uh-oh! Roz!

Chapter 2 uh-oh! Roz! Claudia and I ran to the front of the house next to ours. It had been empty for over two months. But now we were getting new neighbors! I saw a man carry a box out of a large truck. " Welcome to the neighborhood! " I shouted. The man looked at me, confused.

Claudia chuckled. " I'm just a mover, kid, " the man said. " Your new neighbors won't be here until this afternoon. " I watched the man carry the box into the house. " I can't wait to see who's moving in, " I said to Claudia. " Neither can I, " she said. " Maybe it will be a family with a boy to play with, " I said. " Or a girl to play with, " my sister said. " Or a monkey to play with. " I grinned.

Claudia rolled her eyes. " We'll find out after school. " " Then let's move! " I ran all the way to school and onto the playground. Claudia followed behind me. Sometimes, running makes the day go faster. Sometimes, it gets me in trouble. But it was okay for me to run on the playground. I just had to be careful not to run into anything. Or anybody. Like Principal Murphy! I saw her on the other side of the playground. She looked angry. Like usual. I turned to run the other way, and . . .

KA-BUMP! Suddenly, I was on my back. “ Ha-ha! Squashed you! " Roz said. I looked up at the class bully. She was standing on her skateboard. " Watch where you're going, little bug! " Roz laughed. " But you ran into me, Roz! " I slowly pushed myself to my feet. Roz laughed harder.

Claudia glared at her. “ You're not allowed to have a skateboard on the playground! " Roz glared back. " It's against the rules! " Claudia said. " Not if I'm bringing it for show-and-tell! " Roz picked up her skateboard and grinned. " It's super special, isn't it?" It was. But I wasn't going to tell Roz that. " It's okay, " I said. " Ha! " Roz said. “ It's better than anything you have! " " Ha! " I said. I pulled the baseball card from my pocket.

Roz grabbed it from my hand and looked at it. “ Clyde Spinner?" she said. " He was a pitcher who could throw a great curveball, " I told her. Roz grinned. " Like this?" She swung her arm back. She threw the card. I watched it soar high into the air. It spun. It curved. My baseball card flew toward the woods next to the playground. Then it disappeared into the thick bushes.