5 Jupiter Jerks

Jupiter Jerks

The following Monday morning, Stink was in a huddle with his friends. "We have to tell everybody about Pluto so they'll vote to keep it in the solar system." "Let's tell the whole world!" said Sophie. "The whole galaxy!" said Webster. "The whole universe!" said Skunk. Stink's team made up a secret handshake. They each held out a fist and piled one on top of the other. "P-L-U-T-O!" they shouted, then waved their hands high in the air and yelled, "PLUTO POWER!"

"Look out. Here comes Riley and her friends," said Skunk. "Logan, Morgan, and Heather aren't her friends," said Stink. "They're just on her team because she let them touch her space rock." "Space rock?" said Riley. "It's a hunk of meteor. From Mars!" "La-di-da," said Skunk. "What's your team's name?" asked Riley. "The Stink Bombs?" "What's yours— the Jupiter Jerks?" asked Stink. "It's WAY more official if you have a name. We're Team Kick-Pluto's-Butt. Team KPB for short."

"No way will Mrs. D. let you use butt in your team name," said Stink. "This is a school thing." "Okay, then we'll be Team Kick-Pluto's- Behind. That's still KPB." "Whatever," said Sophie. "Stink, you just like Pluto because it's the smallest and you're the shortest." Riley said. "You're always for the underdog, but everybody knows that Jupiter is the best. We even have team shirts!" she said. Just then, Riley's team lined up beside her, all wearing the same shirts. The shirts did not say SPACE CAMP RULES. The shirts did not say TEAM KPB. The shirts did not even have words. Each shirt had a number: 134340. The number for Pluto, now that it wasn't a planet!

Stink looked down at his shirt. I'M KIND OF A BIG DEAL. He took the top off of a marker and changed it to PLUTO IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL. "Look! Up in the sky, Stink." Riley pointed. "It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a frog. No, wait. It's a puny ex-planet getting kicked out of the solar system!" Team KPB cracked up. "You should be Team Underdog." Riley Rottenberger sure was rotten. And getting rottener by the minute. After school, Stink and his team met in the Toad Pee Club clubhouse, aka the backyard tent. "We need an official name," said Stink. "How about the Stinkazoids?" said Skunk. "The Plutonics?" asked Webster. "The Extra-Extra-Galactic Einsteins?" asked Sophie. "Maybe Rotten Riley was right for once," said Stink. "We could be the Underdogs. You know, small like Pluto, but we come from behind to beat the pants off the Jupiter Jerks."

"And you could be Captain Pluto, our leader," said Sophie of the Elves. "Captain Pluto and the Underdogs," said Stink. "I like it!" Everybody agreed. Captain Pluto and the Underdogs made T-shirts for their team. They each drew a flying planet wearing a Superman cape with a capital letter P. "Let's make signs, too," said Skunk. "'Cuckoo for Pluto'" said Webster, waving his marker in the air. "We can march around school and wave our Pluto signs." "We can have a Pluto parade on the playground," said Stink. For a long time, all that could be heard in the tent was the squeaking of markers.