Guess he never needs a toothpick Malcolm thought Think he’s texting his girlfriend Dandy asked wiping his sweaty face with the hem of his oversized T-shirt Nah He’s way too dorky to have a girlfriend Finally the gap-toothed teenager raised his head Sorry about that I was texting my girlfriend What did you ask me I told you Dandy said to Malcolm There’s only one bottle of Bubbler’s in the cooler Malcolm said Do you have any more Gappy shrugged Sorry Everyone wants to find that winning bottle cap And by everyone he grinned big again I mean me He held up a bulging Quickie Mart bag and rattled it It was 6
full of Bubbler’s bottle caps He then let out a loud burrrrrrp No fair Dandy said Didn’t you leave any for the customers The boy smiled again Yeah He pointed to the one bottle left in the cooler Guess we’ll split it Malcolm mumbled to Dandy A whoosh of cool air rushed out the door as Malcolm took out the soda He was starting to open it when Hey Gappy barked You’ve got to pay for it first Malcolm rolled his eyes Fine He and Dandy hurried over and dropped one dollar and twenty-five cents on the counter 7
Need a bag for that Gappy asked No thanks Malcolm untwisted the cap and pssst the root beer fizzed He flipped the cap over and I don’t believe it Underneath was a jagged red lightning bolt Gappy’s jaw dropped No fair Sure it is Dandy said We paid for it Malcolm pointed to the boy’s Quickie Mart bag of bottle caps Thanks for narrowing it down for us The boy humphed then went back to texting Malcolm and Dandy hurried out 9
