Enemy Spy by Wendelin Van Draanen

stash the remote in my sweatshirt pocket.
    And I had to do it all without anyone asking me what I was doing!
    First step, trip!
    I'm good at tripping.
    Comes real natural, believe me.

    Turns out, I'm good at faking it, too. I pretended to stumble and twisted out of my backpack. And while I was recovering, I ripped open the lens flap, snuck the remote control in my pocket, and untied my shoe.
    “You okay?”Trinity asked.
    “Yeah,”I muttered. “What a klutz, huh?”
    “It's okay,”she said with a smile. “When I do that, my mom says I'm just trying to catch up with a growth spurt.”She pointed. “Look! You probably just tripped on your shoelace.”
    I tied it quick and picked up my backpack by the top loop, like a briefcase. “Thanks,”I told her. Trinity really is pretty nice.

    Then I noticed something amazing. All the other kids were waiting for me, too. They weren't hovering over me or anything, but they
were
waiting.
    So I smiled at them and said, “Sorry! Klutz attack!”
    They laughed. And for the first time ever, them laughing at me wasn't painful.
    It felt good.
    Like it was… okay that I was the way I was.
    Like somewhere inside they actually
liked
me.
    It was a very strange feeling.
    A good feeling!
    Actually, I felt about six feet tall! And by the time the group of us was at the news van, I felt really brave. If Chatty Adams didn't leave my parents and Mr. Green alone, boy, was she going to be sorry!
    Chatty and that Roy guy had their backs to us. Roy was by the driver's door, talking on one cell phone. Chatty was by the passenger door, chattin' on another.
    Maybe they were talking to each other!
    How stupid would that be?
    More likely, they were trying to get information about Mr. Green and my parents!
    Chatty's camera guy was pulling equipment out of the van. He stopped working when he saw us and said, “Hey. What's up?”
    “We're here to talk to Chatty,”I said.
    “You want autographs?”
    “Not exactly,”I said. “I have information.”
    His eyebrows went up.
    “About… ?”
    “The international spy ring.”Man! Was I being cool, or what?
    “Hey, Chatty!”he called. When she turned, the cameraman said, “They say they've got information.”
    She took one look at us and scowled at him.
    He shrugged at her like, Don't blame me! and she turned her back on us, shaking her head.
    So I went right up to her and said, “Excuse me, but this is important.”
    She looked at me like I was an annoying bug in her no-fly zone. “Go
away.”
    “No,”I said, loud and clear.
    My classmates gasped.
    Chatty's nose flared.
    Her eyes squinted!
    She was practically foaming at the mouth!
    Finally she whispered “Call me back in five”into the phone and snapped it closed. She looked me over. Hair to toe. Toe to hair. Then she said, “So what do you want?”
    “I want you to back off Mr. Green and the Byrds,”I told her. “They're not spies, and they're not Shredderman—”
    “I recognize you now!”Chatty was squinting at me but good. “You're that nerdy little kid from the elementary school who—”
    “I am
not
nerdy,”I told her.
    “Yeah,”someone beside me growled. “He's just smart.”
    I recognized the voice, but I still couldn't believe my eyes when I turned and saw who'd said it.
    Bubba Bixby.
    None of my other classmates could believe it, either. For a second no one said anything. But

    then all at once, other kids started shouting stuff at Chatty.
    “Why you callin' him names?”
    “Yeah! He hasn't done anything to you!”
    “Yeah, lady. If you call him anything, call him
Mister.”
    “Yeah! 'Cause one of these days,
you'll
be working for
him.”
    Now I couldn't believe my
ears.
These were my classmates. The same kids who'd been calling me Nerd for years!
    “What
is
this?”Chatty said, still squinting away. “Roy!”she called over her shoulder. “Get these stupid kids
out
of here!”
    “Look,”I said. “We're not trying to bother you—”
    “Well, you're doing a