Read Revenge Of A Band Geek Gone Bad for Free Online Page A

egging her," I said aloud.  "That's way too extreme."
    Josh cracked up.  "Oh, we're not doing that.  We're not egging her or toilet papering her house or anything stupid like that.  My plan is a lot more simple ... and less messy."
    "Then what is it?"  I asked again.
    "Sorry, Mel, I'm gonna need you to be a little uh, surprised to pull it off," he told me, "because if you have to think too much about it, I have a feeling you'll back out."  He caught my horrified face and chuckled.  "Don't worry.  I promise, it's not illegal, it won't hurt anyone and it won't get you into any trouble.  But," he assured me, "It will make Kathy freak.  And that's what we want, right?'
    "Uh, right.”
    ###
    That afternoon, I eagerly met up with Josh in the band locker room.  Most of my bandmates store their instruments in there, but I always take my flute with me just because you never know who might decide to steal some things.  Josh was standing in the corner, partially obscured by the spare bass drum.  "Mel," he hissed.  "Come here."
    I took a quick look around to see if anyone would notice us skulking in the corner but everyone was too busy chatting and getting their instruments.  No one cared about us.
    Josh handed me a small, white box.  "Okay, this is it," he said, his eyes gleaming.  "You're gonna love this."
    I slowly opened up the box ... and nearly dropped it on the floor.  Inside was the biggest cockroach I'd ever seen.  Seriously, this thing was several inches long.  I stifled a scream.
    "Relax, Jiminy here is just a hissing cockroach," Josh said, taking the box from me.  "I got him from the pet store today.  Believe it or not, people keep these things as pets."
    "Jiminy?"  I squeaked, eyeing that —- that horrible thing .  "That's not a cricket, Josh!"
    He shrugged.  "Well, he looks like a Jiminy to me.  And he's here to help us.  We —- actually, you —- will be doing the honors."
    "Oh my God, you want me to touch it?"  I shuddered and backed away.  I didn't want to look all scared and silly, but you have to understand, I hate bugs.  If I see so much as a spider in my room, I'll call in my dad to get it out of there.
    "You don't really have to touch it, per se," Josh explained, "but just find a way to get him into Kathy's vicinity."
    "And then what?"  I still didn't quite get this plan.
    "Oh, she'll go crazy.  And then Francis will go crazy.  And then Francis will go crazy on Kathy."  He laughed and clapped his hands at the thought of all of this happening.
    "But how am I supposed to do this?"  I asked.  "I don't know if I can really drop a roach into her things without her well, noticing ."
    Josh's lips spread into that lopsided grin.  "That's where I come in.  I'll create a diversion."
    ###
    We entered the band room and I approached my new seat ... the second chair.  Resisting the urge to kick it, I slowly sat down and unpacked my flute.  Meanwhile, I carefully placed Jiminy under my seat, praying that no one would see him.  Maya Chen, who sits third chair, gave me an encouraging smile.  "Sucks that you lost your seat," she told me.  "You're so good."
    "Thanks," I said, thinking that maybe sitting next to Maya wouldn't be completely horrible.
    Then Kathy arrived.  Dressed in a green sundress, she looked every bit the queen she seemed to thinks she is.  She pasted on a huge pageant-style smile as she ascended her throne, a.k.a. the first chair.  "This is so cool, now I'm going to get to play all the solos!" she burbled as she leafed through the music.  She turned to me.  "Oh, sorry, Mel.   I guess that means you won't get them now."  She laughed.  "But life's full of disappointments, right?"
    "Right," I said, sneaking a quick peek under my chair to make sure that Jiminy was still safe in his box.  He was.
    "So, did you have a good weekend?"  Kathy went on, doing her whole fake-friendly schtick .  "Oh, wait, that's right.  You probably did nothing this weekend.  Because you