Chapter 1: The Beginning

CHAPTER 1 THE BEGINNING

··· FRIDAY ···

It was almost noon, and in true Leaping Cobra Elementary School (LCES) fashion, Ms. Hiss had decided to end math class with a BANG! So there she was, her fingers racing over the banjo strings while twenty fourth graders sang "Horatio and His Ratio," a catchy yet highly educational song about division.

Not every kid in class was singing, though. Tim was fidgeting, conspicuously silent. Something was troubling him. Was it the time-traveling dinosaur living in his backyard? Was it the fact that ever since he'd mistakenly drunk the IMPOSSIBLE JUICE(tm), all his worries turned into reality? Or was it perhaps his long-held suspicion that all the nice things that happened in his school were part of some nefarious agenda? It was none of the above. That morning Tim had a much bigger concern.





Oblivious to the frolics around him, Tim checked the wall clock for the hundredth time, and a drop of cold sweat trickled down his back. Two more minutes till the bell rings, he thought. And then... Tim swallowed hard. I'll talk to her. I HAVE TO! Tim's gaze darted toward a desk two rows ahead. There a girl laughed, clapped, and sang to the tune, just like everyone else--only much, much better.



Meet Zoe A. Charms, the nicest, coolest, most popular kid at LCES. Zoe was the captain of the volleyball team and a three-time spelling bee champion, and she'd recently been voted LCES's student most likely to win a Nobel Prize. She was kind, she was funny, she was friendly.... She was nothing short of AWESOME, and everyone loved chatting with her!

Well, not everyone. There was one notable exception. A kid who got flustered so much at the mere sight of her that he hadn't been able to utter a single word in front of the girl ever since they'd first met back in kindergarten.



YES, that kid was Tim. And things hadn't gotten easier over time.

She must think I'm an oddball. But that stops TODAY! Tim was determined to talk to Zoe, but his newfound resolve didn't last long. Eighteen seconds, to be exact.

17... 16...

Ms. Hiss ended "Horatio and His Ratio" with an epic banjo solo.

15... 14...

As the last note faded, nineteen kids and a time-traveling dinosaur pretending to be a kid broke out in thunderous applause.

13... 12...

RIIIIING! The bell rang.

11... 10...

Tim stood up and took one step toward Zoe.

Come on, Tim, you can do this!

9... 8...

Zoe turned around, and Tim's heart skipped a beat.

7... 6...

Tim gulped.

Can I, though?

5... 4...

I mean, why would she want to talk to me?

3...

She's so awesome and I'm... ME!

2...

Even my superpower is lousy, so...

1...

An ominous flutter bubbled in Tim's stomach.

WHAT IF she hates...?

Tim froze midthought, suddenly aware that one more word would turn his worry into a reality. He panicked. I can't let that happen. I have to think of something else! It was a good plan, and at that moment there were millions of nice and perfectly safe things that could've popped into Tim's mind, and that would've been the end of it. But Tim was a worrier. And what do worriers do? They worry impossible worries, which never come true unless... Well, unless the worrier is Tim.





Just like that, the impossible turned into unlikely, the unlikely into plausible, the plausible into possible, the possible into likely, and the likely into certain, and out of nowhere, BAM! the school was hit by a SALT-STORM, which is kind of like a sandstorm, but way saltier.

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Excerpted from Tim Possible and All That Buzz by Axel Maisy
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.