On Friday morning Sid agreed to take care of the kitten until after school.
"I just have to get through this cooking show," Ben said.
"Then I'll find a home for the kitten."
"That's what you said yesterday," Sid complained.
He pointed to his torn bedsheets. "It destroys everything."
"One more day," Ben promised, hurrying off.
At Monster Academy everyone was outside, waiting eagerly for Kids' Kitchen Showdown to start.
"The master chef has arrived!" a mummy shouted.
Ben grinned as monsters patted him on the back.
Mr. Freaky's noses were wiggling madly.
Sweat dripped down Mayor Hubbletree's forehead.
Both the mayor and Mr. Freaky reached for their handkerchiefs.
"Please calm down, Mr. Freaky," Miss Bungle said.
"And you too, Mayor. Everything will go smoothly."
"It better," the mayor said, scowling at Mr. Freaky. "This is a big day!"
A van arrived, followed by some cars.
Ben watched as crew members unloaded cameras, lights, and bundles of cords.
Gaby pointed toward three human kids.
"They must be the other contestants."
Then three adults got out of a limousine.
Mr. Icky walked over to Ben.
"Those are the judges," the teacher said.
"That's Bolton Ramsey. He owns several restaurants.
And there's Margaret Oh and Rebecca Gold.
They wrote a wonderful cookbook together."
Bolton Ramsey looked up at the school building.
"Good grief," he muttered. "What is this dark and sinister place?"
"I heard it's where the monsters go to school," Margaret Oh said.
Rebecca Gold said nothing.
"Can I help you carry anything?" an octopus monster asked a crew member.
"I have plenty of arms!" She wiggled her arms wildly.
The crew member's face went pale.
Mayor Hubbletree hurried over.
"It's okay, sir! This, um, creature won't harm you."
He shooed the octopus monster away and turned back to the man.
"Most monsters are actually quite friendly once you get to know them."
"We've only had a few monsters on the show," the man murmured.
"Mayor Hubbletree." A woman approached and shook the mayor's hand.
"I'm Viv Stryder, the host of Kids' Kitchen Showdown."
She looked around at the monsters.
"Are you sure this place is safe?"
"Absolutely!" Mayor Hubbletree said.
"Nothing will go wrong. I promise!"
The host narrowed her eyes.
"I wanted to film this episode at the People Place Middle School, but you convinced me to do it here.
If anything goes wrong, it'll be your fault."
Mayor Hubbletree wiped more sweat from his forehead as everyone headed inside.
The cooking classroom still smelled like hot sauce.
Ben and Waldo glanced at each other.
"It smells weird in here," Viv Stryder said.
"Oh well, let's just get this day over with. Start setting up, folks!"
Crew members got to work setting up lights and cameras.
"That wall is shaking!" Margaret Oh said.
"Yes," Mr. Freaky said. "I don't know what—"
"It's nothing!" Mayor Hubbletree interrupted the principal.
"That's just what the walls in a monster school do." He laughed nervously.
Ben leaned closer to Waldo.
"We obviously didn't clean up all of the hot sauce.
Do you think that's what is causing the wall to shake?"
Waldo shrugged. "Maybe."
Bright light flooded the room.
Cameras rolled.
Ben was so nervous, he barely heard Viv Stryder introduce all the contestants.
The host was still speaking to one of the cameras.
"The first dish for today will be mac and cheese. Time starts . . . now!"
Ben hurried into the pantry for ingredients.
"Eww!" one human kid said. "They have canned slugs here!"
"And worm eyes!" said another kid.
Ben returned to his workspace.
He put bat claws, leeches, and mud into a food processor.
Then he shredded some moldy cheese.
Once his macaroni was boiled, Ben put everything into a pan.
He slid it into the oven.
He noticed the wall was shaking even more now.
"What is going on with that wall?" Bolton Ramsey said.
"Is there something alive in there?"
Ben hoped nothing bad was going to happen.
But if something bad was going to happen, he really hoped it wasn't because of the hot sauce.
"Time's up!" Viv Stryder called a little while later.
"Ben will present his dish to the judges first."
Ben took a deep breath.
Then he picked up his mac and cheese and floated up to the judges' table.
"You're a g-ghost!" Margaret Oh said.
Ben grinned.
"Right then," Bolton Ramsey said.
"Let's see your mac and—" The chef stopped talking as Ben placed the pan on the table.
"Good grief!" Bolton Ramsey cried.
"What's sticking out of the food?"
"It's just some dried lizard tails," Ben said. "For crunch."
"For crunch?" Bolton Ramsey shook his head.
"I'm not eating any of this monster's food!"