“He’s getting bigger and messier. I’ve tried a couple times to take him outside, but he starts squawking, and I have to bring him in. And we might have to repaint your bathroom. I’ll spare you the gross details.”

“You should take him to the Ramble. Lots of squawking out there with those birds. No one would notice.”

“That’s an adventurous idea. I’ll run it by Zoe. Her fun goal was to watch birds in the Ramble. Ha! She could flamingo-sit.”

“Something tells me that’s NOT what Zoe meant.”

“True. But that is what she said.”

*  *  *

On Monday, I spotted my flamingo backpack at school! At least it looked a lot like mine. It was hanging on the shoulder of a kid named Aiden Pickett. He wasn’t in my homeroom, but I knew he had Dooley for math class because I saw him there the day I went in after school to pick up the shrimp packet.

I decided to do a little digging. I ran up to Aiden. “Hey.”

“Hey. You’re name’s Arcade, right?”

I smiled. “That’s me.”

He nodded. “Cool. I want to thank you for making MS 230 a much better place to be.”

“Uh, thanks. I guess. I mean, have we met before?”

He shook his head. “No. But everyone knows you. You like to help people. And you’re really making a difference here.” Aiden waved to a buddy across the hall. “Hey, Preston! Wait up!” Then he looked back at me. “See ya, Arcade! Keep up the good work!” Then he laughed and sped off, the flamingo backpack jumping up and down as he ran.

*  *  *

On Tuesday, I saw the backpack again! It was sitting in the middle of a girls’ lunch table. I walked up to get a closer look. “Hi, Arcade.” They started to giggle. “You’re the bomb,” one of them said.

Awkward!

I got out of there fast!

*  *  *

On Wednesday and Thursday, I watched as the backpack skipped around to other groups on campus.

Is there a new flamingo backpack fad that everyone knows about but me?

Something smelled . . . shrimpy.

Reagan Cooper, who was assigned to another homeroom, walked up next to me, crossed her arms, and glared at a couple of boys who sat on the grass, next to a flamingo backpack.

She narrowed her eyes. “They’re ALL cheaters, Arcade.”

“Cheaters?”

She tapped her foot. “Yeah. And it’s about time they got busted.” Then she stomped off.

Chapter 30
The Crown

The late October air turned cold, so I dug out my warm hoodie for the Thursday morning walk to school. As soon as I stepped outside, I regretted wearing shorts.

“Brrrr! It hasn’t been this cold since we moved here,” I said to Zoe, who was texting Michael Tolley to see if he wanted to ride the subway with her to school that morning.

I looked over her shoulder. “Anything from Loopy?”

“No. I’m sorry, Arcade.”