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Detwiler—whose first name was Gerry, Alex had learned by looking at the depth chart on the locker room bulletin board—stood and walked to the front of the group. They put their arms up together and the rest of the team stood and formed a circle around them, everyone putting an arm in the air and leaning into the circle.
    “State champs—on three,” Gordon said.
    He counted three and they all yelled, “State champs!”
    With that, they all headed for the locker room. Next time he made this walk, Alex thought, the first day of school would be over. He wondered if the non-football-players would be any friendlier than the football players had been.

    The answer, it turned out, was not so much.
    Alex’s mom insisted on driving him to school, even though he would have preferred to ride his bike.
    “First day, you let me drop you off,” she said. “After that, we’ll see.”
    There was a first-day assembly scheduled for seven-thirty. Alex was out of the car and walking in the front door of the school—which he hadn’t even seen yet since all the athletic facilities were located behind the main school building—by seven-fifteen. He wanted time to find hislocker and to find Jonas, who was also planning to arrive a little early.
    As he walked into the building, the first thing he saw was a giant banner that said WELCOME TO THE LIONS ’ DEN !
    Not the most encouraging welcome, really, but he was now, he guessed, a Lion. He started down a hallway, glancing at the locker number and combination that had been sent to his house with all the other registration stuff. But the locker numbers here were nowhere near what he needed. He saw a tall, dark-haired girl walking in his direction. She was wearing a bright white button on her shirt that said ALLY BELYARD—SENIOR CLASS COUNCIL .
    Okay, Alex thought, she should know her way around.
    “Excuse me,” he said. “Can you tell me where the freshman lockers are?”
    Ally Belyard, senior class council, barely slowed. “Third floor—at the end. Take the steps and turn right.”
    Then she was gone before Alex could ask where the steps were. But he kept walking and, sure enough, there were steps about halfway down the hallway. He went up two flights, turned right, and saw a gaggle of kids standing in front of lockers—many of them trying out their locks to be sure they worked.
    One of those working a combination was Jonas.
    “How long have you been here?” Alex asked as he walked up.
    “About a minute,” Jonas said. “Took me three tries to get someone to tell me how to find this place.”
    Alex laughed. Turns out Ally Belyard actually
was
helpful.
    “Where do you think 194 is?” he asked, looking again at the paper in his hand.
    “Can’t be far, I’m 182.…” Jonas twisted the lock one more time and pulled on the handle. The locker swung open and he smiled in triumph.
    He took a couple of notebooks from his backpack and put them in the locker. “Come on, I’ll help you find yours and then we can go figure out where the auditorium is.”
    “I’m sure,” Alex said, “there will be dozens of people willing to help.”

    It turned out they didn’t need any help. They just followed the crowds back down the steps to the first floor. Most of the classrooms were on the second, third, and fourth floors. There were labs in the basement. The auditorium took up a large chunk of the first floor—not surprising since, at least on this morning, it had to accommodate almost two thousand kids, plus faculty and staff.
    Alex and Jonas found places near the back, at the end of a row, which made Alex happy because he had Jonas on his right and an aisle on his left.
    At exactly seven-thirty, a bell rang and a balding, middle-aged man walked onstage to a small podium with a microphone.
    “Returning students of Chester Heights—welcome back!” he said, drawing a response of cheers, hoots, and a few scattered boos that sounded fairly good-natured to Alex.
    The man smiled and put