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18
Imagine my surprise when Zack, Erin, and April showed up at my front door on Wednesday morning.
“I told you guys the competition is off,” I sputtered, staring at them in astonishment through the
screen door.
“But Lefty called us,” Erin replied. “He said you changed your mind.” The other two agreed.
My mouth dropped open to my knees. “Lefty?”
They nodded. “He called us yesterday,” April said.
“But Lefty isn’t even here this morning,” I told them as they marched into the house. “He’s at the
playground playing softball with some of his friends.”
“Who’s here?” my mom called. She came walking into the hallway, drying her hands on a dish
towel. She recognized my friends, then turned to me, a bewildered look on her face. “Max, I thought
you were going to help me down in the basement. I didn’t know you’d made plans with Zack, Erin,
and April.”
“I didn’t,” I replied weakly. “Lefty—”
“We just dropped by,” Zack told Mom, coming to my rescue.
“If you’re busy, Max, we can go,” Erin added.
“No, that’s okay,” Mom told them. “Max was complaining about how boring it would be to help
me. It’s good you three showed up.”
She disappeared back into the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, my three friends practically
pounced on me.
“Upstairs!” Zack cried eagerly, pointing to the stairs.
“Let’s get invisible!” Erin whispered.
“I get to go first since I’ve never gone,” April said.
I tried to argue with them, but I was outnumbered and outvoted. “Okay, okay,” I reluctantly
agreed. I started to follow them up the stairs when I heard scratching noises at the door.
I recognized the sound. It was Whitey, back from his morning walk. I pushed open the screen
door and he trotted in, wagging his tail.
The dumb dog had some burrs stuck to his tail. I chased him into the kitchen and managed to get
him to stand still long enough to pull them off. Then I hurried up to the attic to join my friends.
By the time I got up there, April was already standing in front of the mirror, and Zack was
standing beside her, ready to pull the light on.
“Whoa!” I called.
They turned to look at me. I could see that April had a frightened expression on her face. “I have
to do this right away. Or else I might wimp out,” she explained.
“I just think we should get the rules straight first,” I said sternly. “This mirror really isn’t a toy,
and—”
“We know, we know,” Zack interrupted, grinning. “Come on, Max. No lectures today, okay? We
know you’re nervous because you’re going to lose. But that’s no reason—”