New Kid Catastrophes: 1 (TJ and the Time Stumblers) (20 page)
Way
inside.
Then there was Hesper Breakahart. The good news was the Acme Thought Broadcaster quit working. The bad news was everybody’s memory didn’t. Which explains why she now sat at a table all by herself.
“Doesn’t anybody want to sit here?” she cried. “I’m Hesper Breakahart, remember? The one you all love and adore. Hel-
lo
?!”
Everyone was doing their best to ignore her. Not an easy task, but somehow they managed.
“Okay, fine! You just wait till the reporters start coming back. And they will. You’ll all come back! Just you wait!”
And finally there were Tuna and Herby. As usual, they were invisible to everybody but TJ. This time they floated above the table directly in front of her.
“Don’t you guys have to get back and fix your time-travel thingy?” she whispered.
Tuna nodded. “That is correct. However, we wanted to make certain you were safe.”
“And that you’ve, like, totally learned your lesson,” Herby added.
“About not showing favoritism?” TJ whispered.
Herby nodded. “The best dudes and dudettes don’t always come in the best packages.”
“Like us,” Tuna agreed.
Herby sucked in his stomach. “Speak for yourself.”
TJ sighed. “Yeah, I get it. I really get it.”
“Good.” Tuna nodded. “Excellent. We shall then transport back to your home and resume working on our time-travel pod.”
“Cool,” Herby said as he pulled out his Swiss Army Knife.
TJ stiffened in fear, and Herby laughed. “Don’t worry, Your Babe-ness. This is just our transporter. It never zworks on us.” With that, he opened a blade and
Herby, Tuna, and TJ were transported to a busy
freeway.
TJ spun around to see a giant semi racing at them. “Herby!”
“Sorry!” Herby shook the blade and
the three of them were in the middle of Antarctica, surrounded by a thousand penguins.
“Guys!”
And just like that, TJ was back in the cafeteria. Not only that, but Tuna and Herby had vanished. Now, at last, everything was completely normal . . . except for the baby penguin squirming inside her pocket.
“Guys!” she shouted. “GUYS!”
Everyone in the cafeteria turned to see who she was yelling at. But, of course, no one was there. Which meant that, once again, her face was turning beet red. And once again, she caught Chad looking at her from across the room.
She gave him a weak, pathetic smile.
He returned it, and for that she was glad. She would have been gladder if his eyes didn’t say he still thought she had some major mental issues.
But that’s how it was, and there was nothing she could do about it . . . at least for now.
Still, tomorrow would be a new day. A new day to start over with a fresh, clean slate. A new day where everything would be better. At least that’s what she told herself. But she still had a few doubts.
Actually, with Tuna and Herby stuck in her life, she had some majorly major doubts.
CHAPTER ONE
Beginnings . . .
TIME TRAVEL LOG:
Malibu, California, October 19
Begin Transmission:
Time-travel pod still zworked. Subject is growing used to our presence. She barely groans when she sees us. Big-time improvement. Currently assisting her in studies, though she doesn’t exactly appear grateful.
End Transmission
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” TJ Finkelstein yelled as she dropped the book she was reading and jumped up from her desk. “HERBY!”
Now, TJ really wasn’t a yeller. But when your room is suddenly filled with two dozen pirates from the 1700s (and none of them are as cute as Johnny Depp), well, that’s enough to make anybody a little irritable.
Actually, it wasn’t the pirates that bothered TJ as much as their
sword fighting.
“TUNA!?” she shouted.
And even that wasn’t as bad as their
falling down all wounded on her floor.
“Great!” she cried. “How am I going to get those bloodstains out of my carpet? HERBY!”
There was still no answer, except for the
of another pirate as he swung toward her on a rope.
She screamed and dropped to the floor as he flew past, missing her by inches. Scrambling back to her feet, she searched the room—ducking this sword, dodging that saber as the pirates continued to
