Chapter One

 

  I WAS IN THE KITCHEN, feeding Fred. He’s my pet turtle. And if you know anything about turtles, you probably know that they take.

  Their.

  Time.

  So you can imagine how long it takes the little guy to eat a piece of lettuce.

  Not that I really cared. I didn’t have anything better to do with my day. My mom and I had moved to this new town a couple of months ago, and I hadn’t really made a friend yet. And, I mean, even if I had made a friend, I definitely wouldn’t have invited them over to our house on a Saturday afternoon. That would’ve been an awesome way to lose that friend of mine nice and fast.

  I’d spent most of the day playing video games, which is fun, and also a great way of distracting yourself from the fact that you’ve been in a new town for two whole months and still haven’t made a single friend. But then Mom had called up from the basement and told me that I should take a break from the TV and, just to be safe, that I should also stay a few feet away from any other electronics. She was working on something downstairs, and according to her there was “a slight to moderate risk” that “a large to enormous” electric current could shoot out of an outlet and into me.

   

  Anyway, Fred was almost done with his lettuce when—DING-DONG—the doorbell rang.

  I tipped my ear toward the basement door, wondering if Mom was expecting someone.

  But all I heard was something that sounded like hammering, followed by Mom shouting, “Stubborn thing!”

  I turned back to Fred.

  “You okay for a minute?” I asked him.

  He slow-motion wrestled the last morsel of lettuce into his mouth.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” I said.

  I pushed my chair back and got to my feet.

  “Coming!” I called out as I headed for the door.