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I’ll go talk to the principal,” Nate threatened.
     
    Denny shrugged. “Try it. See what happens to you.”
     
    “Don’t talk to him, Nate,” Pigeon said.
     
    “See, Nate, Pigeon knows the drill,” Denny said. “Just hand over your dessert and save yourself the hassle of getting trashed.”
     
    “Should we have a talk with Dirt Face after school?” Eric asked.
     
    Denny shook his head. “We’ll let it slide today, since we already beat him up before we met him. But now that you know the rules, don’t make us teach you again.”
     
    Trevor wanted to pounce across the table, grab Denny by his curly blond hair, and pound him in the nose. But Denny was a strong kid. Nate looked equally angry and hesitant.
     
    Denny and Eric walked away.
     
    Pigeon started peeling his banana.
     
    “Nice try with the cupcake,” Trevor said to Nate.
     
    “Sorry to waste it,” Nate said.
     
    “Are you kidding?” Pigeon stared at Nate like he was crazy. “I wish I could lose all my desserts that way!”
     
    “Be glad you missed him,” Summer said. “Denny is a psycho. He gets worse all the time. He flunked third grade, so he’s really old enough to be in junior high.”
     
    “He doesn’t bug us too much at school if we do what he says,” Pigeon said.
     
    “And after school?” Nate asked.
     
    “After school it’s more like a game,” Trevor said. “Like a pretend war.”
     
    “Except not always pretend,” Pigeon added. “Sometimes they take things too far.”
     
    “I’ve noticed,” Nate said, touching the scab at the corner of his mouth.
     
    “We’ve tried to fight back a little,” Summer said. “They don’t mind so much down at the creek. But when we try to stand up to them at school, they make life miserable.”
     
    “It works out simpler to let them play their little games at school,” Trevor said. “Doing anything back just encourages them.”
     
    “We’ll see about that,” Nate said, watching the back of that curly blond head.
     
    “I guess I should try bringing three cupcakes,” Pigeon said miserably.
     

Chapter Three
     
    Moon Rocks
     

     
    Nate, Summer, and Pigeon met Trevor by the gate at the back of the school. From the rear of the playing field, a path zigzagged down a slope to a road that paralleled Main Street. From the gate at the top of the path, Nate could see most of Colson Valley, including his neighborhood on the side of a low hill across the basin.
     
    “How did your day go?” Trevor asked.
     
    “Not bad,” Summer said.
     
    “I’m soaked,” Pigeon confessed. “I can’t stop sweating.”
     
    “I can’t believe we have nine more months of Miss Doulin,” Nate groaned.
     
    They started down the path. Dry brush and thorny weeds covered the slope behind the school, with a few oak trees adding some shade. A squirrel dashed up a trunk.
     
    “I’m parched,” Trevor said.
     
    “Me too,” Pigeon said. “Where’s a drinking fountain when you need one?”
     
    “Have you guys tried that ice cream place?” Nate asked.
     
    “On the corner of Main and Greenway?” Summer asked.
     
    “Yeah, I think. The one on the way home.”
     
    “It’s new,” Trevor said. “I’m not sure it’s open yet.”
     
    “It looked open this morning,” Nate said. “We should check it out.”
     
    “I’m melting,” Pigeon moaned.
     
    “You could get some ice cream,” Nate suggested.
     
    “I only have like thirty cents,” Pigeon said.
     
    “I don’t have money either,” Nate said. “Maybe we could get a free sample. Or at least a glass of water.”
     
    The path behind the school deposited them onto Greenway. The road was one block over from Main. The street had little traffic and was lined with small houses whose low, chain-link fences protected unkempt yards. A few other groups of kids were also walking home along Greenway. Dogs barked from behind some of the fences.
     
    The side streets along Greenway were minor until Main curved and