Free Sunny Sweet Is So Not Scary by Jennifer Ann Mann Page B

stuff on,” said Junchao.
    â€œI have all my grandmother’s fake jewelry in my room,” I said. “Follow me.”
    I mean, I liked anything that protected us more, but necklaces sounded so much better than a pocketful of meat. And I liked not going into the kitchen or living room just yet. I wasn’t ready to face the ghost again, especially now that we might know who she was.
    The four of us filed into my room. The jewelry was in a box in my closet. Shoot. I didn’t like the idea of opening up my closet door.
    â€œShine the flashlight on my door,” I told Sunny.
    I walked over and put my hand on the door handle. I breathed a couple of times but still couldn’t bring myself to open it.
    I heard metal scraping the floor behind me. It was Alice.
    â€œI’m here,” she said, standing next to me.
    Alice was so much braver than I was. She knew she couldn’t run if anything bad came out of that door. I turned to smile at her. She looked a little creepy in thelight of the flashlight—shadows ran across her face, making her eyes dark and scary.
    â€œWhat?” she asked.
    â€œNothing,” I said, turning back to the door.
    I swung open the door in one big pull . . . squinting . . . waiting for something to jump out at us.
    Nothing did.
    â€œGive me the flashlight, Sunny.”
    I shined it into my closet. Everything looked normal.
    â€œCan you hold it for me?” I handed it to Alice.
    And then I threw a few of my sweaters off the shelf to uncover the box of jewelry that my grandmother gave me. We took the box to the desk and opened it.
    â€œWow!” Junchao said when she saw all the jewelry inside. It was like a treasure chest. It had necklaces and rings and bracelets and the kind of earrings that snapped onto your ears. All of it was big, because that is the kind of stuff my babushka liked to wear. But more important, all of it was very, very shiny . . . and it wasn’t raw meat.
    We dug in. I put on about ten necklaces and two rings. The bracelets were a little too much, so I leftthose off. For my ears, I chose big diamond clip-ons. They pinched a tiny bit, but if they protected me, I was good with the pain.
    Alice put on a giant silver locket and red sparkly clip-on earrings and a few bracelets that jingled when she moved.
    Junchao went nuts. She covered herself in necklaces and bracelets and rings and earrings. She was like a bejeweled Christmas tree. She even hung some bracelets from her hanger hat!
    Sunny put on a necklace and a couple of rings.
    We were all pretty shiny.
    I caught Sunny’s eye. “Thanks,” I mouthed. I knew how much Sunny disliked stuff that wasn’t science, and this was definitely stuff that wasn’t science. She was being so helpful. My little sister was okay.
    All of a sudden it hit me . . . I was having positive thoughts about Sunny! This ghost didn’t stand a chance.
    â€œLet’s finish this job,” I said.
    Â 
    A Ghost-Hunting Knot
    All of us lined up at my door. I had the flashlight. Sunny had her backpack of stuff. Alice had her crutches. And Junchao had Alice.
    We were each wearing our hanger hats, we were covered in jewelry, and we were glowing white from the baby powder. Our little line crept together down the hall and into the kitchen, our jewelry clinking the whole way.
    Once in the kitchen, I remembered that thought I had about the forks and knives coming after me, and I didn’t like being in the kitchen at all. I quickly put downthe flashlight and jumped up on the sink and opened the window. The kitchen had no mirrors. I jumped down, my necklaces jingling, picked up the flashlight, and whispered for everyone to get ready to move again.
    All we had left were the living room and dining room. There were two windows in each and one mirror. But the mirror was on top of the piano right by the front hall closet. Just thinking about it put a cramp in my heart.
    I turned around before we walked