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

  work done with Gabe in the picture. Plus

  he never got a girlfriend because he knew

  Gabe would probably mess that up too.

  And even though Rusty thought it was nice

  to have his best friend around, sometimes

  he wondered if he'd made a terrible mistake.

  51

  Once there was a girl named Lilli. And

  from the time she was a baby, Lilli liked

  putting things in her mouth.

  Right now you're probably saying "ALL

  babies like putting things in their mouths."

  But trust me this kid was DIFFERENT.

  It wasn't just baby toys, it was

  EVERYTHING. So Lilli's parents had to

  get used to their stuff being covered in

  baby drool all the time.

  52

  Lilli's pediatrician told her parents their

  baby was teething and that's why she

  always needed something to chew on.

  So Lilli's parents just tried to ignore her

  and let Lilli do her thing. But then Lilli's

  teeth started coming in and they were

  SHARP.

  Lilli's parents kept hoping she'd grow out

  of this stage but she never did.

  53

  When Lilli got a little older her parents

  tried to set up playdates with other

  kids, but they always ended in tears.

  Lilli's parents bought a bunch of books to

  help teach their daughter that biting was

  bad but the lesson never seemed to sink

  in. Plus books were some of Lilli's favorite

  things to chew on.

  54

  By the time Lilli was old enough to go

  to full-day kindergarten she didn't have

  many friends. Her parents were kind of

  nervous sending her to school because of

  her biting issue but they thought maybe

  Lilli's teacher could figure out how to

  handle it better than they could.

  But they probably should've given her

  teacher a heads-up about Lilli when they

  dropped her off for school.

  So Lilli got sent home early on her first

  day of kindergarten. And this was a big

  problem for her parents because they

  both worked from home so they couldn't

  be watching her every second.

  55

  They took her back to the pediatrician

  to see if there was anything she could

  do. The doctor ran some tests and a

  few days later she called them in to

  share the results.

  It turns out the reason Lilli liked biting

  things so much was because she was a

  VAMPIRE. And even though it was hard

  for Lilli's parents to hear that, they

  were glad they finally had some answers.

  The doctor said the good news was that

  vampires aren't contagious until they're

  full-grown, so right now the biting was

  more annoying than anything.

  56

  Lilli's parents didn't understand how

  their daughter was a vampire since

  neither of THEM were vampires.

  But then Lilli's mom remembered that

  when she was pregnant she got bitten

  by a vampire bat so that must've been

  how it happened.

  Lilli's parents were happy to know what

  was going on with their daughter but

  it still didn't solve their problem. They

  really needed her to be in school but they

  couldn't send her if she was gonna keep

  biting people.

  57

  Lilli's pediatrician said there was a special

  school where Lilli could learn with other

  kids just like her. But even though the

  brochure looked nice, Lilli's parents knew

  they could never afford to send her to a

  place like that.

  58

  Lilli's parents asked her pediatrician if

  there was anything else she could do for

  their daughter. So the doctor wrote

  a note to Lilli's school explaining the

  situation.

  Well it turned out the school was GREAT

  about it. They made all sorts of changes

  in the classroom and from then on when

  Lilli bit her teacher it was really no big

  deal.

  59

  They even made changes in the cafeteria

  so Lilli could feel included.

  Lilli's classmates thought being a vampire

  was cool so now everybody wanted to

  be her friend. And they all wanted to be

  just like her so they started ACTING like

  her too.

  60

  Things were going pretty great for

  Lilli at school and she had a ton of new

  friends. And now EVERYONE wanted to

  come over for playdates.

  But then one day the pediatrician called

  and asked Lilli's parents to come back

  into her office. She said she had read the

  test results wrong and that Lilli wasn't

  a vampire after all. She was just a bad

  kid who liked biting people.

  61

  Well you would think that Lilli's parents

  would be thrilled to find out that their

  daughter wasn't a vampire.

  But Lilli was doing great at school and

  they really didn't want her home during

  the workday.

  So they decided to keep the test results

  to themselves. And when Lilli had a

  birthday party and everyone in her class

  came, her parents felt like they'd made

  the right choice.

  63

  Everybody's heard the legend of the

  Headless Horseman who terrorized the

  town of Sleepy Hollow a long time ago.

  But I'll bet you've never heard the story

  of the Human Head who lived a few

  miles away in the town of Elmsford. And

  just because the Human Head didn't go

  around chucking flaming jack-o'-lanterns

  at people doesn't mean his story isn't

  worth telling too.

  64

  So let's start at the beginning. Before

  the Human Head of Elmsford got his

  nickname he was just a regular kid named

  Anders.

  Anders was normal in every way except

  he was born without a body. But that

  didn't stop Anders from doing all the

  things other kids his age did.

  Anders's parents loved him very much

  and told him he could be whatever he

  wanted to be. And that made Anders feel

  good.

  65

  Anders had lots of friends in elementary

  school and was so popular that he got

  voted class president in the fifth grade.

  But things changed when it came time

  for Anders to go to middle school. A few

  of his closest friends moved away during

  the summer and some others went to

  private school. So when September came

  around, Anders felt like he was starting

  over.

  66

  The first day of middle school isn't easy

  for anyone but it's even harder when

  you're a late bloomer like Anders and you

  haven't hit your growth spurt yet.

  Back in elementary school, Anders stayed

  in one classroom the whole day.
But

  middle school was a different thing and

  sometimes Anders had trouble getting

  from one class to another before the bell

  rang.

  67

  When lunchtime came, Anders was happy

  because he really needed a break and

  plus his mom had packed him a bologna

  sandwich and his favorite snack. But by

  the time he got to the cafeteria all the

  good seats were already taken.

  Anders spotted a table across the

  cafeteria with a bunch of empty seats.

  And that's where Anders saw the

  Headless Horseman for the first time.

  68

  Right now you're probably thinking "Oh

  no the Headless Horseman is gonna do

  something terrible to Anders!" but don't

  worry because this was way before

  the Headless Horseman turned evil. In

  fact this was way before he got that

  nickname and a few years before he even

  learned to ride a horse.

  For now the Headless Horseman just

  went by his real name which was Gunther.

  And like I said he wasn't evil yet so when

  he spotted Anders he invited him to sit

  at his table.

  Well from the moment they met, Anders

  and Gunther became fast friends.

  69

  Gunther didn't mind that Anders was a

  little chatty and Anders didn't mind that

  Gunther shoveled food down his neck hole

  to eat.

  The two boys started hanging out after

  school almost every day. Anders helped

  Gunther with his homework and Gunther

  helped Anders with just about everything

  else.

  70

  Fall turned to winter and the two best

  friends made lots of happy memories

  together.

  When February rolled around, everyone

  at school was buzzing about the big

  Valentine's Dance.

  71

  But both boys were too shy to ask

  anyone to go with them and before long

  it seemed like everyone at school was

  paired up.

  Gunther and Anders were sad because

  they knew they'd be spending the night

  of the dance playing video games like

  they always did.

  72

  But something happened the week before

  Valentine's Day that changed everything.

  A girl named Prudence whose family had

  just moved to town showed up at the

  school, and she was so pretty that some

  of the guys who'd asked other girls to the

  dance were kind of kicking themselves.

  Even though Gunther and Anders both

  thought Prudence was cute neither one

  of them was brave enough to ask her to

  the Valentine's Dance. But then Anders

  had an idea.

  73

  He said maybe if the two of them

  teamed up they could convince Prudence

  to go to the dance with them. And

  after a lot of rehearsing in front of the

  mirror they felt like this might actually

  WORK.

  The next day the guys brought a

  bouquet of flowers to school and got

  the courage to ask Prudence to the

  dance. And believe it or not she said YES.

  74

  On the night of the big dance Anders put

  on some of his dad's cologne so he'd smell

  good for his date. And Gunther's parents

  rented him a cape so he'd look extra

  handsome.

  So when the guys showed up at

  Prudence's house they were looking

  pretty sharp.

  When the three kids got to the school

  they didn't know what to expect because

  this was the first time any of them had

  been to a real dance.

  75

  But the Party Planning Committee

  had really done their job because the

  cafeteria looked totally AMAZING.

  Anders, Gunther, and Prudence hung out

  by the refreshments table for a while

  and Anders told a few jokes he had been

  practicing. And when Prudence laughed,

  Anders thought things couldn't be going

  any better.

  76

  When the music really got cranking no one

  wanted to be the first to step onto the

  dance floor. But then Gunther surprised

  everyone by totally going for it.

  It turns out Gunther was a really

  awesome dancer. And no one was happier

  about that than ANDERS.

  77

  That was all it took to get everyone

  ELSE out on the dance floor. And before

  long the party was in high gear.

  Anders and Gunther started a conga

  line and everyone joined in. But Anders

  wasn't looking where he was going and

  that led to disaster.

  78

  Prudence was kind of upset because until

  now she thought Gunther and Anders

  were one person.

  She was a little sore at the guys for not

  being honest with her about who they

  really were. But after Anders apologized

  she forgave them, and when a slow song

  came on, Gunther asked her to dance.

  79

  Even though Anders had a great spot

  right next to the cookie platter, the

  rest of the night wasn't very much fun

  for him.

  After that night, things started to

  change between Anders and Gunther.