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us laughed. The dog had Manny’s curly hair. And he had Manny’s
dark, soulful eyes.
    “Come on. We’ll be late,” Lily said. She kicked a hard clump of snow off the
sidewalk. Jared and I followed her toward school.
    “Why were those dogs chasing you?” Jared asked.
    “I think because they smelled my cat,” I replied.
    “Those dogs are mean,” Lily said, a few steps ahead of us. “They shouldn’t
let them run wild like that.”
    “Tell me about it,” I replied, rolling my eyes.
    A sharp gust of wind nearly blew us backwards over the slippery sidewalk.
Jared’s Raiders cap went flying into the street. A station wagon rumbled past,
nearly running it over.
    Jared darted into the street and snatched the cap back. “I’ll be glad when
winter is over,” he muttered.
    We met Kristina in front of the school. Her red hair blew wildly around her
head in the swirling wind. “Do we have band practice this afternoon?” she asked. She was chewing a
Snickers bar.
    “Great breakfast,” I said sarcastically.
    “Mom didn’t have time to make eggs,” Kristina replied, chewing.
    “Yes. Practice at my house,” Lily said. “We’ve got to get to work, guys. We
don’t want Howie to win the contest.”
    Kristina turned to me. “Where were you yesterday?”
    “I… uh… didn’t feel too well,” I replied.
    That reminded me of the INSTA-TAN lotion. Were any of my friends growing
hair, too, because of that suntan gunk? I had to know. I had to ask.
    But if they weren’t growing hair—if I was the only one—then I’d be
totally embarrassed.
    “Uh… remember that INSTA-TAN stuff?” I asked quietly.
    “Great stuff,” Jared replied. “I think it made me paler!”
    Kristina laughed. “It didn’t work at all. You were right, Larry. That bottle
was too old.”
    “Look at us,” Lily added. “We’re all as pale as the snow. That stuff didn’t
do anything.”
    But are you growing weird black patches of hair now?
    That’s what I was dying to ask.
    But none of them said anything about growing hair.
    Were they like me? Were they too embarrassed to admit it?
    Or was I the only one?
    I took a deep breath. Should I ask? Should I ask if anyone was sprouting
hair?
    I opened my mouth to ask. But I stopped when I realized that the subject had
changed. They were talking about our band again.
    “Can you bring your amp to my house?” Lily asked Kristina. “Manny will bring
his. But it only has jacks to plug in two guitars.”
    “Maybe I can bring mine—” I started to say.
    But a gust of wind blew my parka hood back.
    I reached up to pull the hood back on my head.
    But my hand brushed the back of my neck—and I gasped.
    The back of my neck was covered with thick hair.

 
 
14
     
     
    “Larry—what’s wrong?” Lily demanded.
    “Uh… uh…” I couldn’t speak.
    “What’s wrong with your scarf?” Jared asked. “Is it too tight?” He tugged at
the wool scarf around my neck.
    The scratchy scarf my mom made me wear because my great-aunt Hildy had
knitted it.
    I had forgotten I was wearing it. When my hand brushed against it, I’d
thought…
    “You looked scared to death!” Lily exclaimed. “Are you okay, Larry?”
    I nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay,” I muttered, feeling my face go red. “The scarf
was choking me, I guess.” What a lame lie.
    But I had to say something. I couldn’t say that I had mistakenly
thought that my neck had sprouted fur!
    Larry, you’ve got to stop thinking about hair! I scolded myself. If you
don’t, you’ll drive yourself crazy!
    I shivered. “Let’s go inside,” I said, wrapping the wool scarf tightly around
my neck.
     
    I hurried to the boys’ room to brush my hair before the bell rang. Gazing at
my wavy, blond hair in the mirror as I brushed it, I had a horrifying thought.
    What if my real hair suddenly fell out? And the gross, prickly black hair
grew in its place?
    What if I woke up one morning, and my entire head was covered in the
disgusting black fur?
    I