Fashion Kitty and the B.O.Y.S. Read online

  “Oh, June, Fashion Kitty cares about us. I’m sure she’ll be back,” said Kiki.

  June flashed Kiki a “thank you for trying to cheer me up” smile. She was feeling a little better.

  And then, just as they passed another little group of kitties, Lester said, “I wish Fashion Kitty was here.”

  What if she never comes back?

  I wonder why we haven’t seen Fashion Kitty?

  Do you think she has forgotten us?

  And then, just as they passed another little group of kitties, Lester said, “I wish Fashion Kitty was here.”

  It was these exact words, mixed together with some nasty thoughts, that made Leon Lambaster III say his own six words. And they were six words that had never before been said in a sentence together . . . not ever!*

  * Mostly that was because one of the words was a made-up word,

  but in the group of kitties that heard him no one seemed to notice

  or care.

  Huh?

  Me,

  too!

  I’d be so nervous.

  I wish Fashion Kitty was here.

  I am

  gonna catch Fashion Kitty.

  The Club

  It was too bad for Kiki and her friends that they did not hear Leon’s six words. It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. But Leon had not said them in his normal loud voice. Instead, he whispered them. It’s a strange thing, but sometimes a whisper can have more power than a shout. All the kitties standing near Leon moved in closer to hear what he would say next, and it was no surprise that Leon had a lot to say.

  Don’t you

  want to

  see her up

  close?

  I have

  an invention to catch

  her with.

  Plus, the invention is supercool.*

  *Big fat lie!

  The kitties listened carefully to Leon, and then, after lots of talking back and forth, they decided three things.

  1. They would like to see Fashion Kitty up close.

  2. It would be cool to catch a superhero.

  3. Leon seemed to know what he was talking about.

  A fourth thing was also decided, but Leon was the only one who noticed it—thinking about it made him smile in a new and nasty way.

  A Catch Fashion Kitty Club!

  C.F.K.C.

  . . . and I’m the leader!

  We’re a club.

  Leon looked around at his new little group of friends. “Let’s meet here tomorrow to go over our plan,” he said. The group of kitties smiled and nodded their heads. Thinking about catching a superhero is exciting business—much more exciting than schoolwork. For most of the kitties in the C.F.K. Club, it seemed like the regular school day was never going to end.

  Leon Lambaster the III was not like the other kitties. He was glad to have some extra time before the next meeting. He still needed to think of the plan he had promised. Saying something and doing something are two very different things.

  The doing part is usually harder and a lot more work.

  I can’t wait to

  see Fashion Kitty.

  Three more

  hours of school.

  I can’t

  wait until

  tomorrow.

  Can we

  talk to her?

  Can’t it

  be over?

  EXAMPLE

  Luckily for Leon, he was not a worrying kind of kitty. “Oh, I’ll just think of a plan later,” he said. “But what I really want to do now is design a club T-shirt!” And so he ignored his teacher’s talking and got right to work.

  Six Hours Later

  I can climb that mountain; watch me! It will be s o easy.

  Okay. Maybe

  I can’t.

  After drawing and not paying attention for the entire afternoon, Leon decided on two things.

  I am an awesome artist!

  I can’t decide which T-shirt I like best.

  T I s for T-shirt

  It might seem unusual, but Leon Lambaster the III wasn’t the only one who was thinking about T-shirts that day. Miss Morgan, the art teacher, was thinking about them, too. She wasn’t just an I-want-everyone-to-draw-on-paper kind of teacher; she was crafty, too!

  Mrs. Rumple, can I use these T-shirts for an art project?

  Great idea!

  Now we’ll have more storage space.

  Miss Morgan

  Mrs. Rumple

  (principal)

  Sometimes a good idea can become a great idea. This was one of those times.

  Two hours later, everyone in the whole

  school was talking about T-shirts.

  Hmmm . . . Maybe

  we could have some

  kind of show.

  Did you hear about the T-shirt project?

  I sure did. It’s great.

  I love art!

  Miss Morgan

  was happy.

  Mrs. Rumple was happy.

  Mr. Chester, the librarian, was happy.

  This is a good idea.

  First you read a book, and then you design a T-shirt based on what you read.

  And the students were happy.

  Well, most of the students were happy.

  Finally school is not boring.

  Great idea!

  How fun!

  What!

  This is the worst project ever!

  You mean

  we have to

  read a book

  first?

  T I s for Terri f i c

  Yup! Magic flower power.

  Did you

  pick a

  topic

  already?

  You’re

  lucky.

  I can’t

  decide.

  That’s a lot of books.

  It’s six.

  Kiki and June couldn’t wait to get started on their projects. Never before in the history of the school had there ever been a student fashion show.

  And never before had there been so much complaining about heavy backpacks.

  There was even one accident.

  Luckily the kitty was not injured.

  At least not injured on the outside.

  Maybe I

  shouldn’t have

  picked twenty

  books.

  You’re

  right! Yours

  is heavier.

  See! I

  told you!

  This is

  so heavy.

  Filled with books.

  Uh-

  oh!

  So heavy!

  Ahhhhh!

  UGH!

  How

  embarrassing.

  Help.

  On the way home, Kiki, June, and Lester talked nonstop about their ideas.

  “I’m going to do something French,” said Lester. He held up a book with pictures of the Eiffel Tower.

  “Ooh la la!” said Kiki.

  “Très chic!” said June.

  “Oui, oui!” said Lester and they all laughed.

  Lester was in such a good mood he didn’t even complain once about how heavy his backpack was, and it was très* heavy.

  Why Lester’s backpack was so heavy:

  *Means very in French

  I think that’s all of them.

  Checking out all the books about the Eiffel Tower so Leon can’t find any and copy him.

  Here’s another one.

  Lester had a plan. And his big plan started the minute he got home.

  Lester made this plan because he did not want Leon to copy his project idea.

  Normally Leon would be very interested in what Lester was doing, but today was different. Leon had his own plans to think about, and he couldn’t wait to get started.

  Pretend that

  nothing unusual

  has happened.

  Run straight

  to my room.r />
  Hide my books

  under my bed.

  Hi,

  Mom.

  What’s he

  up to?

  So, what’s

  going on?

  Well, too bad

  for you. I have

  a lot going on.

  Nothing.

  T I s for Terrible

  Part one of a lot going on was to check the house for yellow inventions that might work perfectly to capture a superhero. Since Leon Lambaster the I and Leon Lambaster the II were both inventors, there were a lot of inventions to look at.

  This

  would be perfect . . .

  Net on spring

  Made to catch flies

  . . . If Fashion Kitty was the size of a fly.

  Net shoots off

  I could stick Fashion Kitty to something.

  But what?

  String that stays in knots.

  I hate these gloves.

  Too bad this string is so slimy.

  Need gloves to hold slippery string.

  Leon found lots of other things, too. Things like supersudsy soaps, rubbery rubber bands, particularly pointy pliers, big bristly brushes . . . really, the list was almost endless, and that was because the Lambaster house was filled with hundreds and hundreds of yellow inventions.

  “I’m hungry!” decided Leon. “This looking around

  is hard work.” He stomped into the kitchen to find

  a snack. And that’s when he saw it—a yellow thing he had never noticed before.

  “I wonder what it does?” said Leon. He gave it a poke.

  The yellow thing did nothing.

  He gave it a push.

  Still, the yellow thing did nothing.

  It looks

  like a hat.

  Maybe it can do stuff.

  Maybe it has super powers.

  And then because Leon was more brave and curious than he was cautious, he picked up the yellow thing and plopped it on his head.

  He thought for a moment and then in a soft whisper said, “I want to be invisible.”

  He looked down at his body. He was still there.

  Leon tried again, this time a little louder.

  “I command you to make me invisible!”

  Still nothing.

  He tried again, this time really loud.

  “ . . . to take my new colander off your head right this minute!” said Leon’s mother. She was standing in the doorway. Her hands were on her hips, and she was not happy.

  I command

  you to . . .

  “Oh,” said Leon. “So that’s why it didn’t do anything.”

  He took the colander off his head and tossed it onto the counter.

  “Can I have a snack?”

  “No!” said his mother. “You cannot have a snack. It’s almost dinnertime, and now I’ve got to wash my colander again before I can use it. I don’t know why . . .”

  But Leon wasn’t listening anymore; he was gone, and he was thinking his own little thoughts.

  First this one And then this one

  Angry arms

  Maybe there’s

  something good

  to use in the

  basement.

  I didn’t look

  there yet.

  Colander!

  That’s the

  dumbest

  invention ever!

  Who needs a

  bowl with

  holes in it?

  Lana

  As soon as Kiki walked in the door, Lana came running over.

  She was full of questions and chatter.

  “What did you do at school today? Was it fun? I

  can’t wait to go to school. Staying home is so boring.”

  Normally, Kiki might have said something like, “Lana you don’t know how lucky you are. School is tons of work! School is not fun!” But today was different. Today she told Lana all about the school fashion show.

  Then they said we could have a fashion show.

  Really? At school?!

  Mother Kittie walked into the kitchen. She was happy to see her children talking so nicely together. However, it made what she had to do next even more difficult. But she was brave, so she took a deep breath and then in her sweetest voice asked the most horrible hated after-school question.

  Mother Kittie waited for what she knew would come next. She knew all of Kiki’s responses by heart. The three most popular were:

  Do I have to? Can I finish this first?

  PLEASE! Can’t I do it later?

  Just a second. I promise I’ll start in ten minutes.

  Kiki, do you have any homework?

  Mother Kittie waited and squinted her eyes, but this time she was surprised by the words that came out of Kiki’s mouth.

  Mother Kittie and Lana looked at Kiki. They couldn’t believe what they had heard. They were filled with complete disbelief.

  I do!

  I’ll start right now.

  ????

  Just let me grab my books.

  ????

  Kiki explained her homework assignment. She used words like exciting, fun, amazing, and interesting . These words were not expected to be used in the same sentence with the word homework .

  Some days are full of surprises.

  This was certainly one of them.

  Uh . . . who

  is that?

  Wow! I’ve

  never seen you

  guys before.

  He

  seems

  nice.

  Hi.

  As soon as I finish this book,

  I’ll get to design my T-shirt. I think I’ll pick Daisy.

  She’s my favorite character.

  The Non-Pest

  “Can I do it too?” asked Lana. “I like fashion, and I’m really good at it.” She did a twirl to show off her outfit.

  On a normal day, a day not full of surprises, Kiki would have said, “Oh, Lana, you’re a fashion disaster! You can’t help. This is my project.” But today she didn’t call Lana a pest.

  Today she smiled and said, “Sure, why not? We can design T-shirts together. Go pick out a book.”

  “Yay!” said Lana, and she ran off to find a favorite book.

  Kiki sat on the bed with Mousie and began to read.

  “Squeak, squeak,” said Mousie.

  “You’re right,” said Kiki. “This is fun.”