I KNOW I should stop. But I don’t.

That week we have a field trip to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. I get on the bus with Ray-Ray and Preemie, partly because they ask me to, and partly because I want to.

Arthur looks at me funny when I say I’ll catch up with him later. He watches me move on back, and then I don’t know what he does, because I’m not paying attention to him anymore. I’m noticing how Dwayne and Kwame are looking at me.

Before this, they always looked at me like I was a cockroach they couldn’t wait to stomp. But ever since they saw me rolling out with Nicky Powell, it’s more like I’m some kind of puzzle they can’t figure out.

And do I like it? You know it! As far as they know, I’m one of Nicky’s boys. Yeah, right.

“Did you check Dwayne and Kwame back there?” Ray-Ray asks me when I sit down.

“Actually, yeah,” I say. I look over again, and this time Kwame looks away first. That never happens. Up to now, the only people who looked away from me first were pretty girls. Well, not all of them. I catch a few cute ones giving me “the eye.” Okay…maybe one or two. But I haven’t developed my mack, my conversation with girls, just yet, so I look away. I know—weak!

Back to Kwame. Dude actually looked away.

Crazy, right?

“Now we’ve got to keep it going,” Ray-Ray says.

“What’s that mean?” I say.

“You’ve got the new rep, but it’s not worth much if you can’t back it up. People need to see you standing up for yourself once in a while,” Ray-Ray says. “Even if it’s not for real.”

“Huh?” I say, but he and Preemie are just cheesing at each other like they’ve got some kind of secret plan. Which I guess they do. You never know what Ray-Ray’s up to.

“It’ll be like one of those pop quizzes,” Preemie says to me. “So just be ready.”

And I’m thinking, Since when is Preemie in on this?

And then I’m thinking, What does she mean? Be ready for WHAT?

But mostly, I’m thinking about how Kwame looked away first, and how much I like not being a cockroach.

So I don’t ask any more questions. I just keep my mouth shut and go with the flow.

Which turns out to be a huge mistake.