Free The Invisible Day by Marthe Jocelyn

though I heard you shouting in the halls a couple of times. … What actually happened?”
    She looked at me with those smart eyes, and I knew I was caught.
    “Mom,” I said. I looked up at the ceiling for guidance.
    I decided to take a chance.
    “Mom, here’s what happened. I found a pot of magic powder, but I didn’t know it was magic. When I put it on, I disappeared. I called the person whose name was with the powder and she said to come over so she could cureme. Hubert came, too, as my gallant protector. And it’s a good thing he did because we needed chewed-up gum to make the potion. And you know how good Hubert is with gum, right?”
    I looked at my mother to make sure she was following me. She cleared her throat.
    “Billie, you have a fertile imagination.”
    “It’s the truth, Mom, but if you don’t believe me, I understand. It’s a bit of a wild story. The important thing is, I got home safely, and so did Hubert, and nobody got hurt and I was very responsible and I learned a lot about the world and I love you and I even love Jane, and you’ll never know how glad I am to be home.”
    I held my breath. Would telling the fantastic truth work? She gazed at me with soppy eyes and then tucked my duvet around my shoulders and said good night.

24 • Revenge
    H ubert and I were famous for a couple of days at school. We told everyone the same dumb story, and then we said we didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
    On Tuesday, Ms. McPhee was back, with a red nose. She posted a schedule of our Small World presentations on the bulletin board. I was on the list for next Monday, so I had a whole extra weekend to finish. Hubert was supposed to do his on Friday. He was getting a little nervous about the talking-to-the-whole-class part, but I told him to practice in front of the mirror.
    It was Alyssa’s turn that I was interested in and, lucky for me, it was one of the first. On Thursday, Charley was doing Australia, and Alyssa was doing China.
    Phase One of my plan was that I had to bein the classroom before anyone else on Thursday. I gave Jane a piggyback ride most of the way to school so that we wouldn’t have to crawl at her pace. For once, my mother acted like a storybook mother and said good-bye conveniently quickly.
    My revenge was simple, and the plan was easily executed. I had decided not to tell Hubert because he might have stopped me.
    As the morning ticked by, I got giddy with anticipation. Finally, it was Small World time. Charley was first. His talk was pretty good. He spent a little too much time discussing the damage a dingo dog can do to a human limb, but aside from that, it was interesting.
    As he was finishing, I watched Alyssa. During question time, she went to her cubby to get her material. I clasped my hands together to stop myself from clapping with glee. She turned to Ms. McPhee and started to whine.
    “My folder’s not here. I put it here and it’s not here.”
    “Don’t fuss, Alyssa. It’s probably in some one else’s cubby by mistake.”
    Alyssa’s foot came up and stomped right down again. Hubert looked at me suspiciously. I looked out the window.
    Alyssa started to paw through other people’s cubbies. Sarah hopped up to help her. After about fifteen tense and delightful minutes, the folder was discovered right where I’d “misplaced” it, on Ms. McPhee’s desk, in the stack of homework files.
    Alyssa snatched it from Ms. McPhee and flounced to center stage.
    “My country is China,” she announced. “China has more people than any other country.” She flipped open her book.
    I had to sit on my hands.
    Her eyebrows pinched together. She scrambled through a few pages.
    (All I had to do was to find Alyssa’s work folder in her messy cubby and open it to thepages she had copied from the encyclopedia. I sprinkled the tiniest bit of powder over the writing, hardly even dust. Just enough to melt away the ink without affecting the paper or the binder. In fact, I could still see