Free My Hairiest Adventure by R. L. Stine Page B

wanted the ugly hair to stop sprouting all over my body.
    If only I had never found that bottle of INSTA-TAN.
    This was all my fault. All of it.
    “So I guess The Geeks have to pull out of the band contest tomorrow,” I said
glumly.
    “I guess,” Jared repeated, shaking his head.
    “No way!” Kristina cried, surprising both of us. She jumped to her feet and
stood between Jared and me. She balled both hands into fists. “No way!” she
repeated.
    “But we don’t have a singer—” Jared protested.
    “I can sing,” Kristina replied quickly. “I’m a pretty good singer.”
    “But you haven’t rehearsed any of the songs,” Jared said. “Do you know the
words?”
    Kristina nodded. “All of them.”
    “But, Kristina—” I started.
    “Listen, guys,” she said sharply, “we have to go onstage tomorrow.
Even if it’s just the three of us. We can’t let Howie Hurwin win tomorrow—can
we?”
    “I’d like to wipe that grin off Howie’s face,” I muttered.
    “Me, too,” Jared agreed. “But how can we? Two guitars and a keyboard? Howie
has his full band. He’ll blast us out of the auditorium.”
    “Not if we play our hearts out!” Kristina exclaimed with emotion. “Not if we
give it our best.”
    “Let’s do it for Lily!” I blurted out. The words just tumbled from my mouth. As soon as I said it, I felt embarrassed.
    But Kristina and Jared picked right up on it. “Let’s do it for Lily!” they
both cried. “We can win! We really can! Let’s win it for Lily!”
    So it was decided. The Geeks would go onstage tomorrow afternoon. Could we
win? Could we beat Howie and the Shouters?
    Probably not.
    But we’d give it our best shot.
    “Let’s go up to my room and practice a little,” I suggested.
    Jared started toward the stairs. But Kristina didn’t move.
    I turned and found her staring at my face in horror.
    “Larry—!” she cried, pointing. “What’s that on your forehead?”

 
 
24
     
     
    I gasped in horror.
    My hand shot up to my forehead.
    The ugly black hair—it had grown back, I knew. And now Kristina and Jared
were both staring at it. They both saw it—saw that I was becoming some kind of
hairy monster.
    I rubbed my forehead with a trembling hand.
    Smooth.
    My forehead was smooth!
    “It’s right there.” Kristina pointed.
    I hurried over to the hallway mirror and gazed up at my forehead. I
discovered an orange smear near my right temple.
    “It’s spaghetti sauce,” I moaned. “I must have rubbed my face during dinner.”
    I rubbed off the orange spot. My entire body was shaking. Kristina had scared
me to death! Over a dumb spot of spaghetti sauce!
    “Larry, are you okay?” she asked, standing behind me and staring at my reflection in the mirror. “You look kind of weird.”
    “I’m okay,” I replied quickly, trying to force my body to stop shaking and
quaking.
    “Hey—don’t get sick,” Jared warned. “Kristina and I can’t go on the stage
by ourselves tomorrow.”
    “I’ll be there,” I told them. “Don’t worry, guys. I’ll be there.”
     
    The next afternoon, the whole school jammed into the auditorium to watch the
Battle of the Bands.
    Feeling really nervous, I stood backstage and peeked out through the curtain.
The lights in the auditorium were all on, and Mr. Fosburg, the principal, stood
in front of the curtain, both arms raised, trying to get everyone quiet.
    Behind me, Howie Hurwin and his band were tuning up, adjusting the amps,
making sure the sound was right. Marissa was wearing a very short, sparkly red
dress over black tights. She caught me staring at her and flashed me a smug
smile.
    The Geeks should have dressed up, I realized, watching Marissa. We didn’t
even think of it. The three of us were wearing T-shirts and jeans, our normal
school clothes.
    I turned and gazed at Howie’s new synthesizer keyboard. It was about a mile long, and it had a thousand buttons and dials
on it. It made Jared’s keyboard look like a baby