I stood there, my fingers trembling a little, as I zoomed in on Wiley. I held the camera up. Yep, that’s a good shot. Oh, wait, he’s getting larger . . .

Someone pulled my phone out of my hands.

“You trying to break your phone, Livingston?”

Caught!

“Um, no. I’m just trying to take a picture. As you can see, the screen is already cracked. Accident in the subway a couple of weeks ago. Lost my backpack too.”

“Ooooh. Tragic.” Wiley narrowed his eyes at me and then turned his attention toward Doug. “You remember me, Baker?”

Doug nodded. “Yeah. How you doin’, Wiley?”

“I’m doin’ great. Just great. You havin’ eye trouble lately?”

“Eye trouble?” Doug’s hand flew up to his right eye.

“Yeah. You and four-eyes here seem to be having trouble seeing this phone screen. You see, to take a selfie, you gotta flip the camera by clicking this tiny square. Ha! You almost got a picture of me by accident. And even as handsome as I am, I’m sure that’s not what you were trying to do.”

“That would DEFINITELY break the phone.” Wiley stepped aside. Standing behind him was a short, light-skinned girl with brown, shoulder-length curls and a couple of really deep dimples that caved in her cheeks while she smirked. She elbowed Wiley out of the way and set her lunch tray down next to the chair where Doug was standing.

“Coop?!?” Doug gasped. “I thought you moved to Texas.”

The girl snatched the phone out of Wiley’s hands and gave it back to me. “I did. But we missed the city, so we moved back.”

“Hey, girlie.” Wiley tried to push back in. “We were talking here.”

Coop put her hand up in Wiley’s face. “Whiny, you just need to go way. No one at this table wants to hear anything from you.”

Wiley glared at the brave girl for a minute, but she just glared back.

She stuck out her chin. “What? Are you gonna punch me? Go right ahead. I dare ya. Get yourself expelled for the millionth time.” She glared some more.

So did Wiley. Finally, he turned and went back to the table where Casey and Kevin Tolley were eating. Wiley said something to the guys, and they all looked over at us and laughed.

Coop shook her head. “Ignore them. They’re bad news. Doug, who’s your friend?”

“I’m Arcade.”

“I’m Reagan Cooper. Nice to meet you. Doug and I have been friends since kindergarten. I moved away in the 4th grade. But I’m back now. With a drawl, y’all!” Her eyes twinkled. “How’s your grandma, Doug?” Reagan turned to me. “Doug’s gram is the sweetest person I’ve ever met.” Reagan reached into her backpack and pulled out her phone. “I know! Let’s take a selfie, Doug.”