Free Monsters and Mischief by Dan Poblocki Page B

money?”
    “Exactly,” said Rosie. “Mom was upset because she’d gone to the pharmacy to pick up some stuff after work. She paid the cashier with a one-hundred-dollar bill and got a lot of change back, including that twenty. Then she went next door to the grocery store. She picked up food for dinner, but when she went to pay, the grocery store cashier wouldn’t accept her money.”
    “Let me guess,” said Viola. “The cashier noticed the smaller size of the twenty, and realized it was a fake?”
    Rosie nodded. “My mom was able to pay with her debit card, but she still left the store angry and embarrassed. She immediately went back to the pharmacy to show the fake bill to the store manager. After a brief discussion, the manager brought over the cashier who had helped my mom earlier. My mom was about to shrug it off and call the whole thing an honest mistake, when suddenly the cashier got really defensive. He said that my mom was trying to swindle the store and get him in trouble. My mom was so shocked, she didn’t even know what to say. The manager didn’t know what to believe, and so hedid nothing. More frustrated than ever, my mother left the store with the fake bill stuck in her pocket.
    “My mom said she wouldn’t have noticed the difference in the money if the grocery store clerk hadn’t pointed it out to her. She wondered why the pharmacy cashier had become so defensive, when clearly, it was an easy mistake to make. I immediately thought of an answer. Can you
?”

“It wasn’t a mistake at all,” said Woodrow. “The pharmacy cashier gave your mom that fake bill on purpose.”
    “But what would giving a fake bill to Mrs. Smithers accomplish?” Sylvester asked. “
Was the pharmacy cashier just being mischievous
?”

“I’d say he was more devious than mischievous,” said Viola. “He’d just stolen from Rosie’s mom, after all.”
    “Stolen?” said Sylvester.
    “By giving Mrs. Smithers a
fake
bill, the cashier had basically added an extra twenty dollars to his register — the real twenty-dollar bill that was supposed to go to Rosie’s mom,” said Viola. “How easy would it be for the cashier to stick that extra twenty in his pocket later?”
    “Pretty easy,” said Woodrow.
    “That is so sneaky!” said Sylvester.
    “And totally illegal,” said Rosie.
    “So what’s your mom going to do about it?” Sylvester asked.
    Rosie shrugged. “There’s nothing she really can do. The cashier cashed in — this time. But my mom said she takes comfort in knowing no one gets away with that kind of thing for long. Bad behavior always comes back to bite.”

17
THE HORROR IN THE DRESSING ROOM
     
    When classes finished, Viola and Rosie met the rest of the
Villain
cast in the auditorium. Instead of calling the group to the stage for a warm-up, Mrs. Glick told everyone that the costume co-coordinator, a broad-shouldered and square-jawed young man named Joey, had arrived to test out some of the outfits they would wear during the show. Joey called several members of the group at a time to come into the wings and search the clothing racks for the costumes he’d brought them. Soon, it was Viola and Rosie’s turn. Joey handed the girls a couple of frilly, Victorian-looking dresses and pointed down the stairs to the dressing room hallway. Rosie carried her green gown with trepidation, remembering Clea’s ghost story about the Lady in Green’s curse. Even though the Question Marks had successfully debunked Clea’s claims, Rosie couldn’t help but worry about the ghost.
    Downstairs, the girls found most of the dressing rooms being used by the boys in the cast. Near the end of the hall, where the fluorescent lights flickered weakly, they located a room where a fewof the girls were changing. Unfortunately, the one person they didn’t wish to see greeted them as soon as they stepped through the door.
    “Well look who it is,” said Clea. “The stars of the show.”
    Viola and Rosie said hi to