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The kids in the middle of the line have pretty much given up hope that they're gonna get a seat, so some of them have started selling their spots to the kids behind them. I heard that Brady Connor sold his position at the number-fifteen spot to Glenn Harris, who was one spot back, for five dollars and an ice- cream sandwich. Unfortunately for me, the two kids in the front of the line were Earl Dremmell and his twin brother, Andy, and they took Abigail and Rowley's spots. Earl and Andy have Phys Ed right before lunch, and those

guys both fake their gym showers, just like I do. Even though all I sit at a table with a bunch of guys, I wouldn't call any of them my actual FRIENDS. Because when we head outside for recess, we all go our separate ways. I USED to hang out with Rowley during recess, but those days are over. It's probably time for me to strike out on my own, but the problem is, I don't know where I'm supposed to go. First of all, there are some kids I have to watch out for on the playground. A few years ago Mom invited a bunch of my classmates to my birthday party, but she thought I already had enough toys and she said so on the invitation.

Usually, when you open presents at your birthday party, all the other kids are jealous. But at MY party I think people just felt sorry for me. Unfortunately, Mom's idea caught on with a bunch of other moms in our neighborhood, and nowadays I have to be careful whenever I see a kid walking around at recess carrying a new book.

Then there is Leon Feast and HIS gang. I got into a situation with those guys a few summers ago, and there's been bad blood between us ever since. One day me and Rowley went down to the school to ride our bikes on the basketball court, but Leon and his friends showed up a few minutes later. They told ours that we were gonna have to leave so they could play basketball.

I told Leon we could make a compromise and they could have one half of the court and we could ride our bikes on the other. But they didn't like THAT idea and gave as the boot. On the ride home I was really mad that we let ourselves get pushed around like that, and I wanted to DO something about it. A few days later, Mom asked me out of the blue if I wanted her to sign me up for the "Superhero Training Academy." She showed me the flyer, ENROLL YOUR CHILD IN Superhero Training Academy AT THE MCA! UNLOCK YOUR CHILD'S INNER SUPERPOWERS! ENROLL AT THE FRONT DESK and I was sold. I couldn't wait to graduate from the Superhero Training Academy and show Leon and his gang of

thing or two. Rowley's mom signed him up, too, and we were both pretty excited about it. But on the first day, I realized it was a total scam. First of all, the Superhero Training Academy was in the gymnastics room at the YMCA and not some secret bunker underneath the building. Then I found out the whole "superpower" part was a joke.