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now,” Gus said.
    He teased me, holding my backpack away from me like he wanted me to chase him for it. He hadn’t done something that stupid since first grade.
    “Give me back my backpack,” I said.
    I wasn’t going to chase him.
    Finally he came back.
    “Here,” he said, and handed it to me.
    I swung the backpack over my shoulder. It felt really heavy.
    I unzipped it and looked inside.
    A gun sat on top of the peanut-butter-and-pickle sandwiches I had made that morning.
    “You know what to do with it,” Gus said. “You got to get revenge for Jimmy.”
    My hands started shaking.
    “Take it back,” I said. “I don’t want it.”
    “You’ll need it when the guys in the black Chevy come looking for you again,” Gus said. “It’s a gift from me and my homies. With Jimmy gone, you need us. Use the gun to show us what you got.”
    I shook my head. I felt like my heart was pounding so fast that my lungs couldn’t breathe. “I don’t want it, Gus.”
    “You don’t want people treating you like you’re nothing. You need a family,” Gus said. “Being in a gang, it’s the flying-est feeling.” Then he started running down the block.
    I ran after him, but I was afraid to run too fast. What if the gun went off?
    I lost him.
    I zipped the backpack closed.
    “What did Gus put in your bag?” Mina asked when she caught up with me.
    She reached for my backpack.
    I slapped her hand really hard.
    She looked at me, shocked. I had never hit her. Ever. Not even when we were little.
    She started to cry.
    “I’m sorry, Mina.” I didn’t put my arms around her like I would have any other time.
    I couldn’t.
    I was afraid the gun might go off. I had heard too many stories about kids shooting their friends because they didn’t know how to handle a gun. I didn’t know anything about guns.
    Maybe I imagined it.
    I unzipped the backpack and looked inside again. There it was, a big cold metal gun.
    I zipped the backpack closed and looked for Mina. She’d run off. We were close to school. I hoped she’d gone on to her kindergarten class.
    There was no way I was going to go looking for her now. I had big problems of my own.
    Someone tapped my shoulder.
    I screamed and turned around.
    Lisa Tosca stood behind me.
    “Why did you scream?” she asked.
    “It’s something guys do to get ready for football season,” I lied, hoping she didn’t have any brothers.
    “Oh,” she said.
    Then she added, “I think it’s sweet the way you take care of your sister.”
    She had a neat smile.
    “Want to walk me to school?” she said.
    Of course I wanted to walk her to school, but I kept thinking about the gun.
    “Did you hear me?” she asked.
    “Not today,” I said.
    She stopped smiling. She still looked pretty.
    “Sorry,” I said.
    She started walking away like she couldn’t get far enough from me.
    “Tomorrow,” I yelled after her. “Tomorrow I’ll walk you to school. I promise.”
    I knew she thought I was nuts.
    If anything more happened I would be nuts.

13
    T he day was bad.
    First I thought I’d give the gun to the principal, but he wasn’t going to be at school for another hour. He had a meeting at the district office. I said I’d wait, but as I sat in his office, I kept thinking how much trouble Gus was going to get into. Then I started worrying that the principal wouldn’t believe me and I’d be the one in trouble.
    Jimmy was right. I’m nothing but a worry toad.
    Finally I left the principal’s office and went to class.
    “You’re late,” Mrs. Bilky said.
    “Sorry,” I said, and handed her my pass.
    She looked at it, then put it in her roll book.
    Gus gave me a really angry look when I got to class. I think he knew what I was doing. When I satdown, he took my backpack and lifted it. I guess he could tell by the weight that I still had the gun.
    He smiled and turned back to Mrs. Bilky.
    Mrs. Bilky stood in front of the class showing how light passes through prisms. Like we hadn’t seen that a