Candy Shop War Read Online Free PDF Page A

out. You like it too.”
     
    Nate shrugged.
     
    Main curved up a slope. They turned onto Oak Grove Avenue and pulled into the Mt. Diablo Elementary parking lot. Kids poured out of cars and buses, heading into the school. Nate studied the crowd. Nobody looked too intimidating. Most of the kids were younger than him.
     
    They reached the curb.
     
    “All right, have a great day,” his mom said. “You sure you don’t want me to pick you up?”
     
    “Trevor says they always walk home. You sure I can’t just start tomorrow?”
     
    “We wouldn’t have made it this far if I wasn’t.”
     
    “Mom, this school is named after the devil. That is not a good sign.”
     
    “Somehow I think you’ll survive. Remember, 18-C with a blue door.”
     
    Nate opened his door. The nervous feeling in his stomach reminded him of the butterflies he had experienced before doing a lip sync in his fourth-grade talent show. Had he ever been this intimidated by a first day of school?
     
    He stepped out of the familiar Ford Explorer onto the unfamiliar sidewalk of the unfamiliar school full of unfamiliar kids. He shut the door, waved to his mom, and joined the mass of students flowing into the school.
     
    Covered sidewalks connected the buildings. His mom had explained that his class was in the last building on the left. He wished he had resisted begging to stay home so much. It had really gotten his hopes up for missing the day, which now made him feel even more out of place.
     
    He heard someone crying. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a tiny Asian kid clinging to his mother and bawling. It made Nate feel a little better. At least he wasn’t that pathetic.
     
    He moved along a crowded walkway, tapping his knuckles against a metal rail. The rail protected a grassy area between the buildings. He considered ducking the rail and cutting across the grass, but no other kids were doing it.
     
    Up ahead, Nate identified a familiar face. The kid with black hair who had thrown dirt clods at him. He was not wearing his army jacket. It was already a hot day.
     
    Nate touched the corner of his mouth. After five days, the bruise had faded, but he still had the remnants of a small scab. Nate adjusted how he was walking so that the kid in front of him blocked Army Jacket from view.
     
    He had learned from Summer that the boy with the army jacket was named Kyle. The kid with the flat face was Eric. The blond with the curly hair was Denny. They were all sixth graders this year.
     
    Although Nate had spent the last few days going to the creek and riding around the neighborhood with Trevor, Summer, and Pigeon, he had not run into the irritating trio since they had stoned him. But Trevor had warned him that those guys tried to bully them a lot, both at school and around the neighborhood. Nobody was looking forward to the bullies thinking they ruled the school as sixth graders.
     
    Nate peeked around the kid in front of him, who looked too old to be wearing a yellow backpack with Woodstock on it. Kyle was no longer in sight.
     
*****
     
    Summer sat at her desk watching kids file into the room. Her backpack rested on the seat of the desk next to her. Her notebook covered the seat on her opposite side.
     
    “Whose notebook is this?” asked a girl with long brown hair. Summer thought her name was Crystal, but had never spoken to her much.
     
    “I’m saving that seat.”
     
    “And that other one too?”
     
    “I have a couple of friends coming,” Summer said.
     
    As the girl claimed the desk in front of the backpack, Nate came through the door. He was in a green button-down shirt and jeans. He looked a little dazed. Then he made eye contact with Summer, and his face came to life. She waved him over. He looked a little hesitant, and then walked in her direction. She moved her backpack and he sat down.
     
    “How are you?” he asked.
     
    “Fine.”
     
    “Hot today.”
     
    The girl with long brown hair turned around. “Are you her