Free Stage Fright by Peter Bently

Chapter 1
    Ghoul Show

    The school clock was striking nine when a small bat zoomed up to the main entrance of St. Orlok’s Elementary School. The bat hovered in front of the doors for a moment, then with a POP! it turned into a boy. It was Lee Price, and he was late for school. Vampire school.

    Lee dashed through the doors—and almost crashed right into Mr. E. Gore, the school janitor.
    â€œHey! Votch vere you’re going!” grumbled Mr. Gore.
    â€œSorry!” called Lee, speeding down the corridor with his black cape flapping behind him.
    â€œLate again, huh?” yelled Mr. Gore.
    He shook his fist so hard that little flakes of rotten skin flew off it like green dandruff. “Pesky vampire kids! So unreliable! Ve zombies are always dead on time!”

    Lee reached his classroom and burst in just as his teacher, Miss Gargoyle, was taking roll call. All the other young vampires turned to stare at him.
    â€œSorry I’m late, miss!” he gasped breathlessly, plonking himself down at a table next to his friends Billy Pratt and Bella Williams.
    â€œReally, Lee,” sighed Miss Gargoyle. She peered at the clock. “I nearly marked you absent. Tonight of all nights!”
    â€œSorry, Miss. I forgot my costume and had to go back home for it.”
    â€œGood grief!” panicked Miss Gargoyle. “Has anyone else forgotten their phantomime costume?

    â€œNo, Miss Gargoyle!” chorused the class.
    â€œThank goodness for that,” said Miss Gargoyle with relief. “There’s enough to think about as it is!”
    Later that night, Miss Gargoyle’s class was performing Snow Fright and the Seven Dwarfs in the school hall. Lee had the part of Gnashful, the dwarf who was always angry.
    â€œMith Gargoyle! Mith Gargoyle!” piped up Lucy West, who was going to be the Wicked Queen. “My cothtume is bound to be the betht. Shall I show it to the clath?”

    â€œTypical West the Pest,” whispered Bella. “Any excuse to show off!” Bella was playing Princess Snow Fright.
    â€œI know,” agreed Lee.

    â€œAt least she’s stopped boasting about how many fangs she’s lost.”
    â€œYeah,” said Billy, who was playing the hunter who took Snow Fright into the forest. “And about how the Fang Fairy gives her two dollars for each fang.”
    Lucy scowled at them and stuck her tongue out.
    â€œWe’ll see all the costumes after break, when we have our dress rehearsal,” said Miss Gargoyle firmly. “Until then, it’s lessons as usual.”

    â€œAw, miss!” groaned the class.
    â€œQuiet, please, everyone!” said Miss Gargoyle. “Today we are going to practice the Three Ss. Does anyone know what that stands for?”

    â€œWhat about scaring, staring, and startling?” suggested Bella.
    â€œOr shrieking, screaming, and screeching?” said Big Herb, secretly popping three candies into his mouth when he thought Miss Gargoyle wasn’t looking.
    â€œMore like scoffing, slurping, and stuffing your face,” chuckled Lee. Nobody had been surprised when Miss Gargoyle had chosen Herb to play Chompy, the greediest of the Seven Dwarfs.
    â€œGood guesses,” said Miss Gargoyle, neatly swiping Big Herb’s hidden stash of candies. “But to begin with, let’s all turn into bats.”
    Everyone said the words that Miss Gargoyle had taught them:
    â€œI’m a bat, a bat is me.
    A bat is all I want to be.”
    And with a volley of soft POP s, they all became bats, fluttering merrily around the classroom.
    Big Herb managed it on his second try. The first time around, his mouth was so full of candy that he said mat instead of bat and turned into a flying carpet.

    â€œNow, listen and watch carefully,” squeaked Miss Gargoyle, who was now a little brown bat. “The first two Ss are swooping and swerving.”
    Miss Gargoyle swooped and swerved all around the room,