"That wasn't scary at all!" I exclaimed as my group of friends and I got out of the theater. My best friend, Janet, rolled her eyes. But I ignored her and carried on. "I mean, what's the point of a scary movie when the ending is happily ever after?" "Claudia," another one of my friends, Elizabeth, said, "it wasn't excaclty a happily ever ending." "Right, Elizabeth," I said, sarcasticly. "There was a tiny bit of scariness in the ending," another friend, Katherine, said. "It was happy but then the ghost came out because they hadn't really killed it afterall." "True," I said, "but then the movie ended when they showed the ghost. For all we know the ghost could have of not harmed them and it would just be a G rated movie." The last friend in the group, Daina, laughed hysterically. "Puh-lease, Claudia," she said, "it's just a movie." I glared at her. I guess Janet knew we were going to start something so she jumped in. "Guys, let's go check out that new restrurant across the street," she said. We nodded and began to walk over. Oh, hello. My name is Claudia Marolins. Back to the thing about Daina...we're friends but we're not friends. You see we have the same other friends which brings us together. But she's not the kind of friend I would invite over seperratly. For us two, it's strictly group stuff or we'd strangle eachother. It's like we hate eachother practically but try to keep it cool. "Hey, check out!" I said, laughing. My friends looked to where I was staring. "Why," Daina said, loudly, "it's the Bumblebees!" The "Bumblebees" practically fell over when they saw that it was us. That's probably the only reason I like Daina: if you are on her side you are saved, and if you're not then let's just say you are gonna get it. The Bumblebees are four girls from our class who are the weirdest who formed that club. They wear yellow and black all the time. Imagine that wardrobe! "Hello," Tricia said, as evenly as she could, as the president of the Bumblebees. They were with Tricia's mom but my friends and I all knew that this was the best time to say stuff to them cause they make us laugh when their mom is around with them. (I don''t mean jokes!!!) Not mean things, just... how shall I say this..."Make sure they don't sting us," Elizabeth said, icily. Uh-oh, I thought, it starts. "Ummmm," Tricia said, "my mom is here so you better not say anything!" We laughed. (Like we cared.) Anyway, Tricia's mom had already went ahead into the restrurant. "Make sure you guys bring your life jackets!" I exclaimed. "We wouldn't want you to drown!" Tomorrow was the sixthgrade's last field trip for the year and we are going on a cruise ship to an amusement park on the other side of Midnight Wolf Lake. Weird name, don't you think? What does a wolf have to do with a lake? When the Bumblebees didn't say anything, we shoved past them. "Oh, and don't forget!" Daina said, coldly. "You better stay out of our way tommorrow, got it?" "Why should we?" Wendy, a fellow Bumblebee, piped up. Daina stepped up to Wendy. Wendy looked like a bumblebee compared to Daina! (haha) She snatched Wendy's cap with black and yellow stripes. "Hey!" Wendy cried out. "Chill," Katherine said. "Now," Daina said, "being as weird as you are, I expect you want this back. We'll see." She handed the cap to Janet who put it in her backpack. "Fly away bees," Janet said. We turned our steps and entered the restrurant and collasped into giggles. "That was great!" Elizabeth exclaimed. We all nodded in agreement. "Five for noon smoking?" a waitress asked us. I had almost forgotten about that! "Yes," Daina said. The waitress led us to a black booth in the corner. I scrambled to get in. Once we were seated, I decided that this was a good time to tell my friends about me idea. "Hey, guys," I said, "why don't we ask Mrs. Harpperel-" our teacher- "if we can play when we cross the lake. The boat is suppose to be huge, and she did say she needed entertainment since its a four hour trip across." Elizabeth and Katherine nodded. "Good idea, Claudia," Janet said. "I don't know," Daina said. "We'll do your new song," I bribed. "What a great idea!" Daina exclaimed. I smiled. Our band is called SSSG's. It stands for Sweet Sophisticated School Girls. We get people to play for us since we don't play any instruments. We ordered and soon our food came. "Six o'clock already?" I said. "I gotta get home." Janet nodded. "Me too. I'll walk home with you." We said goodbye to our friends and started off. "Sit with me on the bus to the dock?" Janet asked me. "Yea, of course," I answered. "I can't wait til tommorrow." "Yea," Janet said. "But the only hting that I'm worried about is the boat ride to the park thing." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Do you mean like if we sing?" Janet shook her head. "It's not that." SHe looked around nevously as if to make sure no one could hear her. THen she dropped to a whisper. "I'm not a really good swimmer and..." I finiched her sentence for her. "And you are worried that we'll sink like the Titanic!" She giggled. "Something like that. But listne, Claudia, don't tell anyone okay?" "Okay," I said. "Don't worry about anything. It's going to be great!" By then we had reached Janet's house. She started to go up ther driveway but then stopped and turned around. "Don't forget we're all hanging out tommorow att the amusement park and going on all the awsome rides!" I laughed. "How could I forget? Bye, Janet. Call me." . . .
"I'll get it!" I yelled as the phone started to ring the second I walked into my house. I grabbed the phone in the hall. "Hello?" "Hi, Claudia." It was Daina. "Uh, hi," I said. I thought Katherine, Elizabeth, and Daina were still having dessert or something. "Don't be surprised or anything," Daina said. "I just got hom and then I relized I forgot to tell you guys about my plan. So we have to meet right away at someone's house. Elizabeth's house isn't good because of all her siblings, Janet's mom said no for theirs, Katherine's house is getting the inside painted, and my house has too thin walls. So that leaves you." "Why don't you just tell us over the phone?" I asked, annoyed. "I just got home and have dance class at 8:00!" Daina sighed. "Someone would hear me! Please, Claudia, just ask!" I sighed. "Fine, I'll ask but I don't gurrentee it okay?" "Okay," she answered. "Hold on," I said, and dropped the phone to go find my mom. "Ma!" I yelled out. "Claudia, geez, there's no need to shout," my mom said, from a room. "I'm in the kitchen." I made my way to the kitchen, trying to think of a way to make my mom say no. For once, I wasn't going to give in to Daina. "I know I have dance tonight," I said, sitting on a stool. "But..." "You don't have dance tonight," my mom said, cutting me off. "Your teacher called and said it was canceled. Oh, and I almost forgot!" She went into the livingroom and came back with a video. "Mrs. Joy came by and dropped off this video," she said, hading me it. "It's the recording of the years of your class at Redwood School. There's even your first grade play, the third grade costume party, and the talent show where you friends and you sang. So I thought it would be great if you invited Janet, Katherine, Elizabeth, and Daina over for a couple hours to watch it. I'll make the popcorn right now and yuo can call them." I dropped my mouth open in surprise. This was so ironic. "O-okay," I managed, and returned to the phone. When I told Daina all about it, she was thrilled! "Perfect!" she exclaimed. "I'll tell the others. Bye, Claud." I cringed as the line went dead. Daina was the only one who called me Claud and I totally depised it. Making the best of the situation, I cleaned up the livingroom a bit. I plopped on the couch with a sigh. "You don't seem very excited about your friends coming over in a couple of minutes," my mom observed. I forced a smile. "I'm just tired," I said, lying threw my teeth. The only real reason was that Daina's plan or whatever was sure to be a bore. The video made me look on the bright side though. THen the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," I said, trying to look euthusitic. I jogged to the front door and opened it. "Hi," Daina said, walking right in. Behind her was Katherine and Elizabeth. "Where's Janet?" I asked, dissapointed she wasn't here yet. "She'll be here in a couple of minutes," Elizabeth said. "Well okay," I said. I glanced at my living room. Daina and Katherine were already in there, eating popcron. I led Elizabeth to the living room. "This should be good," Katherine commented. "And hilariuos," Daina added. We watched the first twenty mintues with no sign of Janet. My mom had to go to my dad'd work for an hour, which left us alone. It was then that I remembered about Daina's plan. "So what's with your plan?" I asked, shutting off the VCR. "Are you going to tell us or what?" Daina nodded. "Of course I'll tell ya'll," she answered. "But first Janet has to arrive." Miracously at that momment, the doorbell rang. I ran and skid across the tiles to get to the door. "Hi, Claudia," Janet said, stepping inside. "Did I miss anything?" I shook my head. "Daina was just about to tell us her marvoulous plan when you came," I said, as were walking to the livingroom. "So tell ua," Elizaeth begged. Daina smiled. I could tell she was enjoying the attention. "Alright," she said. "My idea is to stay at the amusement park after everyone leaves. Since our class leaves at 4:00, we'll miss the Coolers-" the best band in the world- "play at 6:00. That's why I told the Bumblebees to stay out of our way. My plan would would perfectly but..." "But what?" we all asked eagerly. I was actually liking this plan so far! "We can't do or singing performance," Daina said. Correction: I was actually hating this plan so far. "But why?" I sputtered. Why did Daina always have to make a mess of things??? Especially my ideas! "People will relize we are missing ocre we don't show up to play," Daina explained. "But if we don't play it'll be easier to stay behind. We'll go on the ferry getting back. You get it?" Everyone nodded. She did have a point. I really did want to see the Coolers. "Alright," I agreed. "Let's do it." "One problem," Elizabeth said, suddenly. "What do we tell our parents? They know what time we are coming back." "We could just say we're at eachother's houses," Katherine, immediateley. "Good idea, Kath," Daina said. I saw Katherine grimace at what Daina said. I wasn't surprised...I woke up with a grunt. It was already 6:00AM the next day. Time to get up. Our plan to stay at the amusement park was perfect. Of course Mrs.Harppel was going to count heads before we left, so we decided to be there when she did but then sneak away after she was done. It old my mom that Katherine's mom was driving Katherine and I to see a movie after. We each told our parents something like that. Hopefully, everything would work. I was still alittle bummed out about not singing on the boat but I really wanted to see the Coolers. I got out of bed and went to take a showed. I was nervous and excited at the same time. By the time I got to school it was really rowndy with everyone hyper about the field trip. I joined Janet, Katherine, Elizabeth, and Daina in a group. "This is going to be great!" Katherine exclaimed. I nodded euthiscally. I looked at each of us. We were all wearing Cooler tshirts and hats. I hoped it wasn't painfully oblivuos. "Maybe you guys can all sleepover," Janet said. Daina nodded. "Like a victourios party." "We can even rent Sunset Beachouse," Elizabeth suggested. "It just came out on video." "That movie was the best!" Katherine said. "It totally freaked me out for weeks." I snorted. "Are you kidding me? That movie should have been rated PG!" My friends just stared at me and said nothing. "Uh, I just got the new Frantic Feonael book," Janet said, changing the subject. "The one where Feonael discovers the house ful of ghost cats?" Katherine asked, eagerly. "Sure is," Janet answered. "Those books suck," I said. "Feonael always runs away when a ghost or whatever comes." "I'm sick of you, Claudia!" Daina cried out anngrily, enough to get everyone attention. "You're always saying scary stuff isn't scary!" I threw back my hair. "Some people are more braver than others," I said, haughtily. Daina laughed dryly. "Yea, I'm sure~" she said. "You may not be scared of movies and books, but when something like that happens to you, you won't be so brave!" "Whatever!" I shot right back, which wasn't my best comeback. "Ghosts, haunted houses, and witches aren't even real! That's why I'm not a scardy cat like you! Any loser would know that!" Daina just stood there, giving me the evilest look possible. Luckily, our little fight was interrupted. "Time to get on the bus!" Mrs. Harpperrel annouced. Daina and I took one last look at eacother and set off for the bus. Once the whole class was seated on the bus, Janet brang up Daina and my little fight. "You really shouldn't have said some of those things to Daina," Janet said, leafing threw her magazine. "What do you mean?" I asked, totally suprised. Janet shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "Hey check out this article on the Coolers!" She handed me the magazine but I couldn't concentrate. I didn't even say anything that bad to Daina. It wasn't bad that I wasn't scared. My mom always said that bravery comes in handy. So what was the problem?..."This is going to be soooo cool," Katherine commented, as the five of us walked up the gateplank. "Yea," Elizabeth said. "Totally," Daina said. "Wow," I breathed as we walked on the ship's floors. I didn't except it to be so big for just a four hour trip! "Listen up, everyone!" Mrs.Happerel called. I turned to where she was standing. "Wendy, Tricia, Melissa, and Kandy are in cabin 2. Janet, Elizabeth, Daina, Katherine, and Claudia are in cabin 4." She continued while we made our way to cabin 4. Janet put in her key that Mrs. Happerel gave us in. "Cool!" JAnet and I said together as Katherine opened the door. There were five cots, a sink, a televison, a mini refrigegerater, a table, some evleope, and some other things. Daina reached for the evelope as we entered. "Money!" she exclaimed. Elizabeth took the bills "Wow, Daina, a whole twenty dollars," she said, sarcastically. I giggled. "Each cabin get that much," Janet said. "Now come on, let's go the the game room or something." "Good idea," Katherine said. "Where is it?" Janet pulled back her hair. "There was sign saying it was on the bottom floor," she answered. "Let's go." We followed her down the hallway and down the stairway. To our bad luck, the Bumblebees were playing video games in there, "Great," I heard Daina mutter. "Let's go to the gameroom later," Katherine suggested. "Yea," I said, "when it's bug free." When we were heading up the stairs I saw Melissa, a Bumblebee, stare longingly at us. It was like she wanted to ditch the Bumblebees and come with us. If I had to pick one of the Bumblebees to be my friend, I'd pick Melissa. She and I use to be close friends before she joined the Bumblebees. I think the only reason she did join was because of her twin sister, Kandy, was in it. I noticed that she wasn't wearing yellow or black, but a Cooler's t-shirt! I blinked in surprise, and then Melissa smiled at me. "Come on, Claudia," Janet said, pulling me away. I took one last peek at Melissa. She looked disapointed and turned away. "What were you looking at?" Janet asked, as we were walking back up the stairs. "Nothing," I answered. That was sort of the truth. Melissa was a nothing to me, thought that was mean in a way. "Oh, really?" Daina said. "You better not have been talking to any Bumblebees or else I'll-" "Cool it, Daina," Elizabeth interupted. "Claudia wouldn't do something like that." "Sure she wouldn't," Daina muttered. She was looking down to say something and then all of a sudden... "Watch out, Daina!" Elizabeth shouted. "Ah!" Daina cried out in surprise. She had slammed into a...what do you call it...a dwarf or something? "S-s-sorry," she stammered. "Beware of the Midnight Wolf," it said, and hurried down the hall. "What was that all about?" Katherine asked. "I don't know," Daina answered. "IT's probably just some lame joke." I raised my eyebrow. "I don't know," I said, jokingly. "The Midnight Wolf is out to get you, Daina." "What is the Midnight Wolf anyway?" Daina asked, ignoring me. "Maybe it has something to do with the lake," Janet suggested. "Maybe the giftshop has a book on the legend of the lake," Elizabeth said. "I have an idea!" Daina exclaimed suddenly. "No surprise," I muttered. Daina looked at me. "I'm surprised you have any more stuff to say to me," she said dryly. Then she turned the Elizabeth. "Hold me back, Liz." Elizabeth just grimaced. She prefered people to call her Elizabeth, and Daina knew that. Then I had a quick idea. "I do have more to say, DAIN," I said, expressing the last word. Daina zipped around to me in shock. Then I smiled sweetly. "But you can share your idea first." "Whatever," Daina said. "Elizabeth, Katherine, and I will go look for that elf guy. Janet and Claudia can go to the giftshop to look for a book on the legend or something. We'll meet back in a hour at the cabin." "Alright," Janet and Katherine said in chorus. Elizabeth and I nodded. Then we set off the different directions. "Where's the gift shop?" Janet asked me as we were walking along the hallways. "Maybe it's upstairs on the top florr," I said. "Oh, look, there's a sign!" I read it. "Yea, it's upstairs," Janet said, starting to lead the way. I followed her and we found the giftshop. It was rather large for being on a ship, but they had a lot of interresting things. "They have books over there," Janet said, pointing to a sign that said: BOOKS THIS WAY. We then followed the sign, which led us to a larger room than the whole gift shop. "Wow!" I said, gazing up at the tall shelves. "How are we ever going to find the lengend on the lake?" Janet pulled back a wisp of her hair. "You start on the left, and I'll go right." I nodded, and headed towards the right. The History of Ships..How to make a Knot..How to Fish...Pippi Longstocking...but there was nothing on the lake! I looked on...The Slave...One GIrl's Journey..The Mayflower...no luck! I had almost given up, when I bumped into a door. "Stockroom," I said to myself. Maybe there was some books on the lengend in there. I looked around me. There was a couple people scanning threw books, but no one was paying attention to me. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. To my surprise, it wasn't a stock room or supply room. It was more like an employee's lounge. In spite of myself, I closed the door behind me and took a look around. But there wasn't much to see: just a few chairs and- then something caught my eye. It looked like something old so I peered closer. It was some kind of book and then once I relized that I picked it up. "The Legend Of Midnight Wolf Wolf," I read the title. "Bingo." There was a bookmark inside, so I figured that an employee must be reading it. I could just borrow it...and read it. I really wanted to know about the Midnight Wolf. I slipped the book into my mini bookbag. I slowly opend the door and went back to meet Janet in fron of the book section.
CLICK PART TWO OF MW FOR THE REST
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