The Pinkaboos: Bitterly and the Giant Problem Read online

  Other Books by Jake Gosselin and Laura Gosselin

  The Pinkaboos:Belladonna

  and the Nightmare Academy

  PROLOGUE

  Molly pedaled faster than she had ever pedaled before. Sweat beaded on her forehead. The giant was after her again.

  He lumbered behind her, cracked lips snarling around a broken set of yellow teeth, filthy tattered rags for clothes. His club, an uprooted oak tree, hung menacingly over his shoulder. Fear grabbed hold of Molly and sent her pedaling with a new boost of energy.

  The giant was slow, but his strides were long, and he was catching up fast. Molly ditched her bike, ran behind a tree, and held her breath. Her hands were shaking as she clasped them together.

  She could feel the giant looking for her, shaking the earth with every powerful movement. He picked up a large rock nearby, looked beneath it, then threw it back down. Molly started to climb the tree she was hiding behind. She was good at climbing trees, even though her mom and dad warned her not to. She put one leg up on a branch and hoisted herself up, keeping an eye on the giant, who had begun pulling apart some bushes behind her. Molly reached for another branch and pulled herself up more. She angled her foot onto yet a higher, thinner branch, which made a loud snapping noise when she put weight on it. She stopped. She held her breath and turned to look at the giant.

  The giant had stopped looking in the bush. Molly’s heart sank as she realized his eyes were locked on her.

  “You be lunch!” he boomed. Molly tried to scramble down the tree as fast as she could, but she only got tangled in the leaves and twigs.

  The giant lurched forward and before she knew it, he was standing at the bottom of the tree. Molly froze. The giant squatted, put his arms around each side of the trunk, and, with a mighty heave, pulled the tree up, roots and all.

  Molly felt herself rising into the sky. She hung on as best she could, then lost her footing and began dangling helplessly from a branch as the giant held the tree up over his head.

  “Noooooo!” Molly yelled. “Help! Somebody help me!”

  Far, far away, in the Land of the Frights, a viper slept in her cool, damp cave. She slithered from side to side and hissed in her sleep. She could hear Molly’s cries, and she woke with a start.

  “Another little girl needs our help,” she said to herself.

  Chapter 1

  It was a crisp autumn afternoon in the Land of the Frights. Three best friends, Bitterly, Belladonna, and Abyssma, were walking together to Fright School.

  “I had a dream last night,” said Abyssma. “And in the dream I met my little girl. She was beautiful, with big horns and little arms, and the whitest row of teeth.”

  “Little girls don’t have horns!” said Belladonna.

  “How do you know?” asked Abyssma. “Have you seen all the little girls?”

  Abyssma had horns. She thought they looked lovely and believed every little girl could benefit from a set of her own.

  “There has been no record of a little girl with horns,” Belladonna said matter-of-factly over the rim of her glasses at Abyssma.

  “If a little girl did have horns, it would be mentioned in a book,” Belladonna added. Belladonna believed all things worth knowing could be found in books, while Bitterly thought the world was a little more complicated. Bitterly had spent a great deal of her time learning about little girls because the most important thing to every fright was to help her little girl. This wouldn’t happen until the fright was ready, of course, and it would be the culmination of years of studying at Fright School.

  Of the three friends, Bitterly worried the most. She worried she would never be good enough to even meet her little girl, let alone help her. Her magic powers had never been tested, and she wasn’t sure what made her scary enough to be a good fright. She knew her teacher, Miss Viper, had confidence in her, but she didn’t really know why. And Bitterly had other worries, too. . . .

  Bitterly felt something hit her in the back of her head. She turned around to see Abyssma grinning at her. Abyssma had pelted an acorn at her.

  “Oh, it is on,” Bitterly said, laughing as she reached down and grabbed several acorns of her own. In a matter of seconds all three frights were hurling acorns at each other as hard as they could. Bitterly accidentally let one fly right at Belladonna’s face.

  “Braxensheffanegg!” Belladonna shouted as she swiped one of her hands downward. A force field appeared around her, and the acorn bounced off it and landed on the ground in front of the stunned frights.

  “Whoa,” Abyssma gasped. “That was so, so, so cool!”

  “Cool is right!” murmured Bitterly. “How did you do that?”

  Belladonna looked just as startled. She glanced at her hands. “I’ve been memorizing some basic spells from my spellbook,” she admitted. “I can’t believe it actually worked!” Belladonna paused, picked up the acorn, and examined it. “Please don’t tell Miss Viper,” she whispered, looking up at her friends.

  “Don’t worry,” Abyssma, said, grinning. “Just don’t forget to give us some tips when we start practicing.”

  The frights continued down the path toward school. Abyssma and Belladonna walked quickly toward the spindly black iron gates of Fright School. Bitterly’s pace slowed to a shuffle, and she began to trail behind Abyssma and Belladonna. Her head slunk down as leaves swirled at her feet. She knew what was coming.

  “C’mon, Bitterly!” Abyssma yelled behind her.

  “I’m coming,” Bitterly mumbled. Bitterly looked up. She saw her two best friends walking briskly ahead of her. They were such sweet and wonderful frights. It made Bitterly sad that anyone could ever be mean to them. Beyond them, Bitterly could see the outlines of three more frights. They were there every day. A tall one with two shorter ones leaned against the gates, waiting.

  Belladonna grabbed Bitterly’s hand. “Don’t worry about Vex,” she said. “I read a book about bullies. Vex is worried she’s not good enough, so she picks on people smaller than her.”

  “I know,” Bitterly muttered.

  As they approached, Vex, the tallest of the three, ran in front of the gate to block them.

  “Look what the bat dragged in,” Vex sneered. Her two friends laughed.

  “C’mon. Let us by,” Belladonna said.

  “You know the password,” Vex said.

  “You’re not very nice!” Abyssma yelled, her horns turning bright red.

  “That’s true,” Vex smiled, “but that’s not the password.”

  Bitterly swallowed hard and cleared her throat. She had been thinking about this speech for a while, and she just needed to summon the courage to give it. Every night, Bitterly lay awake thinking about what she would one day say to Vex to make her change her ways. She had written and rewritten the speech in her mind many times. Was now the time to give it? Bitterly cleared her throat.

  “V—Vex,” she stammered.

  “Wha—What?” Vex mocked. “Come on, Bitterly, it’s just one little word.”

  “Vex, we will not say the password,” Bitterly announced.

  “What password?” Vex asked.

  “Pinkaboo,” Bitterly answered.

  “Aha! You said it. You may enter.” Vex laughed and stepped aside.

  Vex’s friends doubled over with laughter. Looking defeated, Belladonna and Abyssma walked slowly through the gate. Bitterly looked down at her black shoes and followed sadly behind.

  “The Pinkaboos” was what Vex ca
lled Bitterly, Abyssma, and Belladonna, and it had been spreading like wildfire around Fright School. It was a name Vex had made up to mean that they would never be able to scare. And in Fright School, a fright needed to be . . . well . . . frightening. Since Vex had begun her “Pinkaboo” campaign, Fright School had been a lot harder for Bitterly. When she and her friends walked the halls, she could hear murmurings from fellow frights—frights who used to be her

  friends—and classmates stopped saying hello to her in the hallways, instead whispering the word “Pinkaboo” as she passed by. That name tapped into what Bitterly feared most in the world—not being a good fright and never being able to help a little girl.

  Chapter 2

  At the beginning of class, Miss Viper seemed excited. She cleared her throat and slithered to the middle of the room.

  “My little frights,” she began. “Today is a very important day; Bitterly will meet her little girl.”

  The class gasped.

  “Holy poop!” Abyssma squealed as she squeezed Bitterly’s arm.

  Bitterly felt her tummy churn. This was the moment she had been waiting for her entire life, but now that it was finally here, she was scared.

  “Now, Bitterly, I chose you first because I think you show promise, and there’s a little girl who needs you.”

  A screen dropped down from the ceiling and an image of a little girl, sound asleep in her bedroom, appeared.

  Miss Viper cleared her throat and said, “This is Molly.”

  “Awwww,” the frights chorused.

  Molly had her sheets pulled up around her small face . . . but something was wrong. Her forehead was wrinkled with worry. She cried out and began tossing and turning in her bed, her sheets tangling in her arms as she flailed.

  “Molly is afraid of a giant,” Miss Viper announced.

  The class broke out into laughter. “But giants are so adorable!” Abyssma laughed. “I just wanna squeeze ’em!”

  “I’ve been teaching my pet giant to fetch!” another fright exclaimed.

  “Class!” Miss Viper hissed. The laughing stopped. “As I’ve said before—human dreams are very different from the fright world. What are adorable pets to us can be ferocious monsters to humans.”

  All the little frights exchanged surprised looks. How could little girls be afraid of such sweet, cuddly things as giants? Miss Viper turned and looked directly at Bitterly.

  “Now one thing you must remember, Bitterly,” she said. “I want you to be very careful in Molly’s dream. You can teach your little girl to use her imagination in the dream world, but you may not, under any circumstances, use your magic, no matter how much you want to. As I’ve said before, the magic of a fright is powerful and unpredictable, especially in the wild dreams of children.”

  “Yes, Miss Viper,” Bitterly said.

  “Bitterly, your little girl is very scared and needs you desperately,” Miss Viper said. “Go into her dream. Teach her.”

  And with that Miss Viper pulled a wand from thin air, waved it in a circle, and the screen opened up. Before Bitterly could say anything—before she could tell Miss Viper that she needed more time, that she didn’t know if she could do it, and that she wondered if Molly could be assigned to another fright—before she could say anything at all, she was hoisted off her seat and sucked into the screen. With mouths hanging open, the little frights watched as Bitterly appeared on the screen. She was crouched in a corner of Molly’s dream world; it was foggy and dark.

  All the frights were transfixed by the screen.

  One fright, Nettle, leaned over to her friend Oblivia and whispered, “I wonder how this is gonna go.”

  Oblivia giggled. “She’s such a Pinkaboo. I bet she totally messes it up.”

  Abyssma turned around in her desk. With her horns blazing red, she shouted, “I’m gonna mess you up!”

  Abyssma lurched forward and picked up Oblivia’s desk with her teeth. The little fright screamed in horror as she clung to her desk, now held vertically by Abyssma’s pointy teeth.

  “Please, Abyssma,” Oblivia squealed. “I was just joking.”

  “Abyssma!” Miss Viper snapped. “Put her down at once!”

  Abyssma’s horns turned from red to pale pink. She slowly let the desk down, placing it gently on the ground.

  “Sorry, Miss Viper,” Abyssma said solemnly.

  “You must control your—”

  Screaming cut off Miss Viper. She looked at the screen and saw Molly running away from a stumbling giant. Bitterly stood awkwardly as the little girl ran toward her.

  “Come on, Bitterly,” Miss Viper muttered under her breath. “Be the great fright I know you can be.”

  Chapter 3

  Suddenly, Bitterly found herself no longer in a classroom, but in a dark world where gloomy trees drooped sadly. A little girl was running toward her. It was Molly.

  “Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Molly screamed, dodging Bitterly as she went by.

  Behind Molly was an angry giant. “You be lunch!” he boomed.

  As he stomped by, Bitterly tapped him on his ankle and said: “Excuse me. Can you leave her alone? She’s actually kind of scared of you, which is silly. . . .”

  But unlike the nice giants she’d met before, this one seemed completely uninterested in polite conversation, ignoring Bitterly entirely.

  Running ahead and positioning herself between the giant and Molly, Bitterly held one hand up and shouted, “Attention, Mr. Giant!” But the giant marched right by her, his heavy strides causing the ground to rumble beneath her.

  Bitterly thought about how all the frights in her class would be watching this on the screen. She thought about how some of the frights would be laughing at her right now. They might even be calling her a Pinkaboo. That’s when she knew she had to do something quick.

  Bitterly ran and caught up with Molly. She ran beside her until Molly noticed her.

  “Who are you?” Molly yelled.

  “I’m Bitterly.”

  “What are you doing here?” Molly yelled back.

  “Running beside you,” Bitterly replied.

  “Are you scared, too? I feel like I’m never going to get away from him!” Molly yelled.

  “He doesn’t scare me,” Bitterly said. “He’s kind of funny if you think about it.”

  “Funny?” Molly screamed back.

  “Well, he does have one of the biggest butts I’ve ever seen,” Bitterly said, giggling.

  Molly didn’t laugh. She began to run even faster.

  If Bitterly could just use her magic, this would be so much easier. “Do you have a banana?” Bitterly asked.

  “A what?” Molly screamed.

  “A banana!”

  “How can you think of food at a time like this?” Molly cried. “He’s going to eat us for lunch!”

  “Just trust me on this,” Bitterly pleaded. “Imagine a banana is in your hand.”

  Molly looked at Bitterly like she had no idea what was going on, but something inside her was tired of being scared; she wanted to try something new. Bitterly gave her a nod of encouragement, and Molly quickly closed her eyes and thought for a second. When she opened her eyes, she held out her hand. She was holding a banana.

  “Great!” Bitterly shouted as she snatched the banana, peeled it, and began to eat.

  “I don’t know who you are, but you’re crazy!” Molly yelled to Bitterly.

  Bitterly finished the last bite, wiped her face, and flashing a mischievous grin said, “Watch this!” She turned and threw the peel onto the ground. As the giant approached, he slipped and fell with a massive crash.

  Both girls turned around to see the helpless giant flailing on the ground. Bitterly began to laugh. And for the first time, Molly began to smile.

  “Something’s weird,” Molly said. She shook her head back
and forth and then asked, “Is this . . . a dream?”

  Suddenly, Bitterly was sucked out of the dark world and into her classroom seat. She was back in Miss Viper’s room. All the frights’ eyes were on her.

  “Whoa,” she whispered.

  Chapter 4

  After class all the little frights hopped and fluttered their way to the door, but before Bitterly could leave, Miss Viper stuck her tail in front of her. “Stay a minute, Bitterly,” Miss Viper said. “I’d like to speak with you.”

  “I’ll meet up with you guys outside,” Bitterly called to her friends before turning back to Miss Viper. “Sure thing, Miss Viper.”

  “Bitterly, what do you think the hardest part of being a fright is?” Miss Viper asked.

  “Helping our little girls, I guess,” Bitterly said.

  “That’s what we do . . . but why is that so difficult?” Miss Viper asked as she slithered around the room.

  “I don’t know. I guess once people are afraid of something, it’s hard to get them to stop.”

  “Exactly!” Miss Viper exclaimed. “Fear is a very powerful thing because it sticks around if you don’t learn how to face it.”

  The screen dropped down, and Molly appeared again.

  “Have a seat, Bitterly.”

  Bitterly slunk down in her chair and looked up at the screen. Molly was awake now, sitting up in bed, lost in thought. Perhaps she was thinking about her dream; perhaps she was thinking about Bitterly. Maybe she was thinking about how silly the giant had looked lying on the ground.