10 The Truth About Mr. Granite

Chapter 10 The Truth About Mr. Granite As it turned out, Mr. Granite didn't have a clock or a bomb inside him. I didn't even hear him tick. That day was a perfectly normal day. Or as normal as it can be when your teacher is from another planet. When the three-o'clock bell rang, Mr. Klutz made an announcement over the intercom. "Have a great weekend, everyone," he said. "Next week we'll find out if Ella Mentry School is the greenest school in the county. I can almost taste that chocolate cake now! Oh, and teachers, please stop throwing teacups around the teachers' lounge. Thank

you." Me, Michael, and Ryan rode our bikes home. We were pretty tired, because we had been riding our bikes all day in class. But that's when I got the greatest idea in the history of the world! "Hey," I told the guys, "I know how we can make our school the greenest school in the county." "How?" they asked. "Let's paint it green!" "A.J.," Ryan said, "you're a genius!" "That's why I'm in the gifted and talented program," I said modestly. Everybody agreed that I should get the No Bell Prize. That night, after dinner, I told my mom there was a bingo game at school. Michael and Ryan made up other excuses. Michael brought a bucket of green paint he found in

his basement. Ryan brought some paintbrushes. We rode our bikes and met at the school. "Okay," I told the guys, "let's start by painting the front door." Michael opened up the paint can. Ryan gave me a brush. I was about to dip the brush into the paint when the most amazing thing in the history of the world happened. A guy jumped out from behind the bushes! "Freeze, dirtbags!" he shouted. AHHHHHHHH! It was Officer Spence, the school security guard! He was supposed to protect the school from bad guys and criminals, not from us! "Let's get out of here!" shouted Michael. We hopped on our bikes and pedaled as fast as we could down the street. I never

even turned around to see if Officer Spence was chasing us. "Whew! That was a close one!" Ryan said when we were a few blocks away from school. "I don't think Officer Spence saw our faces," said Michael. "Let's go home," I said. Just as we were about to turn the corner, I realized something. This was Mr. Granite's street! "Let's go over to Mr. Granite's house!" I suggested. "Maybe we can catch him taking his face off." We pedaled over to Mr. Granite's house. It was easy to find because of that giant

POD thing on the grass. There was a light on inside the garage. We parked our bikes across the street and tiptoed over to the garage like secret agents. It was cool. "Shhhhhhh!" Ryan whispered. "Nobody scream if he peels off his face." We peeked between the cracks in the garage door. "Do you see anything?" Michael whispered. "Look!" Ryan whispered back. "Mr. Granite is in there!" "Yeah, over on the left," I whispered. "What's he doing?" Ryan whispered. "He's building something," Michael whispered. And you'll never believe in a million hundred years what we saw Mr. Granite building in there. I'm not gonna tell you.

Okay, okay, I'll tell you. But you have to read the next chapter to find out. So nah-nah-nah boo-boo on you!