6. Busted

CHAPTER 6 BUSTED The next day at school, an announcement came over the loudspeakers. "George Beard and Harold Hutchins, please report to Principal Krupp's office at once." "Uh-oh!" said Harold. "I don't like the sound of that!" "Don't worry," said George. "They can't prove anything!"

George and Harold entered Principal Krupp's office and sat down on the chairs in front of his desk. The two boys had been in this office together countless times before, but this time was different. Mr. Krupp was smiling. As long as George and Harold had known Mr. Krupp, they had never, ever seen him smile. Mr. Krupp knew something. "I didn't see you boys at the big game yesterday," said Mr. Krupp. "Uh, no," said George. "We weren't feeling well." "Y-Y-Yeah," Harold stammered nervously. "W-W-We went home."

"Aw, that's too bad," said Principal Krupp. "You boys missed a good game." George and Harold quickly glanced at each other, gulped, and tried hard not to look guilty. "Lucky for you, I have a videotape of the whole thing," Mr. Krupp said. He turned on the television in the corner and pressed the play button on the VCR.

A black-and-white image appeared on the TV screen. It was an overhead shot of George and Harold sprinkling pepper into the cheerleaders' pom-poms. Next came a shot of George and Harold pouring liquid bubble bath into the marching band's instruments. "How do you like the pre-game show?" asked Mr. Krupp with a devilish grin.

George eyed the television screen in terror. He couldn't answer. Harold's eyes were glued to the floor. He couldn't look. The tape went on and on, revealing all of George and Harold's "behind the scenes" antics. By now, both boys were eyeing the floor, squirming nervously, and dripping with sweat. Mr. Krupp turned off the TV.

"You know," he said, "ever since you boys came to this school, it's been one prank after another. First you put dissected frogs in the Jell-O salad at the parent- teacher banquet. Then you made it snow in the cafeteria. Then you rigged all the intercoms so they played "Weird Al" Yankovic songs full blast for six hours straight. "For four long years you two have been running amok in this school, and I've never been able to prove anything— until now!" Mr. Krupp held the videotape in his hand. "I took the liberty of installing tiny video surveillance cameras all around the school. I knew I'd catch you two in the act one day. I just didn't know it would be so easy!"