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How to be a Frog Millionaireby K.E. Calder
1-55068-126-5 Click here for reading level. This book is part of the Deer Lake series. To read the first chapter of How to be a Frog Millionaire, click here. Enjoy! Other Tea Leaf Press books by K.E. Calder: The Stalker Stranded The Secret of the Bailey Bay Inn The Prank Why Me? Class Trip The Paper How to be a Frog MillionaireWHACK!Will jumped in his seat. The water balloon burst against the car window beside his face. Water dripped down the window. Yellow bits of balloon fell to the ground. SPLAT! Another water balloon hit the window. Benny and Joey were laughing so hard that they had to hold their sides. They were Will's cousins, and they were twins. Benny and Joey gave each other a high-five. Then they ran back into the cottage to fill another two balloons. The car rolled to a stop at the end of the driveway. Will folded his arms. "Please don't make me stay here," he begged his mother. "Will, this is going to be the best summer of your life. Besides, I thought you loved water fights," his mom replied. She stepped out of the car. Easy for her to say. She was leaving the next day. "Hi, guys," she yelled to the twins. Best summer of his life? Yeah, right, he thought, more like the worst. His friends in the city all had great summer jobs. Here he was, at an old cottage in a place called Deer Lake. He was trapped in the middle of nowhere with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. The twins came to Grandma's cottage every summer. Unlike Will, they loved it here. "If I get wet, one of you will pay," Will said as the twins approached him with two more water balloons. "Oh, we're so scared," said Benny. Or was it Joey? He couldn't tell them apart, and he didn't really care, anyway. Benny and Joey were a bit shorter than Will. They had light brown hair and blue eyes. They were both wearing huge, baggy shorts and t-shirts. Their feet were bare. One twin was wearing a visor turned sideways on his head. "Will! Karen! You made it!" called his grandma from the deck. "Come in. Benny and Joey, help bring Will's things inside." "We'd love to," said one of the twins with an evil smile. "No way. I'll carry my own things." said Will. He slammed his hand on the trunk before either of the two brats could open it. "Will. Please," said his mother. Will hadn't been to Deer Lake since he was nine years old, but it still looked exactly the same. Huge trees surrounded the cottage. There was a wooden deck that wrapped around it. Bathing suits were hung over the deck railing to dry. Will looked up at the cottage. The brown paint was peeling off the wooden siding. Beside the deck was a path that led down to the water. Will peered through the trees. He could see the sandy beach. It was covered with beach chairs, water skis, and canoe paddles. He could hear the water lapping on the shore. Yep, this was the same old place he had remembered. The same old, boring place. "Fine, you can take my pillow," Will said to one of the twins. "Glad to, Willy," Joey said. "It's Will," Will snapped. "What did I say?" "You said Willy, and my name is Will," he answered. He gave Joey a dirty look. "Sorry about that, Willy," said the twin. "Hey, Benny. Do you want to help me carry in this pillow?" "Sure, bring it over." Benny bent over, and Joey held the pillow up to his rear end. Will heard a loud fart. "Just warming it up for you, Willy," said Joey. They both ran into the cottage before he could even tell them off. "Hi, Will. Don't mind the boys," said his grandma. "They haven't had anyone else to play with so far this summer. Goodness, you've grown tall. It's so good to see you." Grandma gave Will a big hug. Just great, Will thought. First of all, he was fourteen. He was not going to spend the summer with a couple of eleven-year-olds. Second, he did not play with people anymore. He was going into high school. He hung out with people. "Come in and have a cold drink," said Grandma. The inside of the cottage was just as Will remembered it. Three green chairs sat against the wall. A giant picture of dogs playing poker hung over the dining table. The table was just a big picnic table. It was covered with a brown tablecloth. Being at the cottage was like stepping back in time. "I feel like I was just here yesterday," his mother said. She sighed. Will rolled his eyes. His mother always talked about the summers she had spent at the cottage when she was growing up. "I saw that, Will," she said. Her dreamy face turned into her don't-mess-with-me face. "Go unpack. Then go down to the beach and see just how fun it is," she said with her lips pursed. "When you come back up to the cottage, I want to see a smile on your face," she said. She looked at him. Will didn't argue. He walked into the dark living room. He looked around. Everything in the cottage was old, from the smelly wood stove in the kitchen to the teeny, tiny black-and-white TV in the living room. No VCR, no DVD player, no video games on the TV. No computer or e-mail for that matter. He walked through the living room and up the stairs to his rooms. What was he supposed to do for two whole months? Will threw his suitcase on the bed and sat down next to it. He looked over on the wall and couldn't believe what he saw. A poster that he had colored when he was nine was hanging above the dresser. It was a picture of Puppies. Grandma must have put it there. Was she trying to turn him into a complete nerd? He got up and carefully took the poster off the wall. He rolled it up and slid it under the dresser. All of a sudden, he noticed two eyes in the wall. They were watching his every move. |
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