Judy Moody Around the World in 8 1/2 Days (5 page)

“Ciao! I’m home!” called Judy as she walked in the door. Stink came pounding downstairs. When he saw Judy, his mouth dropped open.

“Stink? Are you trying to catch flies?” said Judy. “Your mouth’s way open.”

He laughed and pointed. There was gum in her hair, gum on her nose, gum on her pants, gum on her coat.

“What happened to you?” asked Stink. “Attack of the Killer Gumball?”

“Hardee-har-har, Stink. I was making gum at Amy Namey’s with my Make-Your-Own-Gum Kit. It was way fun.”

“Aw, you didn’t wait for me?”

“No, but I made some special just for you. My own secret recipe.” Judy opened up the wax paper and held out the gum for Stink to see.

He saw pink gum, brown gum, gray gum, green gum. And gum with lumps. “Eeuww! I’m not eating that lumpy, bumpy gum!”

“Yours is the green one,” said Judy.

Stink picked up the green gum like he was picking up a worm.

“Just try it!” said Judy. “You’ll like it!” She blew a bubble and popped her own gum.

Stink put the gum in his mouth. He rolled it around on his tongue. He chewed it. Once, twice.

“BLUCK!” said Stink, sticking out his tongue. “It’s really sour. Worse than sourballs. What is this, anyway? Salt gum?”

“It’s Pickle Chicle!” said Judy. “Get it? Pickle-flavored gum! I made it with pickle juice!”

“BLAH!” went Stink, spitting the gum across the room. Mouse pounced on it.

“Gross!” said Judy.

“Stink,” said Dad, “pick that up and put it in the garbage can.”

“Isn’t Judy even in trouble? She tricked me with pickle gum!” said Stink.

“I think you’ll live,” said Dad.

“It probably had spider eggs in it!”

“Spider eggs?”

“That’s my fault,” said Dad. “I was telling Stink how when we were kids, there were all these rumors that gum had spider eggs in it,” said Dad. “We were actually afraid to chew gum.”

“Weird!” said Judy.

“Speaking of spiders, guess what I got at Fur & Fangs!” said Stink.

“You mean Toady won the race?” asked Judy.

“Not exactly,” said Stink. He held out a sandwich bag with a gross-looking spider skin in it. “It’s a molted spider.”

“A melted spider?” asked Judy. “Gross!”

“Mol-ted. It’s just the skin. Spiders have their skeleton on the outside, and they shed.”

“Rare,” said Judy, peering into the bag.

“Toady wouldn’t even hop once when it was time for the race. So the kid who won the tarantula gave it to me. I think he felt sorry for me.”

“Tarantula!” cried Judy. “Holy macaroni! I was so busy at Amy’s house, getting the scoop on the My-Name-Is-a-Poem Club and tricking Stink with pickle gum, that I forgot I was supposed to go to Rocky’s! To practice the tarantula. I mean, the tarantella. Now I’m saying it.”

“Here’s a scoop for you,” said Stink. “Your friends aren’t talking to you. I was supposed to tell you. Rocky called. And Frank called. Then Rocky called again. And that Jessica Finch person.”

“Stink! Why didn’t you tell me? What did they say?”

“They said to tell you that they’re really mad you didn’t show up and they are not doing the spider dance with you even if you pay them one million dollars.”

“Judy, this sounds like a real mix-up,” said Mom. “You were supposed to be working on a school project with Rocky and your other friends, but you were with Amy?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose, Mom, and now they’re mad and they’ll never talk to me again.”

“It’ll work out, honey. Everybody makes mistakes,” said Mom.

“We know you’re excited about your new friend, Amy,” said Dad. “All we’re saying is you need to take care not to forget about your old friends, too.”

“I can’t help it if they’re mad,” said Judy. “What do I say?”

“Just be honest,” said Mom. “Tell them you lost track of time.”

“Or tell them the Pickle Gum Monster took over your brain,” said Stink.

“Yipes stripes!” Judy said. “I just can’t believe this happened. I was getting all mixed up wearing two watches. Then I took off BOTH watches to wash my hands at Amy Namey’s. . . . I must have looked at the wrong one or something.”

“So I guess you could say TWO watches AREN’T better than one!” said Stink.

Judy called Rocky. “I’m sorry I’m late, but my two watches got me all mixed up and then I got attacked by a giant gumball and —”

“I’m not talking to you,” said Rocky.

“You just did!” said Judy. “So you’re NOT not talking to me!” She laughed. But Rocky did not crack up one teensy bit.

“I mean it,” he told her. “Frank’s mad, too. He already went home. And Jessica Finch doesn’t even want to be in the group. She’s making up her own Pizza Spelling Test.”

“But we have to practice the dance! I’m coming over right now.”

“Don’t!” said Rocky. “I told you — I’m not talking to you.”

“But I — we have to. You can’t just —”

“Hmm-hmm, hmm-hmm, hmm hmm hmm . . .” Rocky would not listen. He just hummed “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” into the phone.

Judy hung up the phone and went to find Stink. “You gotta come over to Rocky’s with me,” she said. “Now!”

“How come?”

“Because he’s not talking to me.”

“So?”

“So, he’s NOT not talking to you.”

Judy ran across the street and rang the bell. She made Stink stand in front of her. Rocky opened the door.

ROCKY:Stink, tell Judy I said I’m not talking to her.

JUDY:Stink, please tell Rocky that we have to practice our dance.

STINK:Judy says you have to practice your dance.

ROCKY:Tell Judy that she’s the one who didn’t show up to practice. I don’t want to dance like a spider anyway. I quit.

STINK:He quits.

JUDY:I heard. Please tell Rocky I had a really good excuse. Tell him about Attack of the Giant Gumball and everything.

STINK:She did get gum all over her. See? Look at her gum-wad hair.

ROCKY:Tell Judy too bad. It’s too late. We waited till after three o’clock and Frank and Jessica Finch went home. And tell her we Q-U-I-T quit.

STINK:He Q-U-I-T quits.

JUDY:Stink, please tell Rocky he can’t quit because if we don’t do our project, we won’t make it around the world in eight days. Does he want to ruin it for everybody? For Class 3V too? Does he want us to F-L-U-N-K?

STINK:Do you want to flunk and ruin it for everybody?

ROCKY:You already ruined it. I mean, tell Judy she already ruined it. If we flunk, it will be all her fault.

STINK:Rocky says —

JUDY:Tell him I’m super, super sorry. I got all mixed up with my two watches ’cause one was on Italy time, but I’m here now, aren’t I?

ROCKY:Tell Judy it’s not just about forgetting the practice today. She quit us, her best friends, for Amy Rhymey. Tell her we can rhyme too.

Rocky handed a piece of notebook paper to Stink.

ROCKY:Here, read this.

JUDY:Read it, Stink. Let’s hear it.

STINK:I think you should pay me a quarter if I have to read stuff, too.

JUDY:Just read it!

STINK:My name is Frank.

You can call me Frank the Tank.

When Judy didn’t show up for practice,

It really stank.

ROCKY:Not that one. This one.

STINK:My name is Rocky.

I like hockey.

Really it’s the only thing

That rhymes with Rocky.

I don’t feel too talky.

Don’t mean to be rudey —

I’m just mad at my friend

Judy Snooty.

STINK:Judy Snooty! That’s a good one.

JUDY:Hardee-har-har.

STINK:Wait! There’s one more:

My name is Stink.

I’m not a fink,

If that’s what you think.

I just want a quarter —

JUDY:Stink! You just made that up.

ROCKY:Tell her Frank and I are quitting her.

JUDY:Fine.

ROCKY:Fine.

STINK:Judy’s not doing the dance all by herself!

JUDY:Stink, tell Rocky I did not say that. I’ll do the dance myself.

STINK:You can’t! How are you going to do a spider dance yourself? A spider has eight legs! You need four people.

JUDY:Stink! Just tell him.

STINK:She’ll do the dance herself.

ROCKY:Stink, ask her why doesn’t she just get her New Best Friend, Amy Same-Samey, to do the dance with her?

STINK:Ha! That’s a good one! Judy, did you hear —

JUDY:Ha, ha — so funny I forgot to laugh. Stink, please tell Rocky I can’t do the dance myself because he has the old record of the tarantella from his grandma. And tell him he has the old record player, too.

ROCKY:Ha! So now you want to be friends again, huh? Because you need something.

STINK:Rocky says —

JUDY:Stink, ask Rocky, Will he at least bring the stuff to school?

ROCKY:Um . . .

STINK:He said um.

JUDY:Um, he’ll bring it? Or, Um, he’s thinking about it?

STINK:Rocky, what does um mean?

ROCKY:Um thinking! Get it?

STINK:I think he’s thinking.

JUDY:Tell him I’m looking at BOTH my watches, and he has ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven —

ROCKY:Tell her I’ll bring the record and record player, but I won’t do the dance.

JUDY:Fine.

STINK:She said fine.

ROCKY:Fine.

STINK:He said fine.

JUDY:Fine.

STINK:I can’t believe I’m not getting paid for this!