The class lined up and filed out of the room. Ms. B started to follow. Being the last person to leave, she looked back to make sure the classroom was empty. It wasn’t. Zach was still seated in the last row, staring intently at a notebook propped against the edge of his desk. He was so engrossed in whatever was in that notebook, he hadn’t noticed that the rest of the class was gone.

“Zach?” Ms. B said from the doorway.

Zach raised his head and blinked in astonishment. Ms. B saw the sudden panic in his eyes as he looked around, no doubt wondering where everyone had gone.

“The assembly?” she reminded him.

Zach quickly slid the notebook into his backpack and headed toward the door.

“Just a minute,” Ms. B said. “I’d like to see that notebook.”

The hall was filled with kids walking toward the gym for the assembly. Gavin and Crosby were a few steps ahead of Caleb. Once again, Caleb thought about Crosby’s plan to cheat on the geometry test. Every morning, Gavin and Crosby got on the bus a few stops after Caleb’s. Two sixth graders usually sat behind Caleb, and Gavin and Crosby often sat behind them. The sixth graders were both awestruck and terrified by Gavin. They’d be jabbering like a couple of meerkats, but as soon as Crosby and Gavin sat, they’d shut up and listen. Crosby’s voice carried, so even when he was talking low, Caleb could hear him. On the bus that morning, Crosby had told Gavin how he planned to cheat that day. Most of the time when Caleb heard about cheating, it involved a phone or a calculator, but Crosby’s plan was so low-tech, it was almost brilliant.

What bothered Caleb was that unless he did something, Crosby would probably get away with it. Walking with the crowd toward the gym, Caleb looked around, expecting to see Ms. B, but she wasn’t with the class. So this could be the perfect time to find her and tell her what Crosby planned to do. But Caleb would still have to return and sit with his class during the assembly. Then he noticed Emma walking behind him. She was a nice kid and one of the smartest in their grade. Sort of quiet, but during the announcement about the eSports Club, she was the only one in class who’d smiled and mouthed “Thanks” to him.

“Hey, Emma?” Caleb said.

Emma looked up at him with wide, startled eyes. “Yes?”

“I have to go back to class,” Caleb said. “Save me a seat?”

Before Emma could answer, he turned away down the hall.

When Caleb got to the classroom, Ms. B was talking to Zach. In her hands was an open notebook. Caleb was surprised to see a phone nestled snuggly in a cutout space inside. It appeared that Zach had used an X-Acto knife to cut into the pages so he could hide his phone there.