Zigzag Zoom

  OTHER BOOKS

  IN THE ZIGZAG KIDS SERIES

  Number One Kid

  Big Whopper

  Flying Feet

  Star Time

  Bears Beware

  Super Surprise

  Sky High

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2013 by Patricia Reilly Giff

  Jacket and interior illustrations copyright © 2013 by Alasdair Bright

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Wendy Lamb Books and the colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Visit us on the Web! randomhouse.com/kids

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Giff, Patricia Reilly.

  Zigzag zoom / by Patricia Reilly Giff; illustrated by Alasdair Bright. — 1st ed.

  p. cm. — (Zigzag kids; #8)

  Summary: When the Timpanzi Tigers challenge the Zigzag Zebras to a race, Gina worries because she knows she is not a fast runner, but the whole school seems to be counting on her to win.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-97704-5

  [1. Racing—Fiction. 2. Ability—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction.]

  I. Bright, Alasdair, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.G3626Zig 2013

  [Fic]—dc23

  2012010179

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v3.1

  Love to Ryan, Dylan, and Kaylee Grigo

  —P.R.G.

  To baby Minla—welcome to the world!

  I’m sure you’ll be reading in no time at all!

  —A.B.

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1: Monday

  Chapter 2: Still Monday

  Chapter 3: Tuesday

  Chapter 4: Wednesday

  Chapter 5: Thursday

  Chapter 6: Still Thursday

  Chapter 7: Friday

  Chapter 8: Still Friday

  Chapter 9: Saturday Morning

  Chapter 10: Saturday

  About the Author

  Gina rushed out of her classroom. It was time for the Zigzag Afternoon Center.

  She flew down the stairs. Then she went up to the top again and skipped down.

  She wanted to hear the bells that jangled on her new white sneakers.

  Terrific!

  All day, everyone had heard her coming.

  Too bad her sneakers were still a little stiff.

  She sang a song in a deep voice. “Toodle-oodle-ooo.”

  She was going to be an opera singer when she grew up.

  Probably in thirty years!

  Hey. What was that?

  She stopped at the bottom step. She saw a huge red sign:

  HELP!

  Where should she go to help?

  The lunchroom?

  The art room?

  The gym?

  She raised one foot. She jangled the bell. Maybe she should run right out of there.

  Help herself!

  No, she couldn’t do that.

  She heard someone jumping down the stairs. It was her friend Sumiko.

  Sumiko was a great jumper.

  Sumiko stopped. “Neat bells on your sneakers,” she said.

  “Thanks. But did you see this?” Gina pointed to the HELP! sign.

  “Uh-oh,” Sumiko said. “Someone’s in trouble.”

  “But who?” Gina said.

  They looked down the hall. “I’ll go one way,” Gina said. “You go the other.”

  “Run like the wind,” Sumiko said as she took off.

  Gina ran faster than she ever had before. Her sneakers slapped up and down. Her bells jingled.

  She dashed around Mrs. Terrible Thomas. The cat had sneaked into school again.

  But where was everybody else?

  She took a quick look in the lunchroom as she went by.

  No one was there.

  No wonder!

  The snack was that red soup with lumps.

  She sped on. She was out of breath.

  She heard something. It was coming from the gym.

  Ramón, the college helper, was blowing his whistle.

  Whew, it was loud and screechy.

  Maybe Ramón needed help.

  How could she help Ramón? He was huge. He was the best basketball player in the Zigzag Afternoon Center.

  She pictured Ramón down on the floor. He’d broken a toe. Two toes.

  She’d have to drag him all the way to the nurse’s office.

  She headed for the gym door.

  Gina heard a step behind her. She looked over her shoulder. “I can’t stop,” she called. “I’m trying to save someone’s life.”

  It was her friend Beebe.

  “Whose life are you saving?” Beebe asked.

  “I don’t even know,” Gina said.

  She heard Ramón’s whistle again.

  She threw open the gym door.

  Almost everyone was there.

  What was going on?

  People were stamping their feet on the shiny gym floor.

  Sumiko came in after her. “Whew,” she said. “Nothing’s happening down the hall.”

  Ramón was standing in the middle of the gym.

  No broken toes.

  He wore a striped suit.

  He looked like …

  A huge zebra!

  “Are you ready to help?” Ramón yelled at the top of his lungs.

  “Ready!” everyone shouted.

  “I’m ready,” Gina called.

  But how could she help?

  She had no idea.

  “Take a seat, everyone,” Ramón called.

  Gina was glad to take a seat. She was worn out from running down the hall.

  She climbed to the top of the bleachers. It was the only place she could find.

  She just missed Angel’s toes.

  “Sorry,” she said.

  She just missed Yolanda’s fingers.

  “Hey, watch out,” Yolanda said.

  “Sorry,” Gina said again.

  At least everyone could see her new sneakers with the bells.

  It was worth going all the way to the ceiling.

  Mitchell and Habib made room for her. They were good friends.

  “Careful,” Habib said. He held a paper cup. It was filled with that red soup with lumps.

  Gina squeezed onto the bench. She squeezed carefully.

  Destiny was right behind her. She squeezed in, too.

  “I’m thinking about winning,” Habib said.

  Winning what? Gina thought. Maybe a hundred dollars. They’d divide the whole thing up.

  Her share might be five dollars.

  Not bad. She already had four nickels and four pennies.

  She was saving for a birthday present for Grandma Maroni. A look-like-real diamond ring.

  “We’ll have to work hard,” Mitchell said.

  Gina nodded. She’d certainly try.

  “Here’s the thing,” Ramón said from the floor.

  Everyone was quiet.

  “We’ve been invited to the Timpanzi School on Smith Street,” Ramón said. “The Timpanzi Tigers want to race …”

  “The Zigzag Zebras,” Peter Petway called out. />
  “That’s us,” Sumiko said.

  “Right,” said Ramón. “Can we do it?”

  Everyone was yelling, “Yes!”

  “We’ll have to practice hard,” Ramón said. “The race is on Saturday.”

  Gina took a breath. She’d had enough running for one day.

  She wasn’t good at running, she knew that.

  “Peter Petway is the best runner in the Zigzag Afternoon Center,” Mitchell yelled.

  “Sumiko is the fastest runner I ever saw,” Yolanda called.

  Beebe raised her hand. She stood up on tiptoes.

  “No,” she yelled.

  Everyone looked up at Beebe.

  Gina hoped she wouldn’t fall off the bleachers.

  “I know who the best runner is,” Beebe said.

  Gina looked around.

  Who could it be?

  Beebe pointed. “It’s Gina. I saw her run down the hall. She was fast as a mountain lion.”

  Destiny gave a little sniff. “I’m fast, too,” she whispered.

  Everyone turned to look up at Gina.

  She didn’t know what to do. She gave a wave.

  “We’re counting on you,” Beebe said.

  Gina stared at her sneakers.

  She didn’t want to be counted on. She was slow as a turtle.

  Ms. Katz stood up. She looked worried. “We have a problem. We have no money for a bus.”

  Ramón nodded. “We don’t want to walk twelve blocks before the race.”

  Habib took a sip of soup. “We need big bucks.”

  Gina raised her hand. She had a good idea. But no one saw her skinny arm in the air.

  She kept her hand up, even though it was ready to fall off.

  Mrs. Farelli stood up next to Mrs. Katz. “We could have a bake sale,” she said.

  “Hey,” Destiny yelled. “That’s what I was thinking.”

  Gina jiggled her sneakers a little.

  Sometimes Destiny thought too much!

  Gina waved her hand harder.

  No one paid any attention.

  Mitchell called out, “We could have games. The winner could dunk Mrs. Farelli in a pot of water. I saw something like that on television.”

  “Great idea,” Habib said.

  Mrs. Farelli didn’t look happy about being dunked. “I don’t think so,” she said. “How about selling cookies?”

  At last Ramón called on Gina. “Go ahead,” he told her.

  Gina stood up.

  The top of the bleachers was high. Too high.

  She hoped she wasn’t going to fall all the way down to the gym floor.

  She held on to Habib’s shoulder.

  “We could have someone sing opera,” she said. “We could sell a million tickets. Everyone would come.”

  She opened her mouth wide, ready to sing.

  “We don’t have any opera singers,” Destiny said.

  “Well …” Gina felt herself teetering.

  She held on to Habib a little harder.

  “Watch out for my soup,” Habib yelled.

  “Yeow!” Gina jumped to get out of the way.

  Not fast enough.

  A bloop of soup spilled out of the cup. It landed on one of her new sneakers.

  “Keep thinking, Zigzag Zebras,” Ramón said.

  How could she think with a bloopy sneaker?

  “Don’t forget,” Ramón went on. “We have to practice running. We have to win!”

  Everyone clapped.

  Habib gave Gina a poke. “You’ll be out front!” he said.

  “That’s the way, Gina,” Mitchell yelled.

  “Gina’s the best,” called Yolanda.

  Gina took a breath.

  How did she get into this mess?

  Gina stared out the window of the Afternoon Center. Sumiko stared with her.

  It was raining.

  Pouring.

  Was that thunder?

  Today Gina loved the rain.

  She even loved the crackle of thunder.

  She rubbed the window. “We can’t practice today,” she said.

  “I bet you feel sad,” Sumiko said. “You’re such a great runner.”

  Gina opened her mouth. She wanted to tell Sumiko the truth. But Mrs. Farelli was clapping her hands. “Everyone to the gym, please.”

  Uh-oh, Gina thought.

  She went down the hall with Sumiko.

  Ramón was wearing his zebra suit again. “We have to limber up,” he called. “Five to a row.”

  Gina stood in an all-the-way-back row.

  It was a great row.

  She was the only one in it.

  No one could see if she was limbering up or just hanging out.

  “One, two, three, four,” Ramón yelled. “Jump right up, off the floor.”

  Gina gave a little jump.

  Her not-so-white sneakers were still stiff. But the bells jingle-jangled.

  Yolanda was jumping in front of her. “I can hear you, Gina,” she said. “You’re a good jumper.”

  Gina swallowed.

  “One, two, three,” Ramón called. “Raise each knee.”

  Gina raised her knee one inch.

  She raised the other one.

  Ramón called one, two, three, fours and one, two, threes a hundred times.

  At least.

  Gina took a step back.

  She took another.

  She backed herself right out the gym door.

  She leaned against the wall.

  How could she race against the Timpanzi Tigers?

  And what if she had to walk twelve blocks first?

  She’d be lying on the sidewalk like a dead ant with its feet in the air.

  First things first, she told herself. Think of a way to get bus money.

  And then she had an idea.

  She went to the lunchroom.

  The lunchroom lady was sitting in a chair in the kitchen. She was wearing slippers.

  “On my feet all day,” the lunch lady said.

  Gina nodded. She didn’t want to be on her feet all day, either.

  “I have a get-money-for-the-bus idea,” she told the lunch lady.

  “Good girl.”

  “Grandma Maroni showed me how to make pretzels,” Gina said. “They’re easy.”

  “You’re right,” said the lunch lady. “Great idea.”

  Gina smiled.

  But then the lunch lady had to spoil it. “I hear you’re a terrific runner,” she said. “You’re the one who will beat the Timpanzi Tigers.”

  “Was that the going-home whistle?” Gina backed out the lunchroom door.

  She was doing a lot of backing out today, she thought.

  She went to stand in the girls’ room for a while.

  She might have had a great idea, but she was still a horrible runner.

  She opened her mouth. She sang a little opera to herself. “Ah, ah, ah …”

  It was much better than limbering up.

  Today the Afternoon Center was going to bake pretzels.

  “In between, try running in place,” Ramón said.

  He took a few steps to show them.

  Fast steps!

  Gina took a few running steps in place, too.

  Very few.

  Maybe two or three.

  Then she marched down the hall.

  She slid into the lunchroom.

  Sumiko and Beebe were right behind her.

  Mitchell and Habib came in next. So did Clifton, a kindergarten kid.

  A minute later, everyone was there. It was snack time.

  Bowls of apples were on all the tables.

  The lunch lady poked at her cook’s hat. “Are you ready to bake pretzels?”

  “I’m ready,” Clifton said.

  Gina could hardly hear him.

  Everyone was chomping on apples.

  “We’ll bake pretzels today,” the lunch lady said. “We’ll sell them tomorrow.”

  Habib frowned. “Maybe we could eat a few. Keep our s
trength up for running.”

  “We have to sell every single one,” Destiny said.

  They all went into the kitchen. It was ten times bigger than Gina’s kitchen at home.

  But what was that noise?

  It sounded like a horse galloping.

  Gina tried to hear. But the lunch lady was ready to bake.

  There was no time to think about horses in the Zigzag Afternoon Center.

  Making pretzels was fun.

  It was easy.

  Not like running all over the world.

  In five minutes the dough was ready.

  They rolled pieces into snakes. They curved the snakes around, head to tail.

  The snakes curled up near each other on the trays.

  Mitchell poured salt on them.

  The lunch lady slid the trays into the oven.

  But what was that noise?

  Pounding.

  Galloping.

  “Do you hear ponies in the hall?” Sumiko asked.

  Everyone nodded.

  “Yes, ponies!” Gina said.

  Destiny said, “Don’t think of ponies. Think of all the money we’ll make. A dollar a pretzel.”

  “Maybe two dollars,” Mitchell said.

  “Well, maybe five cents,” said the lunchroom lady.

  “I’m going to call my pretzel Snakey,” Clifton whispered to Gina. “And I don’t want to sell him. I’d like to keep him forever.”

  “I wish I could eat mine,” Habib said. “It’s too neat to sell.”

  Gina hated to sell hers, too. It looked like a poor little snake.

  How could someone bite its head off!

  Outside the door, the galloping came again.

  But this time, there was a crash!

  A gigantic crash!

  They rushed outside.

  It was Peter Petway.

  He was on the floor.

  His foot was up in the air.

  “I was running around the hall,” he said. “I was practicing.”

  “Like a horse,” Gina said.

  “Like a pony,” Clifton said.

  Peter looked at his foot. “I think I sprained my ankle.”

  “Oh, no,” said Beebe. “He was our best runner after Gina.”

  Gina shook her head. “Sumiko’s the best,” she said.

  Sumiko really was the best. Gina knew that.

  But no one was listening.

  They were helping Peter to the nurse’s office.

  “I’m not—” Gina began again.