Chapters (43)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Chapter 1102nd Floor
- Chapter 2#GOALZ
- Chapter 3Falling into Place
- Chapter 4A Confusing Way Home
- Chapter 5Welcome to Beijing
- Chapter 6Squawking Bike
- Chapter 7Greenstone for Sale
- Chapter 8Squawks and Sparks
- Chapter 9Pure Gold
- Chapter 10Shrimp Break
- Chapter 11Boyfriend on Broadway
- Chapter 12Flamenco
- Chapter 13Schedule Scare
- Chapter 14Mail Call
- Chapter 15Preteen 49ers
- Chapter 16MS 230: Day #1
- Chapter 17Coop
- Chapter 18Bye, Bye, Doug
- Chapter 19Moon Walk
- Chapter 20Burning Through the Atmosphere
- Chapter 21#FAILZ
- Chapter 22Letter from the Past
- Chapter 23Spying on Wiley
- Chapter 24Where’s Loopy?
- Chapter 25Notifications
- Chapter 26Central Park Scramble
- Chapter 27Serious Convos
- Chapter 28Waiting and Watching
- Chapter 29Flamingos Everywhere!
- Chapter 30The Crown
- Chapter 31Cheater, Cheater
- Chapter 32Suspended!
- Chapter 33Christmas Tree Climb
- Chapter 34Not Fair, Times Square
- Chapter 35Golden Plans
- Chapter 36Badgering the Badgers
- Chapter 37A Definitely Not Boring Thanksgiving
- Chapter 38Bye, Bye, Flames
- Arcade and the Fiery Metal TesterDiscussion Questions
- Acknowledgments
- Also by Rashad Jennings
“The sky is so dark.” Zoe stares at her shrimp-colored gloves. “How can I see myself when it’s so dark?” She reaches down and runs her glove through the dust. Then she stands up and rubs it around in her palms. She glances at me, then falls onto her behind, pointing to the sky. “Arcade! LOOK!”
I turn and look to the sky. I fall too. “Doug, LOOK!”
Doug turns. And, yes, he falls too.
We’re staring at a beautiful, blue planet. Well, not the whole thing. About three-quarters of it. There are swirls of white surrounding it, and between the swirls, we can see a continent.
Doug holds a finger up in the air. “Hey, is that Florida? Because if it is, it’s gonna take me a lot longer to get there now.”
We all stare in awe. I turn to Zoe. “We’re on the moon, Zoe!”
“Good observation, Copernicus.”
“Why do you think the token brought us here? I asked it to take us somewhere we could be together.”
“Oh, we’re together, all right. And that promise you made about not talking to another living soul is not going to be hard to keep, either.”
“Arcade, I think I see New York too! I can see Florida and New York at the SAME TIME.” Doug is in his own little world. His finger can’t stop circling the blue planet in the sky.
“I asked the token to show us Doug’s new home.”
“Yep.” Zoe gestures toward the earth. “There it is. Maybe you should be just a teeny bit more specific next time.”
“But his new home can’t be Florida. It just can’t.”
Doug stands and starts picking things up from the ground, examining them. Zoe scoots a little closer to me. “Arcade, do you remember when Dad told us we were going to move to New York City?”
A knot forms in my stomach. “Yeah. I hated that day. Derek and I ran out to the woods and tried to come up with a plan for me to stay.”
“Did it work?”
“Well, duh, no. Because, well . . . here we are.” I pointed to earth. “I mean, there we are.”
“And do you totally hate living in New York City?”
I shrug. “No. I mean, I miss Derek, and some things about Virginia, but it’s not so bad. Kinda fun sometimes, actually.”
“Sounds like Florida might be better for Doug, don’t you think? He’ll have family there who can take care of him. That’s better than living by himself with a squawking flamingo.”
It feels like someone reaches in and squeezes that knot in my stomach. “But he’s my best friend, Zoe. He likes me no matter what. It’s not fair that I have to lose him right when we’re starting middle school.”
Zoe gives me a shove.
“What’s that for?”