18. Things Get Ugly

CHAPTER 18 THINGS GET UGLY Kipper found the envelope in his shoe just after wrestling practice ended. He opened it. Inside were two friendship bracelets and a note addressed to him. Kipper proudly slipped each friendship bracelet onto his wrist and admired them. He couldn't wait to show his buddies...

...who were all out in the hallway staring at their phones in shock. "Look what I got!" Kipper said, proudly waving his wrist at his goons. Kipper's friends, who were all reading the same text on their phones, looked up at Kipper with their mouths hanging open in disbelief. "What?" said Kipper. "They're just friendship bracelets!"

Kipper's three friends looked at each other like Kipper had gone completely mad. "I don't want to make friendship bracelets with you, dude," said Loogie. "Me neither," said the other two bullies simultaneously. "What are you talking about?" said Kipper. He unlocked his locker and opened it up.

"HEY! WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?!?" Kipper screamed. "SOMEBODY'S BEEN IN MY LOCKER!!!" Loogie, Bugg, and Finkstein saw the Susie Sunshine Friendship Bracelet Kit and shook their heads in disgust. Kipper kicked the kit into the hallway and stomped on it. Then he tore open his duffel bag. It was empty. "AAAAUGH!" Kipper screamed. "SOMEBODY STOLE ALL MY MONEY!" Kipper looked up and down the hall frantically. "When I find out who's been in my locker, I'm gonna... I'm gonna..." "Kiss them?" asked Finkstein. The other two bullies laughed.

Kipper grabbed Finkstein by his shirt collar and shook him back and forth like a rag doll. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!!?" he screamed. "This!" said Finkstein. He showed Kipper the text that had been sent from Kipper's phone. "I-I-I DIDN'T WRITE THAT!!!" Kipper screamed. "Well, what's up with those friendship bracelets on your wrist, then?" asked Bugg. "The —the cheerleaders gave me those!" said Kipper.

At that very moment, a group of cheerleaders was coming in from practice outside. "I'll prove it!" said Kipper. He showed the bracelets to the cheerleaders, waving his wrist at them like a lunatic. "You guys made these for me, right?" Kipper asked them, pointing desperately at the friendship bracelets. The cheerleaders gave Kipper a strange look. "Eeeeww," said Wendy Swan, the head cheerleader.