Eddie was furious. “That is my locker,” he told Richie. “And if I don’t take a stand now, it’s going to ruin my reputation.”

Just then, Mr Petracelli passed by.

Overhearing Eddie’s remark, the teacher said, “Mr Thomas, you don’t have a ‘reputation’.”

Cracking his neck, the teacher kept walking.

Eddie was even angrier now. His chest puffed out, he approached the giant locker thief.

“Hey, man, we got a problem,” said Eddie in his tough-guy voice.

“We do?” said the big kid.

“Yeah, I’m not sharing my locker, okay!” said Eddie sternly.

“That’s cool,” said the giant. He began to throw things out of the locker and onto the floor — a knapsack, a book, a hat.

Eddie was stunned. “You’re throwing out my stuff.”

“And it can go into my locker,” said the big guy as he leaned down and scribbled something onto the notebook in Eddie’s hand. “Here’s the combination. Problem solved.”

Then the big guy slammed the locker shut and walked away.

Raven was a little nervous walking out of the girls’ bathroom. She’d spent half the night creating her “middle-aged mama” disguise. But now that she was wearing the fat suit, giant purple skirt, purple jacket, wig, glasses, purple hat, and fake “overbite” teeth, she wasn’t sure if she could pull it off.

I’ve just got to act confident... and old, she told herself as she waddled along the hallway, the fat-suit disguise making her look like a 300-pound, fifty-year-old woman.

“Slow down!” she barked at a running boy in her “Mama Baxter” voice. “This is a hall-way, not a freeway!”

The kid actually did slow down.

Dang, thought Raven. This bossy mama thing might be kind of fun.

“Eh-eh-eh, none of that!” she cried, wedging herself between a girl and boy who looked like they were about to kiss.

Then a good-looking friend of Eddie’s walked by, and Raven decided to have some more fun.

First, she gave the boy a really obvious once-over. Then, in her Mama Baxter voice, she said, “Lookin’ good, Richie,” and winked at him.

Richie looked horrified — and Raven had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing.

Just then, she noticed Eddie.

Okay, thought Raven. Now for a real test.

“Well, you look like a fine young student,” she told Eddie, whistling words through her fake overbite. “Would you please point me to Mr Petracelli’s class?”

“One floor down,” said Eddie politely. “First door to your left.”

“Aren’t you a nice young man?” said Raven as Mama Baxter.

Then she took Eddie’s cheeks in her hands and squeezed. “Look at them cheeks!”

Continues next week

Based on the popular TV series created by Michael Poryes and Susan Sherman.
Illustrations: Uday Deb