Chapter 18
The librarian rushed toward Sulley in a rage. Her huge tentacles were just about to wrap around his body when a loud pop-pop-pop noise sounded behind her. She whipped around, searching for the creature who dared destroy the silence of her library. It was Don.
He was crawling along the floor so that his tentacles would make a loud, sticky, suction-cup pop against the floor. He moved as quickly and as loudly as he could, popping up a storm! The librarian’s tentacles suddenly shot in Don’s direction. Don cringed and braced for the impact. But just before her slimy arms reached him, books began flying off the shelves in another part of the library.
“Over here!” Terri and Terry called out as they danced and loudly tossed books onto the floor. The librarian turned toward the two with fury in her eyes.
But then Art jumped on a table and began stomping his hairy purple feet. The librarian’s attention immediately went to him.
The crowd watched in surprise. “Is that legal?” one of the onlookers asked.
“Oh yeah!” the vice president answered. “The only rule is don’t get caught.”
As the Oozmas and the librarian ran in every direction, Mike realized in horror that the EEKs were stacking themselves into a pyramid to get their flag. But before he could say anything, his teammates grabbed Mike and pulled him along. As the librarian lunged for them, her tail knocked the EEKs’ pyramid to the floor. The Oozma gang leaped out the library door with an angry tentacle missing them by inches.
“Woo-hoo! We did it!” Art howled as the Oozmas landed in a heap.
Mike shook his head. “No, we didn’t. We forgot the flag!” he said, exasperated.
Squishy suddenly popped up behind Mike. “AHH!” Mike screamed, surprised once again. Then Squishy reached behind his back and held up the f lag.
The Oozmas cheered wildly, but Mike was stunned. “How...?” he asked, confused.
Terri leaned toward Mike. With a wave of his arms and a mysterious smile, he said, “Misdirection!”
“Oozma Kappa moves on, and the EEKs have been eliminated!” the Greek Council vice president announced. Dean Hardscrabble watched, expressionless, as the Oozma Kappas celebrated.
“We’re OK! We’re OK! We’re OK!” they chanted.
As the Oozmas headed for home, they were giddy from their first real success.
“I’ve never felt so alive!” Squishy said, his rosy cheeks redder than usual.
“We were awesome!” Terri and Terry agreed, nodding their heads enthusiastically.
But Sulley wasn’t feeling it. “Look,” he told them, “that wasn’t real scaring.”
“Oh, I disagree,” Mike said. “I got to hand it to the guys; they came up with a very interesting solution. You, on the other hand, nearly got us eliminated. You should have stuck to my strategy.”
“What strategy?” Sulley snapped. “That was a bunch of tiptoeing. Talk to me when we start the real scaring.”
Mike was ready to argue the point when a car full of PNK sorority girls pulled up. “Hey, you guys going to the party?” a cute girl, who was leader of the PNKs, called out.
The Oozmas were stunned. “Oh, I think you’ve got the wrong guys,” Squishy said. “We don’t get invited to —”
Mike quickly put a hand over Squishy’s mouth. “Party?” Mike asked the girl.
“Yeah, the mid-games mixer at the RORs’. It’s for the top scare teams. You’re one of us now, right?”
“See you there!” another girl called out as the car pulled away.
The Oozmas looked at each other in shock. “Did you hear that? I can’t believe it!” Don exclaimed. “Uh-uh. Bad idea,” Sulley said flatly.
But Mike wasn’t about to pass it up. “People are finally seeing us as real Scarers. We are going!” he announced.
As they approached the ROR house, the Oozmas began to get cold feet. “Do young people still dance?” Don asked nervously. “’Cause my moves are a little rusty.”
“Yeah, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Terry said.
Squishy was looking a little panicked, too. “What if there’s a lull in the conversation? I—I never know what to, uh, you know ...”
“... say?” Mike finished.
Squishy shook his head in astonishment. “How are you so good at this?”
“You just took on an angry fifty-foot librarian, and you’re afraid of a little party?” Mike put his arm around Squishy and gave him a nudge through the door. “In you go!” he said, and the rest of the Oozmas followed.
第 18 章
圖書管理員憤怒地向毛怪沖過(guò)來(lái)。她正要用她那碩大的觸角纏住毛怪,突然,身后傳來(lái)了“啪啪啪”的響聲。她轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身,想看看究竟是誰(shuí)膽敢破壞圖書館里的安靜。原來(lái)是老唐。
老唐正匍匐在地面上,每走一步,他的觸手就像黏糊糊的吸盤脫離地面一樣,發(fā)出很大的“啪啪”聲。他使出全力移動(dòng)著,速度越來(lái)越快,聲音越來(lái)越響,猶如掀起了一陣“噼啪”聲的風(fēng)暴!圖書管理員朝老唐的方向猛地伸出了觸角,老唐趕緊縮起身子,準(zhǔn)備迎接巨大的沖擊力。但就在管理員那黏滑的手臂快要觸到老唐之際,一些書從圖書館另一邊的書架上飛落下來(lái)。
“看這里!”泰瑞和泰銳齊聲喊道。他們一邊扭來(lái)扭去,一邊將書本重重地扔到地上。圖書管理員轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身來(lái),怒不可遏地盯著他倆。
這時(shí)阿拱突然跳到了一張桌子上,跺起他毛茸茸的紫色大腳來(lái)。圖書管理員的注意力瞬間被他吸引過(guò)去。
大伙兒驚訝地看著比賽。一位觀眾問道:“這不算犯規(guī)嗎?”
“當(dāng)然不算!”副會(huì)長(zhǎng)回答說(shuō),“唯一的規(guī)則就是別被抓到。”
正當(dāng)OK會(huì)成員們和圖書管理員東奔西跑的時(shí)候,麥克驚恐地發(fā)現(xiàn)熔巖城隊(duì)正用疊羅漢的方法準(zhǔn)備摘取旗子。麥克還來(lái)不及說(shuō)話,隊(duì)友們就一把拽過(guò)他,拖著他向前跑去。圖書管理員朝他們猛沖過(guò)去,轉(zhuǎn)身時(shí)尾巴一甩,將熔巖城隊(duì)的“金字塔”打散到地面上。雖然OK會(huì)隊(duì)員距離她那憤怒的觸角只有幾英寸,他們還是逃脫了追捕,順利地沖出了圖書館大門。
“哇哦!成功啦!”OK會(huì)隊(duì)員們一個(gè)接一個(gè)地疊落在地上時(shí),阿拱興奮地大叫起來(lái)。
麥克搖搖頭,惱火地說(shuō):“沒有,我們忘記拿旗子啦!”
史乖寶冷不丁地出現(xiàn)在麥克身后。“??!”麥克又一次被嚇得尖叫起來(lái)。沒想到史乖寶竟從背后拿出了旗子。
OK會(huì)歡呼雀躍起來(lái),而麥克卻愣住了。“怎么會(huì)……?”他不解地問道。
泰瑞靠著麥克,揮了揮手臂,臉上露出一絲神秘的微笑,說(shuō)道:“這就叫聲東擊西!”
“OK會(huì)隊(duì)晉級(jí),熔巖城隊(duì)淘汰!”希臘議會(huì)的副會(huì)長(zhǎng)宣布道。OK會(huì)歡慶起來(lái),而郝刻薄院長(zhǎng)卻只是面無(wú)表情地注視著這一切。
“OK必勝!OK必勝!OK必勝!”歡呼聲此起彼伏。
回家的路上,OK會(huì)隊(duì)員們依然沉浸在勝利的喜悅中,這畢竟是他們第一次真正的勝利。
“我從沒這么痛快過(guò)!”史乖寶說(shuō)著,他粉色的臉頰看起來(lái)比平時(shí)更加紅潤(rùn)了。
“我們太酷了!”泰瑞和泰銳忙不迭地點(diǎn)頭稱贊。
然而毛怪卻悶悶不樂,“行了,”他對(duì)大家說(shuō),“那根本不是真正的嚇人。”
“噢,我可不這么想,”麥克說(shuō),“大家都表現(xiàn)得很好,想到了很有意思的點(diǎn)子;而你,卻差點(diǎn)害我們被淘汰了。你應(yīng)該嚴(yán)格執(zhí)行我的戰(zhàn)術(shù)。”
“哪有什么戰(zhàn)術(shù)?”毛怪打斷了麥克,“那不過(guò)是個(gè)踮腳走的游戲,到了動(dòng)真格的時(shí)候再來(lái)找我吧。”
麥克正想反駁,一輛載著粉紅美少女隊(duì)的小轎車停了下來(lái)。“嘿,你們?nèi)⒓优蓪?duì)嗎?”一個(gè)可愛的女生問道,她是粉紅美少女隊(duì)的隊(duì)長(zhǎng)。
大家都愣住了。“哦,我想你可能問錯(cuò)人了,”史乖寶說(shuō)道,“我們并沒有被邀請(qǐng)……”
麥克趕緊捂住史乖寶的嘴,問那女孩:“要開派對(duì)嗎?”
“是啊,精嚇會(huì)舉辦的中場(chǎng)派對(duì),只有頂尖的驚嚇隊(duì)伍才能參加哦。你們現(xiàn)在也是了,對(duì)吧?”
“一會(huì)兒見!”女孩說(shuō)著,汽車便揚(yáng)塵而去。
大伙兒不可思議地看著彼此。老唐興奮地大叫起來(lái):“你們聽到了嗎?這簡(jiǎn)直難以置信!”毛怪卻淡淡地說(shuō)了聲:“哼,最好還是別去。”
然而麥克并不打算錯(cuò)過(guò)這個(gè)機(jī)會(huì)。他宣布道:“大家終于認(rèn)可我們的驚嚇能力了,我們要去的!”
來(lái)到精嚇會(huì)會(huì)所外面時(shí),大家開始感到有些怯場(chǎng)了。“現(xiàn)在的年輕人還跳舞嗎?”老唐緊張地問道,“我的舞步有點(diǎn)生疏了。”
“是啊,也許我們不該來(lái)的。”泰銳也猶豫了。
史乖寶心里也是七上八下的,“要是說(shuō)話冷場(chǎng)了該怎么辦?我——我一直都不太會(huì),嗯……你知道的……”
“……聊天?”麥克接著他的話說(shuō)。
史乖寶驚訝地?fù)u搖頭,問道:“你怎么在這方面這么擅長(zhǎng)?”
“你們剛才把一個(gè)五十英尺高的憤怒的圖書管理員都耍得團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn),還怕一個(gè)小小的派對(duì)嗎?”麥克勾著史乖寶的肩,一邊將他輕輕推進(jìn)門,一邊說(shuō)道,“你就進(jìn)去吧!”于是大伙兒都跟了進(jìn)去。