.”

I double-brushed my teeth. Even wiped out the sink when I was done. But before I could actually go to sleep, I finished checking out the links on
my site. They worked great. The site looked great! It was so, so cool!

I jumped into bed.

Closed my eyes.

And dreamed the best dreams ever.

Shredderman dreams.

I got up early and checked the site again.

Still there!

And the site counter was at… 2.

What good was a Web site if nobody knew about it? And how could I tell anyone about it without giving away that I'd built the site?

They'd know right off that I was Shredderman!

Maybe I could get e-mail addresses from the kids in my class and Shredderman could send them the link!

Nah. Getting the addresses would take too long. Plus, it'd be really obvious.

Maybe I could tape flyers up around school before the teachers got there!

Nah. Mr. Hoover would take them down by the time they let kids on campus.

So how was I going to spread the word? There had to be some way to do it before the teachers could stop me.

But how? How could I let kids know about the Shredderman site without giving myself away?

I looked out my window over at the school and saw the American flag being hoisted up the pole. Boy, Mr. Hoover started working early! I wouldn't be able to do anything with him around!

I watched the flag flutter in the breeze, and that's when I got the idea.

Confetti.

Mr. Hoover was always picking up trash. He couldn't keep up! What if there were pieces of paper all over the playgrounds? Colored paper! Kids would
have
to notice them! And Mr. Hoover and all the teachers put together couldn't pick them all up—they'd make the kids do it!

Oh, yeah!

I got to work making confetti. Big confetti. Lots of confetti. I made a document on my computer that had a bunch of different things on it. Like:

Next, I copied and pasted as many as would fit
on one page, put purple paper in the printer, and let her rip!

I got ready for school!

I gobbled down breakfast!

And when I was out of purple paper, I put in yellow.

My printer was flying!

And while it was printing, I cut the finished papers into strips. Hundreds and hundreds of strips! By the time the school bells were ringing, I had a couple of gallon-sized Ziplocs filled with super-sized confetti and I was ready to use it!

But how?

I couldn't let anyone see me throw it around. They'd know I was Shredderman.

I'd have to be sly.

Quick.

Smart.

I double-checked my shoelaces. This was no time to trip up!

“Are you all right, honey?” my mom asked as I was heading out the door.

“Yeah, great!” I told her.

She felt my forehead anyway. “You look flushed.”

“I'm fine,” I said.

She smiled. “Hey! I forgot to measure you. You've got time, come here.”

“No, Mom! I've already got my shoes on! It's not like I'm going to shrink or anything. I've got to get to school!”

“Okay, tomorrow then.” She grabbed my head
and kissed it and called, “Nice job on your hair!” as I beat it out the door.

Brother. Superheroes don't get kissed on the top of their head!

I did my power-walk and got to school fast. And the same two kids who said, “Slow down, Nerd!” before were hanging out on the steps and they said it again.

I was two power steps past them when all of a sudden I stopped, turned around, and went back.

Their eyes opened a little in surprise.

“Hi,” I said. “My name's Nolan. What's yours?”

“Uh, Eddie.”

“Uh… Matt.”

“Hi, Eddie. Hi, Matt. Please don't call me Nerd anymore, okay? My name's Nolan.”

Eddie laughed. “But, dude, you do that funky walk. It looks so geeky.”

“But it's fast!” I said. “Don't you ever have to get somewhere fast when you're not supposed to run?”

They both shrugged.

Then Matt said, “But no way I'd walk like
that.”

“Well, it may look funny, but it works great. Anyway, call me Nolan, okay?”

“Sure,” they both said.

I blinked. Wow. They said “Sure.” No “Nerd” added at the last second, just “Sure.” I smiled at them and took off.

I might have been able to throw a few handfuls of confetti around before we had to go to class, but there were two reasons why I didn't: One, I didn't want just a few papers here and there— I wanted papers everywhere! And two, I couldn't risk anyone seeing me.

Anyone.

I looked around at all the kids. At all the classroom windows. How was I ever going to get my confetti everywhere without being seen?

The breeze was still blowing. If only I could get my confetti into the wind! If only I could get it to sail across the playground and scatter everywhere!

But how?

I looked up. If I could get on the roof of a portable classroom, the breeze would carry my confetti much farther than if I just scattered it at ground level.

I checked the direction that the breeze was
blowing. If I wanted the confetti to blow across the playground, I'd have to climb onto Room 17 or 18, or the computer lab.

But how was I going to get on the roof? The portables all had ramp rails and downspouts, but I'd never make it. It was too straight up.

I ran behind the portables. Same story. But Mr. Hoover's pickup truck was parked behind the computer lab—

I moved closer.

I could climb on Mr. Hoover's truck and then… there was a power panel box on the computer lab wall! Plus a pipe coming out of the power panel and going up. And then there was the backside of the air conditioner… and a big floodlight, too! If I could get up to the air conditioner, I could get on the roof!

Or at least, Shredderman could.

The last bell rang, so I ran to class. Was I really going to do this? Could I really climb a roof? I had
trouble climbing little trees and monkey bars. A
roof
¹
.

I couldn't pay attention in class. All I could think about was, could I do it? Would Mr. Hoover move his truck before I could try? What if I fell and no one found me?

What if I got caught?

Then, in the middle of watching a scorpion battle a rat on a nature video, I put up the signal for having to use the bathroom.

Mr. Green saw me and gave me the nod.

I snuck through the dark with my backpack, and out the door.

I looked all around.

The coast was clear.

It was time for Shredderman to climb a roof!

Mr. Hoover's truck was still there.

Wa-hoo!

I strapped on my pack, jumped in the back, and climbed on the cab roof. The metal buckled a little under my feet.

Oops.

I lifted one foot onto the computer lab's power panel.

I grabbed the pipe.

I pulled myself up!

Then I just stood there, flat against the wall. If the truck wasn't there, I'd be in trouble. It was a long way down!

Okay, I told myself, get moving.

I reached for the air conditioner with one hand and held on to the pipe with the other. It was farther away than it looked from the ground. Higher up, too.

Don't look down, I told myself. Don't look down.

I glued my eyes to the air conditioner. My right hand had a good grip over the top of it, and I was about to go for it when I felt something tickling my hand.

It was creepy.

Crawly.

And the next thing I knew, a big black spider was dive-bombing me from the air conditioner.

“Aaarrgh!”

I swatted, I shook. I panicked, I slipped. And when it was all over, the spider had disappeared and I was hanging on to the pipe, scared out of my mind.