Thank you to Lara Perkins. Who is Lara Perkins, you ask? She is a guiding light, a saint, and a supreme-genius queen wordsmith. She believed in this book for a long time. (She is my agent.)
Thank you to my parents, Mark and Linda de Castrique, and my sister, Lindsay Vivian, who were among my earliest readers (of this book, in particular, but also of some weird stuff when I was really little).
Thank you to the rest of my family—Millie and JP Thomson; Jordan Vivian; my extended family-in-law; my aunts and uncles; my first cousins; my second cousins; my double second cousins; my double second cousins once removed; and my double third cousins.
My favorite memories of Janine Kelker were quite helpful when writing about best friends who co-mastermind some harmless-but-ill-advised schemes. That’s all I’ll say about that. I miss her very much.
Thank you to everyone who supported this book and/or me along the way—Mark and Kelly Jones; Scott Buchanan; the Roques; Kelly Lundgren; Courtney and Seth Pruitt; Jen Vincent; all my beloved friends from Ramsay; Jessica Beaver; Erin Jeffords; Cooper Drangmeister, my plus-one for Smackdown; Brendan Reichs, *submarine noises*; Laura and Eli Terry; former students who read early pages; all the Chickens; friends who offered virtual encouragement on social media; and literally so many other people. If anyone who is reading this was mean to me as a kid, I just want you to know that I have like a hundred friends now.
Emily Plumlee gets her own line and, at the risk of alienating half of Alabama, a loud WAR EAGLE.
Last but first and always, Pete and Charlie Thomson. I am so lucky that it doesn’t even make sense. I love you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melissa Thomson has been both an elementary and middle–school teacher, as well as a literacy coach, in New York and Washington, DC public schools. She is also the author of the Keena Ford chapter book series. Melissa lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and son. Visit her at melissathomson.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Prologue: A Hero Always Saves the Day
1. Everything Was Not Going to Be Fine
2. What’s Next
3. A Big Believer in Second Chances
4. SmashFest
5. Brain’s Birthday
6. The Science Test
7. Headmaster Nurbin’s Office 2: Back in the Office
8. The Wrath of Blanky
9. The Decoy
10. The Apparel Warehouse Commercial
12. It’s More Complicated Than That
13. Bus Ride 2: Back on the Bus
14. Second-Biggest Secret
15. Louisa
16. Sharon
17. I’m Paul Robards
18. The Truth About Tito
19. Paul Popcorn and Oliver Spaghetti
20. We Are Pioneer Cops
21. Grounded
22. Florida
23. A Regular Old Saturday
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
An imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Text copyright © 2019 by Melissa Thomson
All rights reserved
First hardcover edition, 2019
eBook edition, March 2019
mackids.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
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eISBN 978-0-374-30356-3