The bell rang for the next period. I gathered my things up to leave. As I passed desks, I saw multiple As written on the top of people’s scan sheets. There were even As on the Tolleys’s tests!

“Hey, Scratch, what did you get on the math test?”

He held his test up for me to see. “B plus. There were a couple of stumpers on here.” Of all the kids I know, Scratchy is the best at math, so the fact that the Tolleys beat him had me scratching my head.

Something’s up.

I summoned a bit of courage and walked over to Wiley on my way out. “Hey, Wiley.”

He tipped his head to me. “Yeah?”

“How’d you do on the math test?”

“I did pretty good.” He held it up so I could see. It was an A minus. “How about you?”

“C plus. Guess I need to make studying a priority.”

Wiley gave me a funny stare. “Maybe. Maybe not. You gotta do what works to get through, you know?” Then he patted his backpack and walked out the door.

Chapter 29
Flamingos Everywhere!

“Doug, I think there’s a cheating ring going on at school.” Doug and I were having our weekly face chat while I sat outside my house on that chilly October afternoon.

“You think there’s a cheating ring going on at school?”

“Yeah, dude. That’s what I said.”

“Who’s smart enough to run a cheating ring? And if they’re that smart, why cheat?” Doug munched away on some potato chips as he talked. “Any news on your family adopting me? My aunt follows me around the house with a vacuum all the time.”

I laughed. “Well, you do leave a trail of crumbs wherever you go. I’ve been reading up on adoption, and my parents are still thinking about it. They called your social worker so they can get more information. They have an appointment in a couple of weeks to talk about options.”

“A couple of weeks? I don’t think I can take it much longer.”

I touched my token and remembered Zoe’s speech about staying strong when all I wanted to do was run and hide. “Yes, you can. This trial will build your character.”

“But my gram called. She’s really sick this time. Arcade, what if she . . . you know. What if I don’t get a chance to see her again?”

“I’ll see what I can do to speed things up.”

“Thanks, Arcade. Have you gone anywhere cool with your token lately?”

“Nope. I think it’s punishing me for losing Loopy.”

“Hey, the Loopster is out there, and he’ll find you. He’s cool like that.”

“I hope.”

“How’s Flames?”