Double Dog Dare Read Online Free Page A

he really wanted to talk to us, he wouldn’t have up and left in the first place.
    Kansas looked at his sister. “Because,” he said, letting all the air out of his cheeks. But he couldn’t say it. He couldn’t say any of it. She was only six, for crying out loud. He shook his head, and then gently took the notebook from her. “Because
I’m
going to write you a note,” he said, and he smoothed his hand across a fresh sheet to think.
    Ginny clapped her hands together. “Oh, good!” she said. She handed Kansas the cherry pencil. “Thanks, Kansas. You’re smart.”
    Kansas studied the blank page and thought. Then, when he had it all figured out, he put the pencil to the paper and began to write.
    The good thing about growing up with a mom who worked late all the time and a dad who was usually who-knew-where was that you got really good at forging letters. Need a parent to sign off on your C-spelling test? Mom forgot to look at that permission slip before she raced outthe door? Kansas was your guy. He had his mother’s handwriting down perfectly—from the loopy
S
in Susie to the jutting curve of the
m
in Bloom.
    When he was finished, Kansas signed the note with a practiced flourish and passed it to Ginny to inspect.
    Dear Mrs.
Goldblatt,
    My daughter, Virginia Bloom, has asthma and will not be able to do any races for the rest of the
year.
    Sincerely,
        
    Susie Bloom
    He was especially proud of the
Sincerely.
He’d memorized that word about a year ago, just in case.
    “This is perfect!” Ginny cried, clutching the note to her chest. “Thanks, Kansas!” And she left a wet kiss on his cheek.
    “No problem,” he told her, wiping his cheek clean. He handed her back the pink cherry pencil. “Now I need you to help
me
.”

3.
    A video camera
    Brendan and Alicia had wrenched one of the windows open, and a waft of early-morning air—sweet and crisp and full of that barely-December sting that Francine loved so much—was breezing across Francine’s face. She had stood, with the members of the Media Club, watching, for three minutes, then four, but so far Kansas had not appeared at the flagpole. The clock ticked away.
    “Do you think he chickened up?” Emma asked, standing on her tiptoes to lean farther out the window.
    “Huh?” Luis asked.
    “She means chickened out,” Alicia explained.
    “Oh.”
    Francine checked the clock again.
    “Where do you think he is?” Natalie asked.
    Brendan snorted. “Maybe he got so scared he fainted. Maybe he’s in the nurse’s office right now.” He turned his back to the window. “The King of Dares,
ha
! What a baby.”
    “Yeah,” Andre agreed, turning his back to the window, too. “What a baby!”
    Francine tried not to let herself smile at that. She wouldn’t be smug when she beat Kansas, she decided. She’d very politely shake his hand and tell him that he’d put up an excellent fight.
    “Let’s give him until the bell rings,” Luis said. “If his underwear’s not up by then, he doesn’t get the point. Everyone agree?”
    Everyone did. They turned back to the window to watch and wait.
    “Everything okay over here?”
    Seven heads whirled around from the window. Miss Sparks was standing behind them, arms across her chest. “You all seem a little … preoccupied,” she said, a smirk of a smile on her face. “Is there something that’s disrupting our club time?”
    They shushed and coughed, all of them, poking one another in the sides and clearing their throats, and generally acting—Francine thought—like a bunch of criminals caught in the middle of a bank heist.
    “Oh, um, we’re fine,” Alicia said quickly. “Just checking to see if the weather forecast is right.”
    Miss Sparks nodded in that knowing way she had. “I see,” she replied. “Well, now that you’re sure it is indeed cloudy, perhaps we should begin getting ready for today’s announcements, don’t you think? Only thirty minutes until the bell rings. Francine, can