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Matilda enjoyed a beautiful little daydream about body slamming Tiffany into the muddy practice field, but she also realized that their leader was doing her a favor. Now she would get some alone time with one of her suspects.
Matilda and Kylie stood in front of the bathroom mirror. They debated blush and eyeliner while Matilda pretended to know the difference between them.
“So you’re makeup challenged, too?” Kylie said.
Matilda nodded. “I wasn’t exactly a girlie-girl before cheerleading entered my life.”
Kylie smiled. “Nice to know someone else was going through an awkward phase.”
“Awkward, huh?”
“The worst. Sometimes I wondered if I was even human—but hey, look at me now. I’m hot!” She licked her finger, set it on her arm, and then made a sizzling sound.
“I’m so hot I have a fever!” Matilda said. She couldn’t help but like Kylie. Unlike the other girls, who seemed proud of how shallow and superficial they could be, Kylie had a sense of self that couldn’t be touched by petty insults. She didn’t seem to care what the others thought of her.
“So, where are you from, Kylie?”
“Oh, everywhere. My mom moves us around a lot. You?”
“Well, I was born in San Francisco but moved east when I was a baby. My parents wanted me to get a good education. I’m a bit of a math prodigy. Do you like math?”
Kylie smiled. “I can barely add two plus two,” she said. “And I wouldn’t walk around bragging about being smart in front of the rest of the squad. There’s nothing that makes dumb people angrier than having a smart person reminding them that they’re morons.”
“HEY!” Tiffany’s voice bellowed from outside. “Let’s go! The portal is opening right now!”
How is that possible? Matilda thought. She and the NERDS had confiscated it.
They raced into the forest and saw Toni and Jea
Tiffany and McKe
“I’m sorry!” McKe
“How do you lose a machine that opens a door to other Earths?” Tiffany shouted. “Do you think these things grow on trees?”
“Where did you get that one?” Matilda asked.
“Don’t you worry about where I got it, newbie!” Tiffany said. “Just get through the portal!”
Matilda and Kylie did as they were told. In a flash the camp was gone and they were tumbling into a humid rain forest. Ancient trees soared overhead, while a gurgling stream slipped over a stone riverbed. Insects as big as Matilda’s fist buzzed around the girls’ heads.
“Um, I think there’s supposed to be treasure,” Jea
“Harsh! The sca
“Pair up and spread out,” Tiffany said. “The temple has to be close by.”
“I’ll go with Lilly,” Matilda said. She could tell Kylie was a little hurt, but when major landmarks were vanishing from Washington, D.C., you had to have priorities.
Lilly seemed just as put out, but Matilda ignored it. She looped her arm through the girl’s and marched her into the brush.
“I thought we could use the time to get to know each other,” Matilda said.
“Whatever,” Lilly said.
“So, Lilly, tell me about yourself,” Matilda said.
“What do you care? Are you spying on me?”
“Of—of course not,” Matilda stammered.
“Everyone on this squad is the same—two-faced. I hate how we all gang up on each other, and I’m sure anything I tell you will just get used against me when Queen Tiffany decides to dole out her favors.”
“I promise I’m not out to get you,” Matilda said. “Just making conversation.”
“You’re actually interested?”
Matilda nodded. “Sure.”
“You first then. Tell me something about yourself that you don’t want anyone to know. You spill and I’ll spill,” Lilly said, swatting at a rather large jungle beetle.
“I have six brothers.”
“Wow, it must have been very painful to tell me that,” Lilly said.
“OK. OK!” Matilda said. She didn’t want to tell this stranger her deep, dark secrets, but if it would get her to open up … “My parents are going to get a divorce and I cry at night sometimes hoping they will get back together.”
“They won’t,” Lilly said flatly. “My parents are divorced, too. They even tried to get back together. It’s just not going to happen.”
“Is that why you’re angry?”
Lilly took a step back. “You think I’m angry?”
Matilda nodded.
“Yeah, I guess I am,” Lilly said.
Matilda knew from Gerdie’s file that her parents were divorced. Could Lilly be the Mathlete? Did she have sisters? Did she ever live in Arlington?
Just then, something brown and hairy leaped down from the trees above their heads. It was a chimpanzee, but not like any she had seen in a zoo. This one was wearing a strange harness that covered his chest, legs, and arms. He was also carrying a bushel of bananas under one of his stringy arms. He eyed the cheerleaders carefully, and then, much to Matilda’s shock, he tapped his nose and said, “Flinch here. I have found two of the invaders.”
He quickly peeled a handful of bananas and shoved them into his mouth. As he chewed, his harness began to glow. He pounded on his chest and shouted, “I am mighty!”
Matilda peered closely at the creature. This chimpanzee was Flinch—a very hairy version, but Flinch nonetheless. There was Flinch’s harness, and the sugar, and the chimp was even shouting his catchphrase. And he wasn’t alone. Soon, a cute yellow monkey no bigger than a house cat swung through the trees by its tail. By the way it was scratching its arms and legs, Matilda guessed it was this world’s Ruby Peet. An orangutan leaped from tree to tree as if its feet and hands were covered in glue—obviously Duncan. Rushing up behind them was a baboon Jackson Jones, with a bright red nose, blue face, and enormous robotic appendages coming from its mouth. But the most startling was the razorback gorilla that flew overhead with the help of two tiny inhalers.
The animals stepped into their fighting stances and surrounded the girls.
“Stay where you are,” the little yellow monkey commanded. “We’re waiting for your machine to recharge and then you and the rest of you moronic girls are going back to where you belong.”
Lilly cringed. “Talking monkeys!”
The gorilla pounded her chest and bared her fangs. “Some of us are apes!” she said, clearly insulted.
“Run!” Lilly cried, hurling herself into the overgrown jungle.
“Wait!” Matilda shouted, but Lilly was already gone. Matilda chased after her, swatting at branches and leaves. Roots sprang up on the path and snakes slithered out of her way. It seemed as if the whole jungle had risen up to torment her, but she eventually caught up with Lilly just as they plowed into Tiffany and McKe
“What is wrong with you nutcases?” Tiffany said.
“Monkeys are attacking!” Lilly cried.
“She’s gone crazy,” McKe
Just then the razorback flew overhead, propelled by two rocket-fueled inhalers. The rest of the furry team followed, causing Tiffany and McKe
Matilda stood up, brushed herself off, and shouted up into the trees. “You want to talk, I’m right here, but make it quick. We’ve got less than ten minutes before the portal opens and we have to leave!”
The gorilla slammed down hard in front of her, and the other creatures swung into view. The tiny yellow one leaped onto the gorilla’s shoulder and cleared her throat.
“Humans that talk,” the monkey said.
“Fascinating,” the baboon said.