Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero: March 1–April 22

I don’t remind him that a kid got jumped over here just last week, or that Creighton schools are our rivals.

Unlike me, Daddy filled his notebook from beginning to end with his thoughts about things, but mostly with stories called “The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn.”

I’m scared of daddy long-leg spiders, tsunamis, and sometimes dogs. I write those down next to Daddy’s list.

“Yo, wake up, Mr. Librarian!” He smirks.

The room is small enough to smell Antwan’s funky breath.

I pry my eyes open and squint up at Charlie, who has something so close to my face, I can’t see what it is.

“Hey, don’t snatch, ’Saiah!” Charlie pouts. “Those are mine!”
“No, they’re not!” I yell. “These aren’t for you!”

My voice wakes Mama, and she sits up groggily.

Charlie’s a decent artist for four years old, I guess. She thinks it’s funny to draw me as a humongous head with lines coming from it for arms and legs.

I start grinning, but Sneaky gives me a look, so I don’t say nothing. He’s got this crush on Aliya and it’s pretty pathetic.

This year, our school got all healthy and took out the snack machines. And at lunch, they serve Jell-0 and yogurt parfaits instead of cake and cookies.

In the story I’m reading, Isaiah Dunn just got pulled out of class by secret agents, who tell him he needs to go undercover at a championship basketball game to expose a corrupt principal.

I feel like my secret mission is to find out where Daddy’s notebooks are, so I bombard Mama as soon as I climb into the car.

Mama slams on the brakes, and me and Charlie lurch forward.

A driver behind us blares on his horn and swerves around.

“Charlie, that ain’t our house,” I say sternly. “We’re just staying there for a little while.”

“Charlie baby, Charlie baby, get on up! Charlie baby, Charlie baby, strut yo’ stuff!”
I can’t stop my eyes from getting big, cuz Mama hasn’t sung in forever!

My stomach churns like a blender.

“I just got a disturbing call from Mrs. Fisher. Again,” he says, and I can tell he’s not playing this time. “Why don’t you share with me what happened in her class, and why you decided to disregard what we talked about last time.”

Me and Mama had to listen to Mr. Tobin go on and on about the program; how peer counseling is so good, and how it’s required once a kid gets suspended.