The New Year's Eve Sleepover from the Black Lagoon (Black Lagoon Adventures series Book 14) Read online

  BLACK LAGOON

  ADVENTURES

  #14

  SCHOLASTIC

  BY

  MIKE THALER •

  ILL

  USTRATED BY

  JARED LEE

  14

  THE

  NEW YEAR’S EVE

  SLEEPOVER

  FROM THE

  BLACK LAGOON

  THE

  NEW YEAR’S EVE

  SLEEPOVER

  FROM THE

  BLACK LAGOON

  Get more monster-sized laughs from

  The Black Lagoon

  ®

  #1: The Class Trip from the Black Lagoon

  #2: The Talent Show from the Black Lagoon

  #3: The Class Election from the Black Lagoon

  #4: The Science Fair from the Black Lagoon

  #5: The Halloween Party from the Black Lagoon

  #6: The Field Day from the Black Lagoon

  #7: The School Carnival from the Black Lagoon

  #8: Valentine’s Day from the Black Lagoon

  #9: The Christmas Party from the Black Lagoon

  #10: The Little League Team from the Black Lagoon

  #11: The Snow Day from the Black Lagoon

  #12: April Fools’ Day from the Black Lagoon

  #13: Back-to-School Fright from the Black Lagoon

  #14: The New Year’s Eve Sleepover from the Black Lagoon

  #15: The Spring Dance from the Black Lagoon

  #16: The Thanksgiving Day from the Black Lagoon

  #17: The Summer Vacation from the Black Lagoon

  #18: The Author Visit from the Black Lagoon

  #19: St. Patrick’s Day from the Black Lagoon

  #20: The School Play from the Black Lagoon

  #21: The 100

  th

  Day of School from the Black Lagoon

  #22: The Class Picture Day from the Black Lagoon

  #23: Earth Day from the Black Lagoon

  #24: The Summer Camp from the Black Lagoon

  #25: Friday the 13

  th

  from the Black Lagoon

  by Mike Thaler

  Illustrated by Jared Lee

  SCHOLASTIC INC.

  THE

  NEW YEAR’S EVE

  SLEEPOVER

  FROM THE

  BLACK LAGOON

  To Matt Ringler,

  who makes work fun!

  —M.T.

  To Kathy Boyer Zienty,

  classmate and friend.

  —J.L.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

  Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted,

  downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced

  into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by

  any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter

  invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For

  information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention:

  Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  e-ISBN: 978-0-545-37558-0

  Text copyright © 2008 by Mike Thaler

  Illustrations copyright © 2008 by Jared D. Lee Studio, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.

  SCHOLASTIC, LITTLE APPLE,

  and associated logos are trademarks and/or

  registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  Lexile is a registered trademark of MetaMetrics, Inc.

  First printing, December 2008

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Happy New Fear . . . . . . . . . . 6

  Chapter 2: PJ’s Away . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

  Chapter 3: Blanket Security . . . . . . . . .12

  Chapter 4: Good Try . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

  Chapter 5: Rest in Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

  Chapter 6: Spaced Out . . . . . . . . . . . 22

  Chapter 7: Checkers Mate . . . . . . . . . 26

  Chapter 8: New Fear’s Eve . . . . . . . . . . 30

  Chapter 9: Going to the Dogs . . . . . . . . 34

  Chapter 10: Pie in the Sky. . . . . . . . . . . 36

  Chapter 11: A Feather in His Cap . . . . . . . . .42

  Chapter 12: The Apple of My Eye . . . . . . . . .46

  Chapter 13: Resolutionary . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

  Chapter 14: Not on the Ball . . . . . . . . . .58

  CHAPTER 1

  HAPPY NEW FEAR

  Eric is having a New Year’s Eve

  sleepover.

  It will last all night. I’ve never

  been away from home . . . all

  night. Mom told me I can go, but

  I’m scared. Couldn’t we just start

  with a napover or a snoozeover?

  6

  7

  What if I have a bad dream or

  get sick? Mom won’t be there to

  save me.

  I will be in a strange bed, in

  a strange room, in a strange

  house. Eric says it’ll be great. We

  can stay up till midnight and

  welcome in the new year. Mom

  says we can see the ball drop in

  TimesSquare . . . if we don’t drop

  first. I’d like to drop out of the

  whole sleepover.

  9

  CHAPTER 2

  PJ’S AWAY

  Mom wants me to go. She says

  it’ll be fun. She still remembers

  her first sleepover. It was called

  a pajama party. She and her

  girlfriends played games, made

  popcorn, and talked all night.

  It sounds more like an

  awakeover to me. Besides, I need

  my sleep. I need my bed. I need

  to stay at home.

  10

  11

  CHAPTER 3

  BLANKET SECURITY

  Mom says I can take a few

  familiar objects for security.

  Okay . . . let’s see. I’ll take my

  stuffed bear. I’ll take my baseball

  glove. I’ll take my pillow and

  blanket. Hey, I can even take

  my night-light, my bed, and my

  dresser.

  12

  13

  I can take my computer, my

  TV, and all my video games.

  14

  I can take my dog and my

  posters. Hey, it might be easier

  to just stay home.

  15

  CHAPTER 4

  GOOD TRY

  I don’t need to welcome in the

  new year. . . . I liked the old year

  fine. But Mom tells me I have to

  expand my horizons as I get older.

  She says I have to grow. Okay—

  let’s have the sleepover at my

  house. I call Eric . . . he says no

  way. It was his idea, he thought

  of it first, and besides, he’s never

  spent a night away from home.

  Bummer!

  16

  17

  CHAPTER 5

  REST IN PEACE

  That night I have a nightmare.

  I’m sleeping in a lot of strange

  places—on the school bus, at

  school, on third base at the

  bal
lpark. The weirdest one is

  in a mattress store. Just as I fall

  asleep, Eric marches in blowing

  horns and throwing confetti, and

  buys the mattress I’m on.

  18

  19

  I wake up. I’m home in my own

  bed, and that’s where I’m going

  to stay.

  20

  21

  CHAPTER 6

  spaced out

  Maybe I’ll go for a little while

  before it gets dark. Mom assures

  me I can call her anytime, and

  she’ll come and pick me up.

  22

  23

  So we pack my bear, my

  baseball glove, my pillow, my

  blanket, and one video game into

  an overnight bag. Mom draws the

  line at my bed and my dresser.

  An overnight bag . . . scary! I’ll

  just call it a knapsack. We put it

  in the car and drive over to Eric’s

  house. Actually, he lives around

  the corner. But still it’s foreign

  soil. It could be Tibet. It could be

  outer space. Mom drops me off

  on the moon. I stand and watch

  her shuttle blast off. I feel like an

  astronaut, abandoned and alone.

  24

  25

  CHAPTER 7

  CHECKERS MATE

  Eric comes out and grabs my

  bag.

  “Come on in, Hubie—all the

  guys are here.”

  26

  Sure enough, there’s Derek,

  Freddy, and Randy. They all look a

  little spacey, as if they just landed

  on another planet.

  27

  “Let’s play a game,” says Eric.

  He takes out the checkerboard,

  and we all sit around the kitchen

  table.

  28

  I feel a little better already.

  Eric’s mom makes hot chocolate

  and chocolate chip cookies. I’m

  feeling better all the time. At least

  there’s a mom around in case of

  an emergency.

  29

  CHAPTER 8

  NEW FEAR’s eve

  The game is over, the hot

  chocolate is cold, the cookies

  are gone, and it’s getting dark

  outside.

  “I want to go home! It’s time to

  call Mom.”

  30

  “Wait,” says Eric. “I have a new

  video game.”

  We go into his bedroom. It looks

  different. I can see the floor. His

  mom must have made him clean

  his room for New Year’s.

  31

  Anyhow, his new video game is

  way cool.

  It’s called Nerds in Space. Eric

  explains the rules. We play it, and

  he wins.

  It’s really dark now, almost my

  bedtime. I want to go home. I get

  up to find the phone.

  33

  CHAPTER 9

  GOING TO THE DOGS

  “Wait,” says Eric. “I have a

  great joke.”

  I can’t pass up a great joke,

  so I sit back down. It’s called a

  shaggy-dog story. It’s about a

  guy who lives in Siberia. I might

  as well be there.

  34

  He grows up eating this special

  peach pie. He loves it, but when

  he’s twelve his family moves to

  America. He learns English, does

  well in school, goes to college,

  becomes a doctor, gets married,

  and has beautiful kids.

  35

  CHAPTER 10

  pie in the sky

  His life is perfect except for one

  thing—he misses that Siberian

  peach pie he had as a boy.

  36

  He thinks about it all the time.

  He can almost taste it. He moons

  for it, he longs for it, he yearns

  for it, he pines for it. One day

  he can’t take it any longer. He

  leaves everything—his life, his

  wife, and his job. He walks out

  the door and heads for Siberia,

  which is difficult because he lives

  in Cincinnati.

  37

  “Eric, could you shorten this

  joke a little? It’s getting late.”

  “Hubie, it’s supposed to be

  long—it’s a shaggy-dog story.”

  38

  “Eric, give it a haircut.”

  “Okay, okay, but it’s not the

  same. Well anyway, he spends the

  rest of his life getting back to his

  little village in Siberia. He crawls

  into town and drags himself into

  the bakery. He looks up with

  tears in his eyes, and with his

  dying breath asks for a piece of

  Siberian peach pie.

  39

  “The baker’s wife looks down

  and says, ‘Sorry, we just sold out

  of peach pie.’”

  “Shorter, Eric, shorter.”

  40

  “This is it. This is the punch

  line. The guy looks up and says,

  ‘That’s okay, I’ll take apple.’”

  41

  CHAPTER 11

  a feather in his cap

  I look at Eric. He’s laughing. I

  look at Derek, Freddy, and Randy.

  They’re not laughing. I look back

  at Eric. It’s now 10:30. That joke

  took two hours to tell.

  “Don’t you get it?” giggles Eric.

  “I’ll take apple.”

  43

  I want to punch Eric. I guess

  that’s why they call it a punch

  line. I’m not violent, but I take my

  pillow out of my overnight bag

  and hit him with it. He grabs his

  pillow and hits me.

  44

  “I’ll take apple!” he shouts. All

  the guys grab their pillows and

  soon the room is full of feathers.

  45

  CHAPTER 12

  the apple of my eye

  We are all exhausted now. We

  lie on the floor laughing.

  “I get it,” I say. “‘I’ll take apple!’”

  We all laugh till tears roll down

  our cheeks.

  46

  47

  Eric’s mom comes in the

  room.“What’s so funny, boys?”

  48

  We all start laughing again.

  She hands us party hats, horns,

  and bags of confetti. Then she

  walks out of the room, shaking

  her head.

  49

  CHAPTER 13

  resolutionary

  “Well, I guess we’re ready for

  New Year’s,” I say.

  “Wait,” says Eric, “we haven’t

  made our New Year’s Resolutions.”

  “Is that anything like the

  French Resolution?” I ask.

  “A little, maybe,” says Eric.

  “It’s making promises of how you

  will change your life in the new

  year.”

  50

  “Eric, will you promise not to

  tell any more jokes?”

  “No,” says Eric.

  52

  “Will you promise to stop

  worrying about everything,

  Hubie?”

  “No.”

  53

&nbs
p; “Freddy, will you promise to go

  on a diet?”

  “No.”

  54

  “We’re not doing so well,” I

  say.

  “Maybe we can find revolutions

  we can keep,” says Derek.

  55

  “How about we all promise to

  be best friends forever?” I say.

  “Now that’s a good resolution,”

  says everyone.

  56

  “Okay,” says Eric, “we’re ready

  for the new year.” But it’s only

  11:15.

  57

  CHAPTER 14

  not on the ball

  So we crawl into our sleeping

  bags, adjust our party hats, and

  hold tight to our horns, waiting

  for the new year. But soon we are

  all fast asleep.

  58

  Well, to make a long story

  short—the ball dropped without