Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories (Awesome Friendly Kid Book 3) Read online

  Things got stranger when Jasper walked

  into the bakery. His friend Dieter the

  shoemaker was walking out and when

  Jasper said hello, Dieter ignored him.

  And a few seconds later when Marta

  the librarian walked in to buy her daily

  baguette she walked past Jasper like she

  didn't even see him.

  When Marta went to the counter to

  buy her bread Joris was distracted and

  that's when Jasper made his move. He

  pulled the tube of toothpaste out of his

  pocket and grabbed the glass lid off the

  donut platter.

  22

  Or at least he TRIED to. Because when

  Jasper reached for the lid his hand went

  right THROUGH it.

  Jasper was so confused that he ran

  outside and onto the street. But

  what happened next upset him even

  MORE. Because when he stood in front

  of the mirror shop he didn't have a

  REFLECTION.

  23

  Jasper realized that no one could see or

  hear him. And when he made a complete

  fool of himself nobody noticed.

  Even when Jasper barged in on the

  Mommy and Me class at the yoga studio,

  everyone just kept doing their thing like

  he didn't exist.

  24

  Jasper tried talking himself into thinking

  this was a GOOD thing. Because if no one

  could see him he could pull off some really

  epic pranks.

  Just then a line of people walked past

  Jasper. There was Brom, his best friend

  growing up, and his first school teacher,

  Mrs. Van Dijk. Everyone was dressed in

  black and looked really sad.

  25

  Then Jasper saw his own mother at the

  back of the line, bawling her eyes out.

  Everyone was headed into the church,

  so Jasper followed them inside. And even

  though Jasper knew no one could see him

  he felt a little underdressed so he sat in

  the back pew by himself.

  26

  It didn't take long for Jasper to figure

  out that he was at a funeral. But he was

  still pretty shocked when he realized who

  the funeral was FOR.

  The preacher said the guy who died was

  toilet papering somebody's front yard

  when he got struck by lightning. And you

  probably already figured out that person

  was JASPER.

  So now Jasper knew the truth. He

  wasn't invisible all this time, he was DEAD.

  And he had to sit there while everyone

  came up to the front of the church to

  say a few words.

  27

  Usually at funerals people say NICE

  things about the person who died. But

  all anyone could talk about was Jasper's

  annoying pranks.

  For the first time ever, Jasper could see

  that sometimes he took his pranks too

  far. And he wished he could live his whole

  life over again and become a fisherman

  or a librarian or just about anything

  other than the village prankster.

  28

  After the last person spoke it was time

  for final goodbyes. And when Jasper's

  mom went up to the casket it was a

  little hard for Jasper to watch.

  Jasper had no idea what you're supposed

  to do at a funeral when you're the

  person who died. So even though it felt

  weird he went up to say his goodbyes

  too.

  But there wasn't a body in the casket

  at ALL.

  29

  There was just a pumpkin with a face

  drawn on it which kind of looked like Jasper.

  Then everyone started laughing at once.

  And that was the moment when Jasper

  realized he wasn't really dead and that

  this was all one big PRANK.

  Jasper was happy he was alive but to be

  honest he was annoyed that the other

  villagers got him so good.

  30

  Besides he had a lot of QUESTIONS.

  For one thing he couldn't figure out how

  his hand went through that glass donut

  lid at the bakery. Then Joris explained

  that his nephew was a whiz with

  technology and the whole donut platter

  was a hologram.

  And when Jasper asked why he couldn't

  see his reflection in the mirror the guy

  who owned the mirror shop said he'd

  replaced the mirrors with televisions

  that showed an empty sidewalk.

  31

  Then the people who were in the yoga

  studio said they almost lost it when

  Jasper walked in on their class.

  It turned out the whole VILLAGE was

  in on the joke. And since pranking was

  kind of Jasper's thing he had a hard time

  admitting they got him.

  Jasper told everyone it was a decent

  prank but his were way BETTER.

  32

  Then the preacher said this was actually

  a DOUBLE prank because the day

  before, a meteor wiped out the village

  and everyone in it.

  That meant they were ALL dead and

  EVERYONE was a ghost.

  Well this was the second time Jasper

  found out he was dead in one day, but

  this time he didn't take it as hard.

  Jasper always wanted to travel, and if

  he was a ghost he could fly wherever he

  wanted.

  33

  So he climbed to the top of the

  lighthouse and aimed himself toward

  Paris.

  But it turns out the story about the

  meteor was a prank too. And this time the

  villagers thought maybe THEY were the

  ones who took a prank a little too far.

  35

  Rusty and Gabe were best friends from

  the time they were little. They hung out

  at Rusty's house every day after school,

  and on weekends they'd watch their

  favorite soccer team play on TV.

  Most of the time Rusty and Gabe got

  along great but every once in a while Gabe

  did something that annoyed Rusty. But

  Rusty knew that even best friends can

  sometimes get on each other's nerves.

  Then one day something terrible

  happened to Gabe. And I don't wanna get

  into the details because it's way too sad

  for a kid's book.

  36

  Later on that year Rusty was really sad

  because he missed his best friend. And

  even though Gabe did a lot of annoying

  things Rusty knew he would do anything

  to spend just one more afternoon with

  his pal.

  Suddenly a cold gust of wind blew into

  Rusty's room and when he turned around

  there was his best friend Gabe.

  37

  Right now you are probably saying "Oh

  I guess Gabe wasn't dead after all!" but

  you're WRONG. Because this was the

  GHOST version of Gabe.

  Gabe said he came back from the spirit

  world because he knew Rusty really

  needed him. And that kind of made Rusty

  feel bad for thinkin
g about all the times

  Gabe annoyed him.

  But Gabe said now that he was a ghost

  he wouldn't have to go home and they

  could hang out all night if they wanted.

  38

  Well Rusty was glad to have his friend

  back but the thing about staying up late

  made him a little nervous because this

  was a school night and he liked to get to

  bed early. But Rusty didn't say anything

  because he knew Gabe would tell him he

  was being a Goody Two-shoes.

  Rusty said he should probably go

  downstairs and tell his parents that Gabe

  was back but Gabe said that would spoil

  their fun and they should keep this ghost

  thing a secret.

  Gabe said they should just hang out and

  play video games like they did in the old

  days.

  39

  But when Rusty handed Gabe a controller

  it went right through his hands.

  It turned out since Gabe was a ghost he

  couldn't touch anything. So he had Rusty

  play the game FOR him which wasn't

  really that much fun for Rusty.

  After a few hours Rusty said he needed

  to do his homework.

  40

  Gabe said he was glad HE didn't have to

  do homework anymore since he was dead.

  And he kept talking which made it really

  hard for Rusty to concentrate.

  Finally Rusty put a soccer game on TV

  so Gabe would stop bugging him for a

  while. But Gabe booed the whole time, and

  Rusty couldn't tell if that was because

  Gabe didn't like one of the teams or if he

  was just making ghost noises.

  41

  After a while Gabe got bored with the

  game and he started trying out his

  ghost powers like walking through walls.

  And that made it even harder for Rusty

  to concentrate on his homework.

  Rusty gave up on his homework and told

  Gabe he needed to go to sleep. But Gabe

  said that was kind of inconvenient for

  HIM because ghosts don't sleep.

  42

  Rusty got ready for bed and hoped Gabe

  would just float away to wherever it is

  that ghosts go at night. But even after

  Rusty got under the covers and turned

  off the lights Gabe kept hanging around

  talking.

  And all Gabe wanted to do was talk about

  this girl named Kelsey Reed who he had a

  crush on.

  Somehow Rusty fell asleep and when he

  woke up Gabe was STILL talking. And

  he kept right on talking while Rusty got

  ready for school.

  43

  Rusty told Gabe he'd catch up with

  him when he got back from school. But

  Gabe said it would be too boring to wait

  in Rusty's bedroom all day so he was

  coming WITH him.

  It turns out Rusty was the only one who

  could see or hear Gabe, and he talked the

  whole way to school. But Rusty didn't

  really respond because he didn't want

  anyone thinking he was talking to himself.

  44

  First period for Rusty was Science. And

  unfortunately Marcus Meeks was absent

  so that meant there was an empty seat

  right behind Rusty.

  The next period was Spanish and there

  was a pop quiz. Rusty didn't get a chance

  to look over his notes the night before

  so he knew he was in trouble. But this

  was where having a ghost friend came in

  handy for Rusty.

  45

  Rusty's teacher graded the quizzes

  during class. And when Rusty got his

  quiz back he remembered that Gabe had

  always been lousy in Spanish.

  At recess, Rusty was too tired to play

  kickball with the other kids so he sat on

  the bench. Then Kelsey Reed sat down

  next to him.

  46

  Kelsey started talking to Rusty and she

  was really nice. But when Rusty tried to

  talk he could barely think because Gabe

  was being really annoying.

  On the walk home all Gabe could talk

  about was Kelsey Reed. And this time

  Rusty didn't even bother responding.

  47

  That night Rusty needed to study for

  a test but of course Gabe made that

  impossible.

  By now Rusty was overtired and cranky

  and finally he just SNAPPED.

  Rusty blamed Gabe for his bad grade in

  Spanish and said his constant talking was

  driving him nuts. And he said maybe it

  would've been better if Gabe hadn't come

  back in the FIRST place.

  48

  But as soon as the words left Rusty's

  mouth he wished he could take them back

  because he could tell he'd hurt his friend's

  feelings.

  Gabe said that if Rusty felt that way

  then maybe he should just go back to the

  spirit world. And that kind of got Rusty

  a little teary-eyed because he knew if

  Gabe was gone for good he'd probably

  start missing him again.

  49

  Rusty said he was sorry and that he

  didn't want Gabe to go to the spirit

  world.

  So Gabe stuck around, and it wasn't for a

  little while either. Rusty's grades went

  downhill and he didn't bother going to

  college because he knew he'd never get any