4. Cray-Z Is in the House!

4 Cray-Z Is in the House! When we got to the mall, the parking lot was jammed. Ryan's mom circled around trying to find a spot. "Everybody must be here to see Santa," she said. "I wonder where he parked his sleigh," Michael said, looking around. "Santa doesn't park his sleigh in a parking lot, dumbhead," said Neil the nude kid. "That would be crazy." "Where do you think he parked it?" asked Alexia. "Up on the roof, of course," said Neil. Right next to the mall entrance was a big

bus. On the side of bus, in big red letters, it said: CHRISTMAS RAPPIN' WITH CRAY-Z. "Cray-Z is here!" shouted Alexia. "That must be his tour bus!" "Cray-Z?" asked Ryan's mom. "Who's Cray-Z?" Ryan's mom is really old, so she doesn't know anything. We had to tell her that Cray-Z is this kid rapper, and his song "The Christmas Klepto" is on the radio all the time. "Do you like his music?" Ryan's mom asked us. "Ugh, no!" said Ryan. "That kid is horrible," said Michael. "I call him Justin Timberfake," said Neil. We all said how much we couldn't stand Cray-Z's music. I didn't tell anyone that Cray-Z's dumb song had been stuck in my head all week.

Suddenly, a bunch of girls came running out of the mall. They surrounded the bus. "We love Cray-Z!" they were shouting. "Marry me, Cray-Z!" Those girls were screaming and crying and fainting all over the place. What is their problem? "Girls are weird," said Alexia, who is technically a girl but likes cool boy stuff anyway. Finally, Ryan's mom found a parking spot. We had to walk a million hundred

miles to get to the entrance of the mall. "WOW!" we all said, which is "MOM" upside down. When we walked through the door, everything was Christmas-y. There were candy canes, wreaths, colored lights, jingle bells, and huge paper snowflakes all over the place. MEET SANTA TODAY said a banner on the wall. I could hear "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" playing. Big Christmas ornaments were hanging from the upper level of the mall. Zillions of people were walking around. There was electricity in the air! Well, not really. If there was electricity in the air, we would get electrocuted. "You're big kids now," Ryan's mom told us as she took a cell phone out of her pocketbook. "I'm going to do some Christmas shopping. We can stay in touch

by phone." She gave Ryan the cell phone and told him to put it in his pocket. Cell phones are cool. My mom said I could get one when I'm in high school. "We'll meet at the food court in two hours," Ryan's mom told us. "I need you kids to stay together and be careful. Don't get into trouble, do you hear me?"

"Us get into trouble?" I asked. "What could possibly happen?" asked Alexia. "We never get into trouble," said Michael. Ryan's mom looked at us with those crazy grown-up eyes that make it seem like