Black Numos Island by Maggie Morris, Alaina Fulkerson (best motivational books for students .TXT) 📕

“Mac-n-cheese with little-kiddie-hotdog-thingies.”

“You realize that I’m 12, not 5, right?” Sam asked in disbelief. Just then, Emily spoke up,

“I’m a vegetarian. I don’t eat anything that used to have a beating heart!”

“Well, you won’t be a vegetarian after this meal,” Netty retorted. Emily began to cry.

“You can’t make me eat meat! I just won’t eat dinner! And just so you know, my parents will being hearing about this!”

“Fine with me,” grumbled Netty.

“I never even wanted this job anyway. I just got hired at McDonalds and was about to take myself of that stupid babysitting website when your parents found me and hired me!” Emily stood up.

“I’ll make sure they don’t hire you again!”

“You sit down right now, young lady! Or I’ll find a high chair!”

“That’s it!” screamed Emily. She stomped to her room, ignoring the yelling from the kitchen. On her way up, she started to cry again.

“Mom and Dad will be so disappointed in me,” she whispered through cracked lips.

“You really need to shape up Emily Hessenburg!”

“Well, that was awfully weird.” Mara and Chris were discussing the man named ‘Steve’. They were both intrigued by the strange man.

“Yeah, I agree. In all the years I’ve traveled, no one has ever told me their name just like that. I mean, maybe a few, but none acted quite so weird about it. Seriously, ‘You’ll see me again’?”

“Maybe he has expanded social skills? Possibly he just really likes his name? I don’t know,” Mara guessed. Chris chuckled.

“Yeah, I’ll bet that’s it. Really, though. I think I recognize him from somewhere, and his voice is so familiar.” Mara agreed,

“I know, right! Maybe he is a famous actor?” Chris’s jittery movements proved that he was somewhat excited. Mara began to wonder if maybe he had a cup of coffee that she didn’t know about.

“Well sweetie, better get some sleep. Italy is a long way away you know." As soon as Chris said that, Mara realized how tired she was. After closing her eyes she was asleep in minutes. Chris stared at her dark, glossy hair for awhile, and then turned to look out the window. The clear sky predicted fine weather ahead, and Chris was glad about that. Finally, he too laid his head down.

Not quite tired, he pondered the events of that day. Saying goodbye to the kids, Mara's understandable reaction, almost missing their flight, and the most intriguing, Steve.

That man is a complete stranger and mystery, Chris thought.

Well, I’m not going to think about him anymore. It’s just too strange. I wonder how the kids are doing? Despite his protest, Chris continued to think about Steve. After a while of trying to fall asleep, Chris pulled out his phone and put on some calming music. He finally fell asleep, but only just barely. Like, he was half-awake, half-asleep.

Proving that he wasn’t completely asleep, the flight attendant arrived with refreshments, and Chris sat right up.

“I’m so sorry I woke you,” the flight attendant apologized.

“Oh, that’s all right,” Chris replied.

“Well, while you’re awake, can I get you something to drink?” She asked, while setting down a napkin and a small package of pretzels.

“I’ll take a Diet Pepsi, please.”

“And, for the lady?” Her eyes lingered on Mara.

“Oh, my wife should be fine for now. Thank you, though.”

“Let me know if you need anything else, sir. Have a nice evening.” The flight attendant poured his drink, and then walked to the next seat. Not tired anymore, Chris pulled one of the plane’s provided magazines, a mechanical pencil, and an eraser. He flipped to the sudoku pages and began working just as an announcement came on the intercom.

“I thank you all for choosing DELTA as your cross-ocean plane. In case you didn’t know, this is a five to six hour flight to Italy. Please make yourself right at home, and feel free to ask for beverages and snacks. As you may have noticed, we have a large variety.” A different voice came on the intercom.

“That was your pilot, Steve speaking. Enjoy your flight."

Pranks

Emily was on the leathery couch reading her very entertaining fairy tale book when Sam burst into the big family room with a foolish grin on his face.

"Do you want to hear a story, Em’?" Having recovered from the earlier argument, Emily eagerly agreed and scooted closer to Sam while snuggling up with her blanket.

Sam began the story:

“One day a mother and a father were going on a date. Their children had recently been complaining about a something watching over them at bedtime but the parents didn't believe it. They hired a babysitter and told her to put the children to bed at 8:00 and then watch television in their grand living room. So, the babysitter put the children to bed at 8:00 and then turned on the TV. While she was watching, she noticed a clown statue behind her. It began freaking her out so much that she called the father and asked him if she could move the statue.

The father hurriedly said, ‘Get the children and go to the neighbors house, now!’ The sitter didn't understand, but she did what she was told. As soon as they got inside the next-door house she called the father and asked why he made her leave the house.

His response was, ‘We have no clown statue; the children have been complaining about a something coming into their rooms at night and watching them sleep. I never thought it was true until now. That clown wasn’t a statue. It was Trixie the Clown, a living, breathing, genetically deformed human.’”

Emily was shaking with fright by the time he finished. Sam knew she was deathly afraid of clowns, so this was the perfect prank. He couldn't wait to sneak into her room tonight and hang up the extra-large picture of Trixie he printed off the Internet.

Upstairs, Luke was brushing his teeth. Netty was in the living room and Emily was already asleep; she had decided to turn in early after her tiring day. After hearing Luke get into bed, Sam ran downstairs and filled three cups with ice. He poured the ice into the bucket and and then went to the bathroom to fill it with water. Sam quickly ran into the his bedroom and called Netty, telling her to come fast, because he was going to be “sick”. Sam could hear Netty pounding up the stairs, yelling, “Get to the bathroom!”

“I can’t make it there in time!” Sam replied, snorting.

Luke sat on top bunk, watching.

“I don’t know what you’re up to, Sam, but I can tell this is not going to end well.”

Just then, Netty opened the door, ran into the room and was greeted with freezing cold water and ice cubes dumped on her head. Surprised, she dropped her iPod. She had just looked down and begun to reach for it when she screamed; her precious pink iPod screen was shattered and the whole device was water-logged.

She yelled at Sam, “You think this is funny? Well, it’s not! In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not rich! It took almost a year to save up for that iPod, you little brat! I HATE YOU KIDS! I am going home and I may or may not come back tomorrow.”

“Fine, I never did like you anyway!” Sam yelled. Luke could tell that he was upset from all the pressure.

Netty started crying and said, “I am so mad at you little brats! Why did I even take this horrible job?”

Sam fired back at her, “Because you are stupid, that's why!”

“Goodbye!" Netty yelled, and rounded the corner for the last time.

"Did he just say Steve???!!" Chris yelled aloud. "Bu-but! He said Steve!" Some of the fellow passengers looked over at Chris like they were irritated.

“Hun, please quiet down. You are attracting attention, and that’s exactly what we don’t need.”

Chris nodded solemnly, “I’m sorry honey. I didn’t mean to yell out. I mean, I guess I was just in shock, because it’s not really that big of a deal. But guess what the captain said his name was?” Mara looked exasperated.

“I already know what he said, because you kind of, sort of, shouted it for the whole plane to hear!” Chris lowered his head. Mara swatted him playfully.

“I’m just joking, sweetheart. I only woke up after you shouted it. Okay, so what did the captain say his name was?”

Chris looked around at the other passengers on the small airplane, ducked down and whispered to Mara, “He said his name was Ste-” Chris was cut off by a loud rumbling noise.

“What? I didn’t catch that.” Suddenly, the plane jerked, and both Mara and Chris grabbed the plush armrests on either sides of the seats. Then, the plane started doing confusing loops and twists. The rumbling noise turned into a high pitched squealing. As Chris looked out the window, he saw that one of the airplane’s wings was on fire, and smoke was rising from it. Seconds later, the glass windows shattered, and a small piece of it embedded itself in Chris’s face.

“Chris! Stay low! There could be more glass and I don’t want you to get hurt!” Mara shouted over the noise. Anyone who had been sleeping was not anymore, and people were looking around wildly, while others were screaming. One little child was hugging his mother and crying at the same time.

As Chris crouched down, his back became slick with sweat. The air temperature had suddenly gone from warm to sweltering. As he looked around, he realized that a seat across the aisle was on fire. Chris looked through the broken glass on one of the opposite side’s window, and saw that the plane’s other wing was also flaming. Without him realizing it, the smoke came towards Chris. When it filled his nostrils, he noticed it.

He gagged and tried not to