Double Dog Dare Read Online Free Page B

you give me a hand with the extension cord for the camera?”
    And that was that. They all went about their business, same as they did every morning. But they left the window open, and Francine noticed that she wasn’t the only one whose eyes kept darting to the flagpole, tall and sturdy and completely flagless.
    As Francine helped unroll the orange extension cord and cover it with the heavy gray mat so no one would trip on it, she snuck in a quick whisper to Natalie.
    “No way Kansas’ll do it,” she said. She was growing more and more positive by the second. “And even if he
does
do it, he’ll get in trouble, and then no way he’ll get to be news anchor. Mrs. Weinmore will kick him out of the club for sure.” Mrs. Weinmore, Auden Elementary’s principal, was famous for her harsh punishments.
    Natalie frowned. “Don’t you think you might get in trouble too, if Mrs. Weinmore finds out you’re the one who dared him?”
    Francine tugged at a knot in the extension cord. “No way. Anyway, it was Brendan’s idea, not mine.”
    “Just be careful, okay?” Natalie replied. “Otherwise you’ll
both
get kicked out, and then who would be news anchor?” And she crossed the room to help Alicia get ready.
    Francine shot another quick look out the window. Still no Kansas. Still no underwear.
    The last half of Media Club passed quickly, just as it always did. While Francine did her special duties as camerawoman—unlocking the camera from the closet, setting it up at the front of the classroom, checking all the settings—the other members had their own tasks to perform. Alicia, the news announcer for fall semester, was the star of the show. She set herself up behind Miss Sparks’s desk, in the large swively chair right behind MissSparks’s red dippy bird, and studied the morning’s announcements while Natalie, who was in charge of hair and wardrobe, made sure that she was “camera ready,” occasionally dabbing at her face with a tissue.
    Brendan was the news editor, so he was in charge of setting the order of everything Alicia read each morning, deleting any duplicates, and adding in any last-minute announcements. Those came from Luis and Kansas, the show’s runners, whose job it was to race around to all the classrooms before the bell rang and collect any new announcements the teachers might have.
    Just fifteen minutes to go.
    There was a tremendous crash from Francine’s right. Emma had managed to knock over an entire stand of lights. Emma was the “special effects technician,” which, as far as Francine could figure out, simply meant that she had to make sure everything was plugged into the wall. It wasn’t a difficult job, but somehow Emma still found a way to make it challenging.
    “Oh, man!” Andre called. Andre was in charge of lighting. “One of the bulbs broke!”
    Miss Sparks scuttled over to help clean up the mess. “Andre,” she said calmly, “go ask Mr. Paulsen if there’s an extra bulb in the drama room we can borrow.” And Andre scurried out of the room, shooting angry eyes at Emma as he went.
    Francine tried to relax, settling herself behind the camera. This was always her favorite part of the morning—just before the rest of her classmates showed up and filed into their seats behind her, in those last few minutes of calm before the bell rang and everything became whisper-quiet all across the school. Everything, that is, except Alicia’s voice as she told the entire school the announcements of the day, courtesy of Francine and her news camera.
    And Francine was just letting that warm, fresh, happiness envelop her, when—with only eight minutes left until the bell rang—she heard Emma’s piercing squeal.
    “What?” Brendan asked. “What did you break this time?”
    But Emma didn’t answer. One hand was clamped over her mouth, and the other was pointing out the window.
    From where she was standing in front of Miss Sparks’sdesk, Francine had to squint to see it. But she could just