“It’s Needles,” I say vehemently. “Look how he’s standing.”
Tyrell frowns. “Don’t all alligators do that?”
So I reach out a finger. Needles chomps on it and holds on. I don’t even notice the pain. “See? Needles.” It takes some doing, but I manage to pull my finger free. A few drops of blood hit the water.
It’s a privilege to lose blood to Needles one more time.
“So now what?” Brooklynne asks.
“I’m not losing him again,” I reply readily. “If I can get a phone, I’ll order a terrarium for him. I’ll keep him in that for three weeks and then bring him home with me. He’ll love California.”
“Jett,” Grace says gently, “he’s an alligator. He’s not going to fit in a terrarium forever. The day will come when a little bite won’t draw a couple of blood drops. It’ll take your arm off.”
“You’re forgetting who my dad is,” I counter. “He’ll build Needles a habitat with a pool and a waterfall. And we’ll go to the San Diego Zoo and buy a lady alligator, so he can raise a family. Needles and I are going to grow old together. You guys can come visit us. Vlad has plenty of room.”
Nobody says a word, but we’ve gotten so close that I can read their minds. They think we should call Arkansas Game and Fish, who’ll take Needles down south, where the rest of the alligators went. He’d have a real habitat there, not a fake one. And he’d be with his family.
Then again, my friends didn’t grow up with Vlad, in a world where anything is possible if you throw enough money at it.
Still, probably not even Vlad can afford to build a swamp as good as the real thing. And Needles might want to pick his own girlfriend. I definitely would.
I sigh and say, “Okay, let’s contact Game and Fish.” I can’t resist adding, “But Needles is going to miss me.”
Translation: I’ll miss him.
On the spot, I resolve to get a pet as soon as I’m back in California. I don’t care about Vlad’s expensive floors and personal servers. I need this. It’ll be kind of an awkward conversation when he asks why I named my hamster Needles. Tough. I’ll just reply, “You’re the creator of Fuego. You tell me.”
And he won’t be able to. He has no idea how having friends—human and reptile—changes everything about a guy’s priorities. And how doing the right thing can be more important than doing what makes you happy—even when it hurts.
My father is considered the smartest man in the world. But when it comes to the unplugged life, I’m the brains of the family.
About the Author
GORDON KORMAN published his first book at age fourteen and since then has written more than ninety middle grade and teen novels. Favorites include the New York Times bestselling Ungifted, The Unteachables, Pop, and Notorious. Gordon lives with his family on Long Island, New York. You can visit him online at www.gordonkorman.com.
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Books by Gordon Korman
Pop
Ungifted
Masterminds: Criminal Destiny
Masterminds: Payback
Supergifted
The Unteachables
Notorious
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Copyright
Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
UNPLUGGED. Copyright © 2021 by Gordon Korman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover art © 2021 by David Miles
Cover design by David DeWitt
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Korman, Gordon, author.
Title: Unplugged / Gordon Korman.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Balzer + Bray, [2021] | Audience: Ages 8-12. | Audience: Grades 4-6. | Summary: Relates, in multiple voices, the adventures of a group of youngsters at an electronics-free wellness camp where wealthy, spoiled Jett, leads other campers in trying to stop a criminal.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020013969 | ISBN 9780062798893 (hardcover)
Subjects: CYAC: Camps—Fiction. | Conduct of life—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Swindlers and swindling—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.K8369 Up 2021 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013969
Digital Edition JANUARY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-279891-6
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-279889-3
2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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