6 CRACKED UP

CHAPTER 6 CRACKED UP Class outside is going to be awesome!" said Rip. Alexander slid his sandy lunchbox into his backpack. "As long as we don't get squashed by the huge-footprint-leaving monster," he said. Alexander, Rip, and Nikki followed their classmates to the playground. Rip stopped walking and started laughing. "What?" asked Alexander. "Second time today!" he said. Rip pointed to Alexander's left foot.

Alexander looked down. A pink square of paper clung to his shoe. He rolled his eyes and tore it off. "Line up, everyone!" Mr. Plunkett shouted. He had set up his ant city near the jungle gym. Have your ant farms out! It's time to move your ants into their new home!" Alexander watched as the other students gave Mr. Plunkett their farms, filled with ants.

Finally, it was his turn. "Let's see what you've got!" Mr. Plunkett said. Alexander handed over his cracked ant farm. Sand spilled to the ground. A single, dizzy ant ran along the frame. "Uh, sorry," said Alexander. "It kind of broke." "Well," said Mr. Plunkett, "one ant is better than none." He added Alexander's ant to his ant city. "Welcome to Antville, little guy!" he said. Then he turned to the class. "Alexander's ant farm may have cracked," he said. "But that won't happen to Antville!" TOCK TOCK TOCK! He tapped the thick glass. "A wrecking ball couldn't crack this baby!" Mr. Plunkett nodded toward the school. "I wish I could say the same for this place!" Alexander looked up and gasped.

An enormous crack ran down the side of Stermont Elementary. At the bottom of the crack, there were two wide holes. "More giant footprints!" whispered Alexander. "And check it out!" said Rip, pointing. "Another pile of candy." "The earthquake at lunch—" said Nikki. "Come on, Nikki, we know it wasn't an earthquake," said Alexander. "It was the huge-footprint-making monster attacking our school!"