8 The Prank Hall of Fame

8 The Prank Hall of Fame When I got home from school, I told my parents the teachers were clobbering us in The Prank War. It looked like we were going to lose for sure. That meant no candy party, and the teachers would get a hot tub. Bummer in the summer! "It's not fair!" I complained.

"Why don't you go to Goofy Gifts?" my dad suggested. "It has all kinds of silly stuff. Maybe they have some things that will help you pull pranks on Miss Banks." Of course! Goofy Gifts is a store that sells goofy gifts, so it has the perfect name. "Didn't somebody give you a Goofy Gifts gift card for your birthday?" asked my mom. That's right! My aunt gave me a twenty-fivedollar gift card! I forgot all about it. I called up Ryan and we went to Goofy Gifts together. It's a really big store, and they sell all kinds of junk. We walked around for a while, until I saw a wall filled with silly gifts like whoopie cushions, sneezing powder, and joy buzzers. It was amazing! They even had lollipops shaped like poop. They were called Lollipoops. "Look at all this great stuff!" marveled Ryan. "It might as well be the Prank Hall of Fame." "This is gonna score us tons of points," I told him. "We're sure to win The Prank War now!" We had twenty-five dollars to spend. The prank gifts were pretty cheap, so we could get a bunch of them. I got a shopping basket. Ryan put some itching powder in the basket. I put in a can

of fart spray. Ryan put in a dribble glass and a bag of Lollipoops. I put in some fake ice cubes with bugs inside them and a stink bomb. We also threw in some fake mustaches, a squirting calculator, a skunk-scented candle, and a can of dehydrated water.* Ryan picked up a rubber chicken. "What are you gonna do with that?" I asked him. "I don't know," he replied. "You can always use a rubber chicken." We totaled up our stuff. It was exactly twentyfive dollars.

"This is gonna be great!" Ryan said as we got in line to pay. "We're gonna get Miss Banks good!" I replied. The line was long, but they had a bunch of cashiers, so it moved fast. Soon we were at the

front of the line. "Next customer!" a lady shouted. And you'll never believe in a million hundred years who was standing behind the cash register. It was Miss Banks! NOOOOOOOOOOOO! "Quick," I whispered to Ryan. "Hide the basket!" "You hide the basket!" Ryan whispered. "I can't hide the basket!" I whispered back. "Let's make a run for—" But I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence because Miss Banks spotted us. This was the worst thing to happen since TV Turnoff Week! I wanted to run away to Antarctica and go live with the penguins. "A.J.! Ryan!" she said. "What are you boys doing here?" I tried to hide the basket behind my back, but the bag of Lollipoops fell on the floor. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do. I had to think fast. "Oh, nothing," I replied. "What are you doing here, Miss Banks?"

"I work here after school," she told us. "It's hard to make ends meet on a teacher's salary. Did you want to buy those Lollipoops? They're on sale today. Buy one, get one free." "Uh, no thanks," Ryan said. "We just stopped by to... say hello." "Yeah, hello," I said. "I'll see you boys at school tomorrow," said Miss Banks. "Next customer!" We put the prank stuff back on the shelf and ran out of there.