Alien in My Pocket #4 (6 page)

I hit the brakes and slipped again. My feet flew out from under me and I fell on my butt, like a wet bag of noodles. The fall hurt my shoulder so much I couldn't even scream.

“Here's the big joker now,” Dad said to someone behind him and pushed the door open.

Standing behind him were Lexie Evans and Jade Bloom, two girls from my class. They'd brought me get-well cookies.

Lexie and Jade both stared at me in open-mouthed shock.

Lexie cleared her throat. “Whoa, that looks like it hurt,” Lexie said.

“No, I'm fine.” I wheezed in pain, looking up at them through blurry eyes.

“Cool pajamas,” Jade said quietly.

“What do you say, Zack?” Dad asked, looking down at me.

“I can't feel my butt,” I groaned.

Both girls laughed. Dad helped me to my feet and took the plate of cookies into the kitchen for us.

“We heard you were in pretty bad shape,” Lexie said, exchanging a look with Jade.

“Miss Martin told us you couldn't even get out of bed,” Jade said.

“Oh, no,” I said, distracted. I still had an escaped alien to capture. “I've been . . . pretty busy . . . actually.”

A moment of silence passed.

“We hope you like snickerdoodles,” Lexie said.

“What?” I said, looking back over my shoulder. “Oh, sure, I like doodles.”

“You're acting so weird,” Jade said with a giggle.

“Sorry,” I said. “Pain pills.”

“I heard you rode your bike into the bike rack because you were attacked by a flock of crows,” Jade said.

“It's actually called a murder,” I corrected. “A murder of crows.”

“Some crows tried to murder you?” Lexie asked, shaking her head in confusion.

Rather than argue, I just said, “It wasn't an attack exactly. I got away. Look, thanks for popping over, but—”

“What is that?” Jade shouted, pointing behind me.

I spun and saw Olivia's hamster ball zigzag into the living room, seemingly on its own power—at least Amp had remembered to make himself invisible.

I spun around and tried to block the girls' view. “Oh, that's one of my brother's experiments that I—”

“Sorry, ladies,” Dad interrupted, suddenly clapping his hand on my good shoulder. “Zack has to help his little brother with his science experiments for his YouTube channel.”

“Zack?” Lexie said, raising her eyebrows. “You like science? Really? That's so cool.”

“Oh, I'm into some pretty surprising stuff,” I said awkwardly. I gave them a small, waist-high wave. “Thanks for the doodles.”

“Bye?” they both said, puzzled.

Dad shut the door with a
click
. I stepped to the side so Dad turned away from the living room and the shock of his life.

“Nice of them to stop by, but enough foolishness,” Dad said.

“But . . . ,” I objected. I had to find Amp.

“No buts,” Dad said. “Time to get back to work.” He marched me out to the backyard and sat me down in the folding chair he'd set out. He gave me Mom's smartphone, with the video camera function opened.

“Could I at least get dressed?” I asked.

Dad didn't respond.

“Some milk and a cookie?”

Dad glared.

“A bathroom break?” I asked.

He pointed at me and then up at Taylor's window. He gave me his firm no-nonsense look.

I decided not to mention then that there was an alien in our house, trapped in Olivia's plastic hamster ball, and that he was our only hope of stopping an interplanetary invasion before it happened. Somehow I didn't think he'd believe me.

How did my life get so out of control?

Egg Ball

I
was so nervous about someone else finding Amp that I could hardly concentrate. Sure, he could make himself invisible if he saw you coming, but if you snuck up on him, he wouldn't know to go invisible—and then our little secret would get out. And, yes, he could erase your memory, but the chance of him turning my parents into mindless zombies was a risk I wasn't willing to take.

Twice I snuck in through the back door while Taylor was busy upstairs. On both occasions, my dad emerged out of nowhere before I had gotten two steps in.

“Don't test me,” he said the last time.

“Okay!” I said. “But I've got problems of my own, you know!”

So there I sat. I'd film my brother doing a quick introduction, then the egg drop, and, of course, the collision with the wooden board. Then I'd run over with the video still recording and—although Taylor had instructed me to wait for his arrival—see if there was still a whole, unbroken egg inside.

Taylor would join me out back and get excited about whatever adjustments he had to make. He'd scribble down some notes and then rush back upstairs.

There was a lot of downtime between egg drops. Science is slow. So, I decided to call Olivia with Mom's phone.

Her grandpa answered and put the phone down to get Olivia. But when the phone was picked up again, it wasn't Olivia, it was her grandpa. “Sorry, Zack,” he said. “Olivia wants me to tell you she will not be taking any of your calls. She said you needed a taste of your own medicine. Sorry, fella.”

“Oh,” I said, embarrassed. “Thanks.” I pushed the button to end the call.

My whole life was starting to fall apart. No friends. An alien on the loose. And Taylor was taking forever to make whatever adjustments he needed to.

“C'mon. I'll have a beard by the time you're done!” I shouted up at Taylor's window.

Suddenly, he poked his head out of
my
bedroom window!

“Some interesting things in here, Zack,” he said. “What have you been up to?”

I jumped up. “Get outta my room!”

“If you leave that chair, I'm telling Dad you're sneaking away again,” he said and disappeared back into my room.

“I'll scramble you!” I screamed at my now-empty window. “MOM! DAD! Taylor is snooping around my room!”

“Hey, Zack, look what I found downstairs,” Taylor said, appearing in my window again, only this time with the plastic hamster ball in his hands!

I gasped.

He shook the ball in front of him. “How does this thing roll? What's in here? When I shake it, it feels like there's something inside, but I don't see anything. I'm going to open it.”

I was so mad I could hardly speak. “DON'T TOUCH MY STUFF!”

I sprinted to the back door, threw it open, and shot down the hallway before my dad had time to cut me off.

“Hey, what did I tell you!” Dad boomed.

“I'm gonna pound that little snooper!” I responded.

“What's all this commotion?” Mom asked as I passed her at the top of the stairs.

I saw Taylor shoot out of my bedroom, across the hallway, and into the upstairs bathroom.

I grabbed the top towel off the folded stack she was holding and flung it down the hall with my good arm, right at the closing bathroom door. I could see Taylor inside, rushing to shut the door and lock me out. Luckily, the towel I had thrown wedged itself between the door and the jamb, preventing Taylor from shutting it.

I slammed my shoulder into the door. My left shoulder. The one in a sling.

With a squeal of pain, I stumbled backward and fell to the carpet.

Then I think I fainted.

Ring-a-Ding

I
woke up to bells ringing.

My parents and Taylor were standing over me. Everything sounded far away and looked out of focus.

And the bells didn't stop.

“You could have killed him!” Dad thundered at Taylor.

“Me?” Taylor said. “I was just going to the bathroom when he ran into the door!”

“He said you were snooping,” Mom said. “Were you?”

“He stole my ball!” I croaked, pointing to the ball held under Taylor's arm. “He's a thief!”

“That's a lie,” Taylor said. “This ball rolled right past me downstairs.”

I kept hearing bells ringing. Was real life like cartoons? When you get knocked out, you hear bells ringing?

“Who is at the door?” Dad hollered in frustration.