Bad breath settled on the back of my neck. “Well, that’s a relief. Guess that means we’ll be working together again this year, Arcade.” Kevin gave me a sinister grin. “Our pal Wiley Overton is in our class too. He’s even more fun than us. Guess you better study up, bookworm. We gotta do good in seventh grade, you know.”

At the end of sixth grade, both Kevin and Casey had tried to force me to do their career expo projects for them. Thankfully, I was able to trick them into doing their own, and they actually turned out really great. But that was just one assignment.

How am I going to make it through a whole year with these guys?

Loopy came over and plopped himself at my feet. He barked Casey back a couple of feet.

Good dog. Can you bark them all the way out the door? How about into another school system?

“So, who’s Wiley Overton?” I asked. “And what makes him so fun?”

Casey and Kevin made their way to the front door, both chuckling.

“Who’s WILEY OVERTON?” one of them said. “He’s just the biggest seventh grader you’ll ever meet. He got kicked out of PS 23 in the third grade.”

Gulp.

“Why’d he get kicked out?”

“Fighting,” Casey said, “with just about everyone at school. Ha! You should ask your friend Baker here who Wiley gave a black eye to on Halloween.”

I turned to Doug. “Who?”

Doug poked his chest with his thumb. “This guy.”

Chapter 14
Mail Call

“Arcade, someone sent you some mail!” Zoe nudged me out of my reading trance the next Tuesday afternoon. I was studying a book about the California Gold Rush. Now that I knew I had pure gold hanging around my neck, I was obsessed with knowing where it came from. During the weekend, I had visited the Ivy Park Library, and Ms. Weckles, the children’s librarian, hooked me up with several books about gold. And since I had left the Badger brothers “hanging out” back in California, I figured I might as well study about the Golden State first.

I looked up from my book. “Email?”

Zoe laughed and flicked an envelope in my direction. “No. Snail mail.”

I sat up from the couch. “Really? Who would send me mail in an envelope?” I reached out to retrieve it from the floor. I read the return address.

Miss Gertrude Badger

Cimarron Road

Forest, Virginia

“That’s dope! Miss Gertrude sent me mail!”

“Really?” Zoe zoomed over and plopped down on the couch next to me. “Maybe the Badgers have returned, and she sent a letter to warn you.”

Goosebumps covered my arms. “That wouldn’t be good at all.”

“But you’d want to know, right? If they’ve returned? So you can keep an eye out for them?”