Someone knocks on my door. I click on the X in the corner of my window, quickly whip out my math homework, and pick up a pencil so it looks like I’m working. “Come in.”

“Dinner’s ready, Sassafras,” Gramps says as he opens my door. “How’s that math homework treating you?” he asks.

I look down at my notebook. “Not so great,” I admit, hoping he doesn’t notice I never even made it through the second problem. “I got distracted,” I tell him. Gramps walks in and looks over my shoulder at my homework.

“You can do it, just like we worked through the first one. But after dinner,” he adds.

I stand up and start toward the door, and I hear Gramps say, “Gee, that’s really something.”

I turn around and see that Gramps is holding the origami rabbit in the palm of his hand.

“Where’d this come from?” he asks.

At first I think he’s joking—we just had this conversation downstairs—but he’s looking at me, waiting for an answer. Before I can say anything, Mom sticks her head in my room and says, “Dinner’s ready, you guys.”

Gramps sets the rabbit in its place on my desk, and sings back, “We’re coming, we’re coming. Hold your horses.”

Chapter 12

CODE NAME: ACCOMPLICE

I am late for the bus the next morning because I forget my (unfinished) math homework on my desk and have to run back home for it. Thankfully I make it to the bus right before the doors close. I walk down the aisle, and it feels like everyone is staring at me.

The farther back I walk the more worried I become that no one is going to let me sit with them. Even the kids who don’t have anyone sitting next to them scoot to the edge of their seats so I can’t sit down. Finally, toward the middle of the bus, on the right side, I see Macy. Normally I would completely avoid eye contact with her, but today I don’t. And when I get to her seat, she doesn’t glare at me. She slides toward the window and pulls her backpack onto her lap.

I sit down and tell her, “Thanks.”

She nods and murmurs, “Mm-hmm.”

It’s really nice to have someone to sit next to for a change, even if that someone isn’t particularly talkative. It’s not until the bus drops us off and we’re walking toward the school that Macy speaks. “We could sit together later, too—if you want.”

I’m not sure if she’s talking about later on the bus after school or later at lunch, but I just say, “Okay,” because either way, that sounds good to me.