I stood up so fast my chair fell over.

“That’s my dog!” I said.

“Oooooh, he’s beautiful,” said Rebekah. She got up and leaned on the windowsill. Almost everyone else in the class came crowding around to stare at my dog. Only Ella stayed in her seat like she wasn’t interested. Tara and Natasha started giggling. Now I could see other kids looking out of other windows around the playground. Everyone was pointing at Merlin.

“Can I go get him, please, Mr. Peary?” I asked. My face was burning bright red. I didn’t know what to do. I just knew I had to get out of there — and I had to get Merlin out of there.

Mr. Peary looked confused, too. He rubbed his beard. “Let me call the principal’s office,” he said, going around to the other side of his desk.

My stomach felt like it had a big hole in it. I hated being in trouble. I didn’t like having everyone staring at me. And I was worried about Merlin. It wasn’t safe for him to run around in the streets like that, even though there is so little traffic in our neighborhood.

“Look at him just sitting there,” Tara marveled. “My dog can’t sit still for thirty seconds.”

“What kind of dog do you have?” Danny asked.

“Bananas is a Boston terrier,” Tara said. “He’s totally insane.”

“At least he’s never followed you to school,” I said.

“Oh, I want a dog SO MUCH!” Heidi said. Heidi is the tallest girl in our class. She’s one of the ones who is easy to talk to, like Kristal. “Parker, if he stays for recess, can I pet him?”

“He can’t stay until recess!” I said. “He’s supposed to be at home!”

“I want a dog too,” Danny said to Heidi.

“No way, cats are much better,” Maggie Olmstead said. Her cat is in all these cat food commercials. Everyone knows that because she talks about it all the time. I wondered if having a famous cat was better than having a dog. You couldn’t run around in the park with a cat. But then, a cat probably wouldn’t show up at school and massively embarrass you and maybe get you suspended by the new principal on the first day of sixth grade.

“Parker,” Mr. Peary said, “Mrs. Hansberry says to get your dog and take him to her office.”

“Oooooooooohhhhh,” said some of the guys in the class.

“Yes, Mr. Peary,” I said.

Now I had to go out there with practically everyone in the whole school watching. I ran down the hall to the big door that goes outside. I stopped for a minute, taking deep breaths. From here I could see all the windows that face the playground. I could see lots and lots of faces looking out. I wished the fire alarm would go off and distract everyone, but of course it didn’t.

I opened the door to the playground.

Merlin leaped to his feet when he saw me. His tail was going about a million miles an hour. He barked and ran in a circle around the slide. He kept turning to look at me.

“Come here, boy,” I said, crouching and holding out my hand to him.

He came part of the way toward me and then ran back to the slide. I saw that he had found a lost sneaker somewhere. He picked it up and looked at me, wagging his tail. The shoe stuck out of the sides of his mouth and made him look really goofy. It didn’t look like one of mine. I wondered whose it was. I was sort of afraid to find out. He’d probably stolen it from the kindergarten cubbies.

Well, it could be a lot worse, I thought, remembering the Camellia packing fiasco.

“Come on, Merlin,” I said, walking toward him.

“Mmmoorf,” he mumble-barked around the shoe. I was nearly close enough to grab him when he suddenly took off, racing around the slide and away behind the swings. He stopped and sat down, dropping the shoe.

I ran after him. He gleefully picked up the shoe and went galloping off to the seesaw.

Oh, no. No, I was not going to chase my dog around the playground with the whole school watching.

But what else could I do? The only thing I was sure would work was treats, and I didn’t have any of those.

On the other hand, Merlin didn’t know that.

I put my hand in my pocket and pretended to pull something out. Keeping my hand closed, I held it out to him. “Mmmm,” I said. “Yummy … um, steak-shaped things. You know you want them.”

Merlin’s ears scooted forward. He tilted his head, watching my hand. I backed away, still holding it out. “Come on, Merlin,” I called.

He trotted toward me a few steps. Then he turned, remembering the shoe, and bent his head to sniff at it. He looked at me. I took another step back.

His love of food won out. He came running over to me and jumped up to put his front paws on my chest. I hooked my fingers in his collar and he licked my hand all over, clearly wondering where his treat had disappeared to.

I heard clapping coming from some of the windows. Danny yelled, “Woo hoo!” and I saw Mr. Peary trying to herd everyone back to their seats. With my face on fire, I tugged Merlin into the school with me.

He trotted next to me, just happy to be there, but I kept a firm grip on his collar anyway. Vice Principal Taney was standing outside the administration office as we came up. He gave Merlin the look he usually saves for little kids who sneeze on him. But he didn’t say anything as I opened the door and herded Merlin inside.

“Oh, honey,” Adele said, standing up to see over the counter. “He is a darling.”

“Not today he isn’t,” I said.

Principal Hansberry opened the door to her office. Merlin bounded over and started sniffing her pant legs. She laughed and petted him.

“He can probably smell my dog,” she said.

“I’m really, really sorry about this, Principal Hansberry,” I said. “We locked him in the yard — I don’t know how he got out.”

“I’m sure it’s not your fault,” she said. “These things happen. But I’m afraid we can’t have him disrupting the school day.” She went behind her desk and sat down. I followed her into her office, feeling nervous. Merlin trotted over to her bookcase and started nosing books around as if he was deciding which one to read next.

“I could run him home,” I said. “I only live a few blocks away.”

She shook her head. “I’d rather not have you off school grounds during school hours. Don’t worry, I’ve called your father.”

I winced. “Oh, man. What did he say?”

“He said he was afraid of something like this,” she said with a smile. “He’s coming right over to get him.”

“Merlin,” I said, sitting down with a sigh. “Why do you have to cause so much trouble?” Merlin came over, put his paws up on my lap, and licked my face.

“You said this is a new dog, right?” Mrs. Hansberry said. I nodded. “Sometimes it can take a while to figure out the best thing to do with them during the day.”

“What do you do?” I asked.

She opened a drawer and pushed a few things around until she found a business card. She pulled it out and handed it to me. “I leave her at this day care center.”

“Day care for dogs?” I said. I’d never heard of that.

“It’s pretty affordable,” she said. “They walk them for you, and it’s a chance for your dog to spend time with other dogs, too. See what your dad thinks.”

I heard the front door of the office open. Merlin sat up and went, “Woof!” My dad came hurrying in.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” I said quickly. “I padlocked the gate, but he must have gotten out some other way.”

“I know. We’ll figure it out,” Dad said. He smiled at Mrs. Hansberry. “Welcome to the school. I bet this isn’t what you envisioned for your first day.”

“As first-day problems go, I’ll definitely take this one,” she said, shaking his hand. “At least it’s wearing a smile.”

That was true. Merlin couldn’t seem to stop smiling. It was like he’d won the lottery, managing to get me and Dad in one place in the middle of the day.

I told Dad about the day care and showed him the card.

“What kind of dog do you have?” Dad asked her.

“A mutt, through and through,” she said. “My husband calls her a Frankendog.”

“My ex-wife never liked dogs,” Dad said. That was something I didn’t know about Mom. But I didn’t really know anything about Mom. “So this is our first,” he added.

“Well, good luck with him. Now Parker should go back to class,” she said.

“Yeah,” I said. That was probably the most I’d ever wanted to get back into a classroom.

“I’ll put Merlin inside the house for now,” Dad said. “I’ll slip home later on to let him out. And I’ll give this place a call about tomorrow.” He held up the card.

“Thanks, Dad,” I said with relief. I was glad Merlin wasn’t going to be my problem for a few hours, anyway.

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Hansberry,” Dad said, shaking her hand again.

“You too, Mr. Green,” she said.

Dad took Merlin’s collar and led him out into the hall. When Merlin realized that I was going in a different direction from them, he tried to pull away and follow me. He bounced and slid on his paws, trying to sit down and stop my dad. But Dad kept walking. Merlin gave in and let himself be dragged away. He twisted around to look back at me a few times. I wished I didn’t have to go to class. I wished I could go running outside with Merlin.

Instead, I turned and headed down the hall to Mr. Peary’s classroom.