“I’m in a bad mood,” he confessed. “It hasn’t been the greatest day.”

“It couldn’t be as bad as the day the Monster Blood went berserk!” Andy exclaimed.

Evan groaned. “Don’t mention Monster Blood to me. Please!”

She studied him. Her expression turned serious. “What’s wrong, Evan? You look really upset,” she said. “Don’t you like it here?”

He shook his head. “Not much.”

As they walked, he told her about all the trouble he was having in his new school. He told her about Mr. Murphy and Cuddles, and how the teacher was always on his case.

And he told her about Conan the Barbarian, and how Conan was always picking on him, always getting him into trouble, always playing tricks on him and making him look bad.

“And no one will believe me about the Monster Blood,” Evan added.

They were standing at the bottom of his driveway. They glanced up at Evan’s new house, a two-story red brick house with a sloping red tile roof. The late afternoon sun dipped behind a large puff of cloud, and a broad shadow rolled across the lawn.

Andy’s mouth dropped open. The blade of grass fell out. “You told kids about the Monster Blood?” she asked in surprise.

Evan nodded. “Yeah, why not? It’s a cool story, isn’t it?”

“And you expected kids to believe you?” Andy cried, slapping her forehead. “Didn’t they just think you were weird?”

“Yeah,” Evan replied bitterly. “They all think I’m weird.”

Andy laughed. “Well, you are weird!”

“Thanks a bunch, Annnndrea!” Evan muttered. He knew she hated to be called by her real name.

“Don’t call me Andrea,” she replied sharply. She raised a fist. “I’ll pound you.”

“Annnnnndrea,” he repeated. He ducked away as she swung her fist. “You punch like a girl!” he exclaimed.

“You’ll bleed like a boy!” she threatened, laughing.

He stopped. He suddenly had an idea. “Hey—you can tell everyone I’m not weird!”

“Huh? Why would I do that?” Andy demanded.

“No. Really,” Evan said excitedly. “You can tell everyone at school that the Monster Blood was real. That you were there. That you saw it.”

Andy’s expression suddenly changed. Her dark eyes lit up, and a sly grin crossed her face. “I can do better than that,” she said mysteriously.

Evan grabbed her shoulder. “Huh? What do you mean? What do you mean you can do better?”

“You’ll see,” she replied, teasing him. “I brought something with me.”

“What? What is it? What do you mean?” Evan demanded.

“Meet me tomorrow after school,” she told him. “At that little park over there.”

She pointed to the next block. A narrow park, only a few blocks long, ran along the bank of a shallow creek.

“But what is it?” Evan cried.

She laughed. “I love torturing you!” she declared. “But it’s a little too easy.”

Then she turned and headed down the street, running at full speed.

“Andy—wait!” Evan called. “What have you got? What did you bring?”

She didn’t even turn around.

Evan dreamed about Monster Blood that night.

He dreamed about it nearly every night.

Tonight he dreamed that his dad had eaten a glob of it. Now Mr. Ross wanted to go to his office, but he had grown too big to fit through the door.

“You’re in trouble now, Evan!” Mr. Ross bellowed, making the whole house shake. “Big trouble!”

Big trouble.

The words stuck in Evan’s mind as he sat up in bed and tried to shake away the dream.

The curtains flapped silently in front of his open bedroom window. Pale yellow stars dotted the charcoal sky. Staring hard, Evan could see the Big Dipper. Or was it the Little Dipper? He never could remember.

Shutting his eyes and settling back on the pillow, Evan thought about Andy. He was glad she had come to stay in Atlanta for a while. She could be a real pain. But she was also a lot of fun.

What did she want to show him in the park after school?

Probably nothing, Evan guessed. It was probably just a dumb joke. Andy loved dumb jokes.

How can I get her to tell the kids at school about Monster Blood? he wondered. How can I get Andy to tell everyone that I didn’t make it up, that it’s true?

He was still thinking about this problem as he fell back into a restless sleep.

*  *  *

The next day at school wasn’t much better than the last.

Somehow during free reading period, Conan had crept under the table and tied Evan’s laces together. When Evan got up to go to the water fountain, he fell flat on his face. He scraped a knee, but no one cared. The kids laughed for hours.

“Evan’s mommy tied his shoes funny this morning!” Conan told everyone. And they laughed even harder.

In science class, Mr. Murphy called Evan over to the hamster cage. “Look at poor Cuddles,” the teacher said, shaking his round head solemnly.