Liar Liar (14 page)

“Alex, no betting,” Mom said sternly.

They started talking to each other, and I concentrated on my spaghetti and turkey meatballs. We used to have real meatballs. But Mom became a health freak. And now all of our meat is made out of turkey!

After dinner, I practically flew upstairs to get started on my diary. I found a black marker pen to write with. Then I sat down in the new desk chair and pulled the diary out of the drawer.

I'll start with an introduction about how I found the diary, I decided. Then I'll describe my friends and me.

I opened the diary to the first page. And let out a gasp.

The page had been completely blank when I found the book this afternoon. But now it was covered with writing. There was already a diary entry there!

At the top, a date was written: Tuesday, January 16.

“Huh?” I squinted hard at it. Today was Monday the fifteenth.

“This is too weird!” I said out loud.

A diary entry for tomorrow?

My eyes ran over the handwritten words. I couldn't focus. I was too surprised and confused.

And then I uttered another gasp when I made another impossible discovery.

The diary entry was written in my handwriting!

A diary entry for tomorrow in my handwriting? How can that be? I wondered.

My hands were shaking. So I set the open book down on the desktop. Then I leaned over it and eagerly started to read.

DEAR DIARY,

The diary war has started, and I know I'm going to win. I can't wait to see the look on Tessa's face when she has to hand over one hundred big ones to me.

I ran into Tessa in the hall at school, and I started teasing her about our diaries. I said that she and I should share what we're writing—just for fun.

I'll read hers, and she could read mine.

Tessa said no way. She said she doesn't want me stealing her ideas. I said, “Whatever.” I was just trying to give her a break and let her see how much better my diary is going to be than hers.

Then I went into geography class, and Mrs. Hoff horrified everyone by giving a surprise test on chapter eight. No one had studied chapter eight. And the test was really hard—two essay questions and twenty multiple choice.

Why does Mrs. Hoff think it's so much fun to surprise us like that?

The diary entry ended there. I stared at the words until they became a blur.

My hands were still shaking. My forehead was chilled by a cold sweat.

My handwriting. And it sounded like the way I wrote.

But how could that be? How did an entry for tomorrow get in there?

I read it again. Then I flipped through the book, turning the pages carefully, scanning each one.

Blank. All blank. The rest of the pages were blank.

I turned back to tomorrow's entry and read it for a third time.

Was it true? It couldn't be—could it?

What if it is? I asked myself. What if Mrs. Hoff does spring a surprise test on us? Then, I'd be the only one who knew about it.

I'd be the only one to pass the test.

I closed the diary and shoved it into the desk drawer. Then I found my geography textbook, opened it to chapter eight, and studied it for the next two hours.

The next morning, I ran into Tessa in the hall outside Mrs. Hoff's room. “Nice shirt, Alex,” she sneered, turning up her already-turned-up nose. “Did you puke on it this morning, or is that just the color?”

“I borrowed it from you—remember?” I shot back. Pretty good reply, huh?

“How is your diary coming?” Tessa asked. “Or do you want to give up and just pay me the hundred dollars now?” She waved to two of her friends across the hall, two girls who look just like her.

“My diary is going to be awesome,” I said. “I wrote twelve pages in it last night.”

I know, I know. That was a lie. I just wanted to see Tessa react.

She sneered at me. “Twelve pages? You don't know that many words!” She laughed at her own joke.

“I have an idea,” I said. “Why don't we share each other's diaries?”

She frowned at me. “Excuse me?”

“I'll read your diary, and you can read mine,” I said. “You know. Just for fun.”

“Fun?” She made a disgusted face at me, puckering up that tiny heart-shaped mouth. “No way, Alex. I'm not showing you my diary. I don't want you stealing my ideas!”

Oh wow.

Oh wow!

That's just what Tessa said in the diary entry.

Was the diary entry coming true? Was all that it said really going to happen?

I suddenly felt dizzy, weak. How could a book predict the future?

I shook my head hard, trying to shake the dizziness away.

“Alex? Are you okay?” Tessa asked. “You look so weird all of a sudden. What's wrong with you?”

“Uh … nothing,” I said. “I'm fine.”

The bell was about to ring. I gazed into Mrs. Hoff's classroom. It was filling up with kids.

I turned back to Tessa. “Uh … you haven't read chapter eight yet, have you?” I asked.

“No. Not yet,” Tessa replied. “Why?”

“No reason,” I said, trying to hide my grin.

I followed her into the room. I waved to Chip and Shawn. Then I dropped my backpack to the floor and slid into my seat at the back of the room.

Mrs. Hoff was leaning over her desk, shuffling through a pile of folders. She has straight black hair and flour-white skin, and she always wears black.

Some kids call her Hoff the Goth. But I don't think that makes sense, and it doesn't even rhyme.

I sat stiffly in my seat, watching her, tapping my fingers tensely on the desktop. My heart started to race.

Is she going to give the test? I wondered.

Is the rest of the diary entry going to come true?

 

Credits

Cover illustration by John Jude Palencar

Cover design by John Fontana

Copyright

THE NIGHTMARE ROOM: LIAR LIAR

Copyright © 2000 by Parachute Publishing, L.L.C.

Go Deeper Into This Nightmare…
& © 2000 Parachute Publishing, L.L.C.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

R.L. Stine asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

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