The Smoky Corridor

11

They drove up Stonebriar Road to their brand-new (and recently repaired) Victorian-style house.

Their home had been seriously damaged the past June in a horrible fire. A fire started by Zack when he’d tried to get rid of the ghost haunting a tree in the backyard.

His father had never seen that ghost and probably wouldn’t have believed in it, either.

Fortunately, his stepmother, Judy, had.

Unfortunately, Zack couldn’t take his stepmom to school with him every day to help him deal with the Donnelly brothers, not to mention Assistant Principal Crumpler and whatever bullies were hanging out in the halls of Horace P. Pettimore Middle School, just waiting for a skinny kid with glasses to show up.

Yep, starting the next day, from early in the morning till late in the afternoon, from the first week of September till the middle of June, Zack Jennings would have to take care of himself.