Fabulous Five 007 - The Kissing Disaster Read Online Free Page A

eyes, what else?"
    Laughter broke out in the room, but Mr. Dracovitch held up
his hand for silence. "What you smell is formaldehyde," he said
patiently. "It is a preservative. Actually, I find the odor rather
pleasant, myself."
    Next Mr. Dracovitch walked among the tables carrying a large
metal bowl. Stopping at each table, he used a pair of tongs to extract a large,
round object and drop it in the pan. Melanie closed her eyes. The closer he got
to her table the more she knew she didn't want to look at the awful thing, much
less touch it. If she could just get Shane to . . .
    THUD!
    She opened her eyes without meaning to. There in the pan was
an enormous eye. It was wet and slimy looking, and it was staring straight at
her. The room started to spin. She reached out to grab the table, but she felt
arms close around her instead. She looked up into Shane's face.
    "Are you okay?" he asked, holding on to her
tightly.
    "I think so," she said. "It's just so . . ."
    Shane was nodding. "Gross," he said, finishing her
sentence. "I think so, too, but we'll get used to it."
    Melanie smiled gratefully. The room had stopped spinning
now, and she noticed Mr. Dracovitch standing beside Shane looking awfully
worried.
    "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked. "Maybe
you'd like to sit down or step out into the hall for some air."
    "I'm fine," she insisted, and then smiled at
Shane, who had moved back to his side of the table now. She couldn't believe
how quickly he had rushed to take care of her. And what was just as super,
Tammy Lucero had seen it all.

CHAPTER 5
    With Shane's help Melanie managed to get through the rest of
biology class. She made herself look at the specimen, as Mr. Dracovitch had
called it, which was almost as big as a baseball. The white part and the pupil
looked like any other eye, only bigger, but the rest of it was covered with a
sort of bluish-black gel. "Gross," she whispered over and over again,
and she could hear other kids reacting the same way.
    All that the class was supposed to do the first day was
weigh and measure the eyeball, which fortunately Shane did for both of them. He
even wrote the results in both of their notebooks and whisked pan number seven
into the refrigerator and out of her sight.
    When the bell rang, Shane was out of the classroom door
ahead of her, and she hurried to catch up.
    "Thanks a million," she said. "A zillion ,
actually. Igor would have been proud of you."
    The mention of Igor always made Shane's face light up. "Do
you really think so?" he asked, flashing a big smile and slowing to walk beside
her.
    That was just what Melanie had planned. "Why don't you
ask him?" she said. Crossing her fingers behind her back, she went on with
the rest of her plan. "By the way, did you write down all of Dracula's
instructions? You know, the stuff he was saying at the beginning of class."
    Shane nodded.
    "Great," she said, beaming her best smile straight
at him. "I missed some of it, and I really want to get a good grade in
this class. Especially since I embarrassed myself in front of Mr. Dracovitch by
almost fainting." She paused a moment and lowered her eyes, hoping that he
would remember putting his arm around her and rescuing her. "Anyway, do
you think I could look at your notes and copy the parts I missed?"
    "Sure," he said, opening his notebook to the section
marked BIOLOGY. "You can take them with you and give them back to me
later."
    "I can't do that," Melanie insisted. "What I
mean is that I have class the rest of the afternoon and won't have time to copy
them. What if I get them after school . . . say at Bumpers? You'll be there,
won't you?"
    Melanie held her breath. This had to work. It just had to.
    "Okay," he said. "I'll see you at Bumpers.
Bye."
    Shane peeled off in the direction of his next class, leaving
Melanie feeling weak-kneed with relief. Of course The Fabulous Five
would be at Bumpers after school. And of course they would see her with
Shane. So what if they don't have time for me