Free Be Careful What You Wish For by R. L. Stine Page A

run out to the water fountain to get a drink. As I was bending over the fountain, I turned and saw Judith right behind me. “My throat is dry like yours,” she explained, faking a cough.
    Later, during free reading, Lisa had to separate Judith and me because Judith wouldn’t stop talking.
    At lunch, I took my usual place across the table from Cory. I had just started telling him about Judith’s new attitude — when she appeared at our table.
    “Could you move down a seat?” she askedthe kid sitting next to me. “I want to sit next to Sam.”
    The kid moved, and Judith dropped her lunch tray onto the table and took her seat. “Would you like to trade lunches?” she asked me. “Yours looks so much better than mine.”
    I was holding a mushed-up tunafish sandwich. “This?” I asked, waving it. Half the tunafish fell out of the soggy bread.
    “Yum!” Judith exclaimed. “Want my pizza, Sam? Here. Take it.” She slid her tray in front of me. “You bring the best lunches. I wish my mom packed lunches like yours.”
    I could see Cory staring at me across the table, his eyes wide with disbelief.
    I really couldn’t believe it, either. All Judith wanted from the world was to be exactly like me!
    A few tables away, near the wall, Anna sat by herself. She looked really glum. I saw her glance over to our table, frowning. Then she quickly lowered her eyes to her lunch.
    After lunch, Judith followed me to my locker. She helped me pull out my books and notebooks and asked if she could carry my backpack.
    At first, I thought this was all really funny. But then I started to get annoyed. And embarrassed.
    I saw that kids were laughing at us. Two boys from my class followed us down the hall,snickering. I heard other kids talking about Judith and me in the hall. They stopped when Judith and I walked by, but I saw amused smirks on their faces.
    She’s making me look like a total jerk!
I realized.
    The whole school is laughing at us!
    “Are you getting braces?” Judith asked me as we made our way back to the classroom. “Someone told me you were getting braces.”
    “Yeah. I’m getting them,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes.
    “Great!” Judith declared. “Then I want to get them, too!”
    After school I hurried to the gym, expecting to have basketball practice. In all the excitement over the wishes, I had forgotten that we had an actual game that afternoon.
    The girls’ team from Edgemont Middle School was already on the floor, warming up by shooting layups. Most of their shots were dropping in. They were big, tough-looking girls. We had heard that they were a really good team — and they looked it.
    I changed quickly and hurried out of the locker room. My teammates were huddled around Ellen for last-minute instructions. As I jogged over to them, I crossed my fingers on both hands andprayed that I wouldn’t make too big a fool of myself in the game.
    Judith grinned at me as I joined the huddle. Then she practically embarrassed me out of my Reeboks by shouting, “Here she is! Here comes our star!”
    Anna and the others laughed, of course.
    But then their smiles quickly faded when Judith interrupted Ellen to announce, “Before the game starts, I think we should name Sam team captain.”
    “You’re joking!” Anna cried.
    A few girls laughed. Ellen stared at me, bewildered.
    “Our best player should be captain,” Judith continued in all seriousness. “So it should be Sam, not me. All in favor, raise your hand.”
    Judith shot her hand up in the air, but no one else did.
    “What’s your problem?” Anna asked her nastily. “What are you trying to do, Judith — ruin our team?”
    Judith and Anna got into an angry shouting match over that, and Ellen had to pull them apart.
    Ellen stared at Judith as if she had lost her mind or something. Then she said, “Let’s worry about who’s captain later. Let’s just go out and play a good game, okay?”
    The game was a disaster.
    Judith copied everything I did.
    If I