Read Online Enemy Spy by Wendelin Van Draanen - Free Book Online

when I took a step back. “I'd be good!”He flexed an arm and grinned at me. “I kinda look like the Bouncer, don't you think?”
    I was just staring at him, my mind going a million miles an hour.
    He knew. There was no doubt about it.
    But Bubba Bixby as the
Bouncer
? Bubba was the whole reason I put on the Shredderman mask in the first place. And now he wanted to be my sidekick?
    But what if I said no? What would he do then?
    Pound me?
    Or worse—unmask me?
    Bubba put down his arm and said, “You're thinking this is a threat, aren't you?”
    I just stared at him.
    “Well, it's not, dude. I just think it'd be cool.”
    I kept right on staring. My whole face felt frozen in place!
    He sighed. “Man, you're thinking I'm going to rat you off, aren't you? Well, I'm not the creep you think I am. And to prove it, I tell you what— whether you say I can be the Bouncer or not, I ain't squealin'. Now or ever. You got my word.”
    His
word
? Bubba Bixby's word was about as good as a punctured ink cartridge!
    But I couldn't just keep standing there, staring! I had to say
some
thing! Bubba had figured it out, and I could see he wasn't just guessing.
    He
knew.
    But Bubba Bixby as a sidekick?
    I practically laughed out loud.
    It was just too… ironic.
    Paradoxical!
    Totally unexpected!
    Completely surprising!
    My face thawed into a little smile, and I heard myself whisper, “I wasn't aware that you were big on truth and justice. But there
does
happen to be an opening.”
    He pumped his arm and said, “Yes!”Then he whispered, “And, dude, I can totally get into truth and justice. Wait and see. I'm gonna be the best—”
    “Shhhhh-shhh-shhh!”
    Kids were sneaking in closer.
    “Oh. Oh, right,”Bubba said. He put on a poker face. “I'm cool. I'm cool.”

    Trinity was the first to say something. “You okay, Nolan?”
    “Yeah,”I said, and tossed a look at Bubba. “Everything's cool, right?”
    “Absolutely!”Bubba was grinning from ear to ear. “Everything is way cool.”Then he laughed and said, “It's nifty. Groovy! Awesome! You might even say it's
copacetic.”
    Everyone busted up. And I knew they were laughing because Bubba was doing what
I
always do, but he wasn't really making fun of me.
    It was just funny!
    “Copacetic, dude?”Vinnie called. “Can you
spell
that, too?”
    “Yeah, man!”Bubba called back. “It's spelled C-OO-L.”
    Everyone laughed again.
    Then Trey came charging up, all out of breath. “Hey, guys! Have you seen that crowd on the steps? It's, like, twice as big as it was before!”
    We looked over, and wow! People seemed to be pouring in from everywhere!
    “Chatty Adams is gonna be so ticked!”Danielle said. “Two other news vans just showed up!”
    By the time half an hour was up, you couldn't even see the station steps. They were packed with people! Cameras! Someone even set up a podium and put microphones around it!
    Then they rolled out some CAUTION tape that we weren't allowed to cross.
    The place was buzzing with gossip!
    Cedar Valley had never seen anything like this!
    A lot more kids from school showed up, too. Some with parents, some without. We kids all hung together, and pretty soon we were spotting
teachers
from our school.
    “There's Mrs. Bernhart!”
    “And Miss Simms!”
    “There's Miss Surkit!”
    “And look! There's Mr. Hoover!” MarvinSpeltz cried. “I tell you, guys—janitor by day, Shredderman by night. That's why he's here!”
    “Don't be a doof,”Mike McDermish told him.
    Miriam interrupted them. “Look! There's Dr. Voss! Even our
principal
is here!”
    Half an hour grew into an hour. Chatty Adams spent half her time yelling into her cell phone and the other half snapping at Roy and her cameraman. She was trying to keep people away from “her”area, and boy, was she being mean!
    Then I got an idea. And I started wondering— was a news camera like the video camera we had at home?
    I couldn't see a power source.
    Did it run on batteries?
    Chatty's