Yum! Yummy! Yumsicles! Heidi Heckelbeck loved pizza day. She slid a hot slice of pepperoni pizza onto her lunch tray. Then she sat down with her friends Lucy Lancaster and Bruce Bickerson. "I have great news!" said Bruce. "What?" asked Heidi and Lucy at the same time. Bruce looked around to make sure no one was listening. Then he lowered his voice to a whisper. "My latest invention is finished!" he said. "But don't tell anyone. It's top secret!" Bruce's inventions were always top secret. He didn't want anyone to steal his ideas, but he trusted his two best friends, Heidi and Lucy. "What's it called?" asked Heidi excitedly. Bruce leaned forward so only the girls could hear. The girls leaned in too. "I'm calling it the Bicker Picker-Upper," he whispered. "What does it do?" Lucy asked. "It picks stuff up automatically ," said Bruce. "Like a robot?" asked Heidi. "Like a robot's arm," Bruce said. "What kinds of things does it pick up?" asked Lucy. "Stuffed animals, action figures, socks, underwear, pajamas--basically everything on my floor," said Bruce. "It picks up your room?" Heidi questioned as she took a big bite of pizza. "THIS I gotta see!" "Me too!" said Lucy. "Can you guys come over after school tomorrow?" asked Bruce. "Probably," said Heidi. "I'll check with my mom," Lucy said. Then she pulled her baby owl notepad from her backpack. Lucy also took out a pink pen shaped like a lollipop. The lollipop had a spiral design and sparkled with pink and silver glitter. She wrote a reminder on her notepad: The lollipop lit up as she wrote. Heidi dropped her pizza on her lunch tray and stared at Lucy's pen. "WHERE did you get THAT?" asked Heidi. Lucy twirled the pen in front of her friends. "Isn't it beautiful?" she said. "My dad brought it back from his last business trip." "I LOVE it!" said Heidi. "May I see?" "Sure!" Lucy said. But just then the bell rang. It was time to go back to the classroom. Lucy dropped the pen into her backpack. "I'd better show you at recess," she said. "But I want to see it NOW!" Heidi complained. Lucy laughed. "I promise I'll show you LATER!" "Oh, okay," said Heidi. Then they cleared their trays and headed down the hall. Excerpted from Heidi Heckelbeck Is Not a Thief! by Wanda Coven 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.
