Jack James and the Tribe of the Teddy Bear Read Online Free

they’re always making fun of my dad and his work, but if I only…”
    Jack quit talking when both boys hopped from behind a hedgerow as if uttering their names had summoned them magically.
    “My dad, my dad!” Mike whined. “Blah, blah, blah, my dad!”
    The two chortled.
    “Your dad’s a weirdo,” Dillon spoke faster than ever. “Him and his half-baked experiments, he almost blew up the town!”
    Cackling, the two circled Jack and his new friend.
    “Leave him alone, you creeps!” Amelia hissed.
    “Amelia?” Wendy showed up, wearing a look of disdain through her narrow glasses. Behind her, with hands on hips, stood her groupies Jamie, Heather and Betsy. “What in the world are you doing with him ?”
    Amelia held her chin high and regarded Jack, then Wendy. She kept her lips tight. He could tell she wanted to say something and was holding back.
    “You don’t… like him, do you?”
    The girls giggled uncontrollably, then started singing in sickly sarcastic voices. “Jack and Amelia sittin’ in a tree…”
    “Oh, grow UP!” Amelia waved her hand. “I was just talking to him about his presentation.”
    “You mean his freak show,” Dillon butted in, chatting a mile a minute. “Him and his weird ideas, always going on and on about his kooky dad. What is it again, Jack? What’s your dad gonna do? Travel to a new dimension? What a freak!”
    “You don’t know anything about my father,” Jack barked at him.
    “Sure I do,” he barked back. “I know enough. I know he used to be a teacher until…the incident.”
    Mike howled and slapped Jack hard between his shoulders.
    “The incident? What incident?” Amelia sounded perplexed.
    “You mean you don’t know?” Dillon seemed pleased to have the audience for his humiliating tale. “He blew up the high school.”
    “He did not!” protested Jack. “It was just a little accident.”
    “Little? You call that little!” Dillon raised his voice so everyone within a square mile heard. “My sister said they had to evacuate the entire school. He caused millions of dollars in damage.”
    “It was only a few hundred thousand, not millions. And no one was hurt,” countered Jack.
    Dillon responded, “He was lucky nobody was killed . People said he had, oh I don’t know, something like one point one kajillion gigawatts of electricity pumping through there for some…what was it, Jack? What was he doing?”
    Jack did his best to blink away a tear before anyone noticed it. Too late.
    “Oh, look,” Wendy spouted. “I think he’s about to cry!”
    “Stop it, all of you!” Amelia resisted. “Can’t you see you’re hurting his feelings!”
    “Wow,” Dillon grinned. “Check out New Girl. Doesn’t she have an attitude? I think New Girl might be hiding something behind that attitude of hers. What do you guys think?”
    “I think you might be right, Dillon,” Wendy agreed.
    “Just leave us alone, okay?” Jack spoke up. “What will it take to get you to leave us alone?”
    “I know,” Betsy raised her hand as if still in class. “Truth or dare!”
    “Truth or dare! Truth or dare!” the girls chanted all at once.
    “That’s a great idea!” Wendy came alight.
    “No-ho way!” Jack protested. “Not truth or dare. Not again.”
    “Not you, stupid,” she pointed at Amelia. “Her.”
    Jack eyed Amelia, then Wendy. “You can’t make her do anything. Amelia, don’t listen to her.”
    “No, Jack. It’s okay,” she cast a glance at Wendy. “If I play your silly game, will you leave Jack alone about his dad?”
    Wendy asked the boys, “You okay with that?”
    “All right,” Dillon wiped his hands. “New Girl? Truth or dare?”
    She sized him up, squinting until it seemed she was going to cause his brain to explode with her mind. Then she made her decision heard.
    “Truth.”
    “Truth it is,” he laughed. “Tell us, New Girl. Exactly why did you have to move to Willow? And remember, you have to tell the truth.”
    Her smile