Chapter 1
Matt was falling, falling then a streak of white light and… BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Matt shot up. “Huh? What’s going on?” BEEP! Went his alarm clock. “Well,” he thought, “I should turn it off.” Then with a sad little “beeeuuu” the alarm clock turned off. He sat up, yawning. He glanced at the calendar next to his bed; it was march 12. Which meant it was… Monday? Yes that’s right Monday. Wait, Monday is a school day! Matt glanced at his backpack next to his bed; his books were there. He let out a sigh of relief. He must have put them away last night. Well, he thought, if I want breakfast then I should get going. He headed to his closet to put on clothes. Then grabbed his backpack on his way out. “Morning mom!” He said, grabbing his piece of toast and wolfing it down. “Am I late?” He mumbled between bites. “Not if you leave in 30 seconds,” replied his mom. “Eeep! I need to go, bye mom!” Matt said, and headed out the door. He had less than 15 seconds to catch the bus! The bus was at the corner. Matt put on a final burst of speed, and made it just as the doors were closing. He breathed out a sigh of relief, and collapsed onto a seat. “Hey,” said his best friend, Shrimp. He had earned his nickname during the shrimp incident. What happened during the shrimp incident stayed in the shrimp incident, it was an unofficial rule. “I need you to quiz me on math,” Shrimp said. “Ok,” Matt replied, “let’s get started.” Matt quizzed shrimp all the way to school and then headed to class. He took notes during class, and nothing out of the ordinary happened… until just before history. In the hall he ran into Freddie, the school bully. “Watch it!” Freddie snarled, “you’ll pay for that!” Freddie’s friend Brian stepped up next to him. “Perhaps we can settle this little disagreement. We’ll have a race, and who ever loses has to do a dare,” Brian smirked. There was no way Matt could back out and survive. “I’m in,” he said. The bell rang for history and he headed into class. The rest of the morning Matt couldn’t help but think that he’d bitten off more than he could chew.
Chapter 2
When the bell rang for lunch Matt saw his friends Vera, Amber, and Ben. Vera was walking up to him. “Hey,” she said, “something wrong?” “Yeah, I have to do a race and if I lose…I have to do a dare.” Matt responded. “Anything we can do to help?” She asked. “No,” sighed Matt “I’ve got to go; see you soon… I hope.” When Matt got to the start of the race he got in his ready position. “Ready! Set! Go!” Shouted Brian, and they were off. Freddie was a good five feet in front of him, but Matt put on a burst of speed and closed three feet. Then two. Then he was in front - he would win! Then just as he was about to win, he tripped! And fell flat on his face! Matt looked up and saw Freddie doing a victory dance. He sighed and started to walk away, but Brian blocked him. “Where do you think you’re going?” he said, and led Matt over to Freddie. Freddie smirked at Matt. “The dare is that after school you have to go to…the cave.” Matt’s stomach dropped. The cave was a place that students were forbidden to go. He nodded at Freddie and went to eat his lunch, hoping he still had his appetite. When he got to the lunch table he told his friends what had happened and then asked to sit alone. They respectfully went off to another table, and Matt hoped tomorrow he would be ok.
Chapter 3