Ben was still staring at Winnie's cousin.
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" he said, nudging Winnie gently.
She sighed. "Ben, this is my cousin Serena. Serena, this is my friend Ben."
Ben felt a little hurt. Winnie usually introduced him as her boyfriend.
"It's nice to meet you, Ben," Serena said.
She flashed a dazzling smile at him, and he felt himself blushing from head to toe.
"Thanks! It's amazing to meet . . ." Ben let his words trail off as Winnie glared at him.
"It's nice to meet you too," he mumbled.
"Where were you, Serena?" Winnie asked with a frown.
"You were supposed to sign in at the main office and then meet me outside the auditorium for the pep rally.
I waited and waited for you.
You made me late for the pep rally—I missed most of the cheers."
"Sorry about that," Serena said.
"I headed to the pep rally after I went to the main office.
But all these monsters kept stopping to talk to me."
Winnie let out another big sigh.
"Well, we need to go upstairs now.
I have to get my broom from the broom-flying classroom before it gets locked for the day."
She grabbed Serena's arm and dragged her away.
"Hey, Winnie," Ben began.
"Can we talk about Field Day again? I just wanted—"
"I'm busy, Ben!" Winnie said loudly.
"Didn't you hear me say that before?"
"Yes, but . . ." Ben's words trailed off as the two witches disappeared into the hallway.
He ran a hand through his hair.
"Mog is right," he thought.
"Winnie is acting really weird today."
His thoughts flashed back to Winnie's laughing and smiling with Zork.
She'd seemed fine then.
Suddenly Ben felt a large hand clamp down on his shoulder.
It was Mog's.
"Ready for practice, Ben?" Mog asked.
"Team Black had better practice today, or Zork's team will beat us."
"No, they won't!" Ben burst out.
"Team Black is going to win!"
"That's what I call team spirit," Mog said.
They headed toward the gym.
"Did you have any luck with Winnie?" Mog asked.
"No." Ben shook his head.
"She told me what she told you—she's too busy.
Her cousin is visiting for a few days."
"Too bad," Mog said.
"But it's okay. Jen said she'd love to join Team Black if Winnie can't do it."
Ben felt worried. "Jen's a blob, Mog," he said.
"Blobs can't run very fast.
And there's a sack race and a cross-country race during Field Day."
Mog shrugged. "Blobs are faster than zombies," he said.
"And they don't drool. Besides"—he peered closely at Ben—"Jen's really nice.
She'll be a good team member."
"You're right." Ben nodded.
"I guess I'm just getting carried away because of Zork.
I can't stand the thought of losing to that guy!"
Ten minutes later Team Black was warming up inside the gym.
After only six push-ups, Waldo and Jen looked exhausted.
Deb and Pixel looked only slightly better.
Ben tried not to think about it.
"We'll be fine," he told himself. "We can beat Team Orange."
When warm-ups were over, Mog gathered the team together.
"Great warm-up, everybody.
Now let's start practicing for the slime ball toss," he said.
"I don't have any slime balls, but we can practice with dodo eggs.
I got them from the cafeteria."
"Ooh!" Jen squealed. "I love catching slime! I can't wait till tomorrow."
Mog looked at Waldo. "Just remember—Mr. Gwarg said no magic tomorrow."
"Got it," Waldo murmured.
"Good." Mog quickly went over the rules for the practice game.
"If the egg cracks, you're out.
Now everybody spread out a little bit."
Team Black tossed a dodo egg around, being very careful not to drop it or crack it.
Mog called out a few tips, and Ben had to admit that Mog had been right about Waldo.
The wizard was pretty good at tossing and catching the egg.
Before long, some other monsters wandered into the gym to watch Team Black practice.
"This is actually going pretty well!" Ben thought with relief.
Suddenly the gym doors opened again, and Serena sauntered in.
Winnie hurried in right behind her cousin, trying to keep up.
A few monsters gasped when they spotted the beautiful witch.
As Mog turned to see what was causing the commotion, the dodo egg flew from his hand.
It sailed through the air—heading straight for Waldo's face!