“Carlos here is a bomb gymnast,” Scratchy said.

“I can still walk on my hands at least.” Carlos smiled and swiped his hand over his perfectly smooth, dark-brown hair. “This city is a little tough to get around, though. It’s a good thing I can pop wheelies in this thing. We moved to the Upper West Side because the paths in the park are easier for me to navigate than the city streets.”

“Those are some nice wheels,” I said. “How do you get down the stairs to the subway?”

Carlos smiled and pulled out a map. “This map shows all the subway stations that are wheelchair accessible.”

“Not all of them are?” I had never noticed before.

“I wish.” Carlos laughed.

“Sounds like he needs to have a portable elevator show up whenever he needs it. That would be sweet.” Doug elbowed me so hard I almost flew into the street. At the same time, my token steamed and sent out two bolts of heat, one to my head, the other to my feet.

“Are you all ready to do this MS 230 thing?” Scratchy asked.

“I am.” Carlos pulled another paper out of his backpack. “Do any of you have homeroom with Dooley?”

“YES!” We all yelled.

“Is that good?”

I laughed. “Yeah, Dooley’s cool. But you should try to sit in the back row. Easier on the ears.”

Carlos shrugged and popped a wheelie. “I just hope they’ll have a desk I can use with this thing.”

“Aw, man, I never thought about that before.”

“I never thought about it either, until two years ago. But hey, I go with the flow now. At least I never have to worry about having a chair to sit in, right?”

“Carlos, you’re so RAD. I’m glad you’re in our class.” Scratchy revved his scooter. “Let’s go do this middle school thing!”

“Yeah! Let’s do this middle school thing!” Doug jumped up and down and pounded his chest.

“Yeah! This is gonna be good!” I reached for the token and jogged next to Carlos as he wheeled along toward the entrance to MS 230.

At least I hope so.

*  *  *

“WELCOME TO SEVENTH GRADE HOMEROOM!” Mr. Dooley boomed. We all flew back in our seats. “Okay, now that you’re awake . . .” Mr. Dooley went to the whiteboard and scrawled his name. Then he turned and gave us a goofy grin. “You kids from PS 23 didn’t think you’d get rid of me that easily, did you?”