Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 Frankie and Ashley and I decided that our best chance to make Stanley come alive was to see if Jaden would help me. He seemed to know everything about robots that I didn't. Before Frankie and Ashley left my apartment, we decided to try to find Jaden at recess the next day and ask his advice. In the morning, I packed Stanley in one of my mom's recycled grocery bags. It smelled a little like hamburger meat, but Stanley never mentioned that he was a vegetarian, so I didn't think he would mind. Of course, if I had been in there, all I'd be thinking about was a cheeseburger with extra ketchup and pickles.

I put Stanley's motor and the remote control in a nest of some of the leftover toilet paper, to protect them from bouncing around on the walk to school. Ashley was very proud that the paper didn't go to waste. We asked my dad to walk us to school early so we could hang out on the playground and see if Jaden showed up. "I think you should use the extra time to study for your spelling test," my dad said as he dropped us off at the front door. Principal Love, who greets all of us at the entrance every morning, overheard what my dad said.

"Ah yes," he said. "Spelling. Nothing thrills me like a word spelled correctly. Take receive, for instance." "I'd rather not," I mumbled. "R-E-C-E-I-V-E," Principal Love said. "That's music to my ears." "Not to mine," I said. "It's just a bunch of letters that I can never get in the right order." We scooted out of there before Principal Love could go on about the wonders of spelling. "Let's see if Jaden is on that same bench where he was yesterday," Frankie said.

We hurried to the bench by the fence, but Jaden wasn't there. We looked around the lunch tables, the handball court, and even peeked into the attendance office. The only person there was Mrs. Crock, eating a drippy egg sandwich. "Can I help you, kids?" she asked, with what looked like an entire loaf of bread wedged between her teeth. "We're looking for Jaden," Ashley said. "Would that be Jaden S. or Jaden W.?"

"The Jaden who has trouble talking," I said. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." "Oh, that would be Jaden W." "I really need his help," I said. "His mom called and said he'll be late today," Mrs. Crock said. "Why don't you look for him at lunch?" We went to class, and I put the bag with Stanley underneath my desk. It wasn't long before I felt Nick McKelty's stinky breath on the back of my neck. He leaned his soccer-ball-size head over my shoulder to peek inside the bag. "What's in there, Zipperbutt?" he asked. "You're playing with your teeny tiny unicorn Legos again? I haven't done that since kindergarten." Leave it to McKelty to say something mean. He's the worst bully in the school. "That shows how much you know, Nick," I said. "That happens to be the one and only sock-picker-upper robot in the entire city." He let out one of his hippo snort laughs, and with it came a blast of hot air that curled the

hair on my neck. "Please take your stinky breath off my neck," I said, "and pant somewhere else." "People love my breath," McKelty panted. "What planet do you live on?" I shot back. We could have gone on forever, but Ms. Flowers was already telling us to stand to say the Pledge of Allegiance. It seemed like forever until lunchtime. I couldn't concentrate on anything. Not the times tables. Not the spelling words. Not even the science chapter Ms. Flowers read to us about the three types of clouds. All I could think about was whether or not Jaden would help me finish Stanley. I couldn't wait to see if we could get him to pick up the socks. When the lunch bell rang, Frankie, Ashley, and I were the first ones into the lunchroom. Kids were talking and laughing as they headed to their usual tables. We found Jaden sitting alone at a table in the corner, wearing his vest