Table of Contents
GULP!
This is our new student, Cody Michaels.
Cody was standing in front of his new class with his new teacher, Ms. Harvey.
A classroom full of strangers looked back. His heart was beating fast. Twenty pairs of eyes were fixed on him like the guns of a firing squad.
Tell us something about yourself, Cody, Ms. Harvey said. Where are you from?
Topeka sounded so boring. It was time to create the new Cody. Alaska, he said instead. We lived in an igloo.
OTHER CHAPTER BOOKS FROM PUFFIN
The Fireplug Is First Base Petersen/James
The Four-Legged Ghosts Hoffman/Seeley
The Gadget War Duffey/Wilson
Horrible Harry in Room 2B Kline/Remkiewicz
I Hate Company Petersen/James
The Math Wiz Duffey/Wilson
Rats on the Range James Marshall
Russell Rides Again Hurwitz/Hoban
Sasha and the Wolfcub Jungman/Wright
The Sub Petersen/Johnson
Wackysaurus: Dinosaur Jokes Phillips/Barrett
The William Problem Baker/Iosa
For Ben
Chapter 1
Super Cody
Is your fly zipped?
Codys mother looked over from behind the steering wheel of their blue station wagon.
Cody zipped his pants.
Tuck in your shirt.
I dont feel so good, he said. He saw a school-crossing sign out the window, and his stomach tightened.
Cody pulled down the cars sun visor and looked in the mirror. Maybe Im sick, he said hopefully. Look at these spots. I think I have chicken pox.
Cody, keep your imagination under control. Those are freckles.
His mother stopped at a stop sign. You do not have chicken pox. You just dont want to go to school.
She drove on.
The first day is always the hardest. Youll be just fine.
I dont see any parking places, said Cody. Lets try again tomorrow. Or next week.
A red Jeep pulled out right in front of the school.
Oh, good, his mother said. Heres one.
The school was a tall red-brick building with lots of windows. It did not look at all like his old school. To Cody, it looked more like a prison. He imagined that he was a prisoner being driven to jail.
Dont I get a last request, Warden? he said to his mother.
She swung into the parking place. Dont be silly. Be yourself. By the end of the day youll have lots of new friends. Youll love this school.
Small groups of kids were walking toward the building. They laughed and talked.
Cody wondered what his friends Aaron and Kate were doing. If he were still in Topeka, he would be with them, making them laugh. School was fun with Aaron and Kate.
One whole week last month theyd pretended to be from another planet. Theyd talked like robots and walked like robots. Everyone had laughed, even his teacher.
Another time they pretended to be able to read the teachers mind. They got out their lunch boxes and lined up for lunch before she called them. And once they pretended that the cafeteria was haunted. Why else would the meat loaf have that greenish color?
Right now, back in Topeka, Kate and Aaron were walking into his old school, laughing and talking like these kidsthese strangers.
You told me never to speak to strangers. Thats what those are, Mom.
She sighed. Cody, youre hopeless. I give you permission, just for today, to speak to strangers. Come on.
He didnt move.
I promise it will be fine.
She was already out of the car.
My legs, Mom. I cant move my legs.
She opened the car door and looked down at him. There is nothing wrong with your legs.
Slowly he got out of the car and began limping toward the red-brick building.
I really should stay home. I mean, you might need me, Mom. Youll be all alone, he said to her back.
Ill be fine. Ill have Pal to keep me company. She kept walking.
But Pals a dog. He cant help you unpack. Mom ...
She didnt respond, only held the door open for him. As they walked together to the office, he had that prisoner feeling again.
Hi. Im Susan Michaels and this is Cody. We just moved from Topeka, she said to the lady at the office window.
The lady leaned out the window and looked at him. Second grade? she asked.
Third, his mother answered. Cody stood up straighter.
Welcome to Danville School, the lady said. Come on in, Mrs. Michaels. We have some papers for you to fill out. Cody can sit in the hall on the bench.
Cody sat down alone and clutched his book bag.
Inside was all his new stuff. His missed his old stuffhis chewed pencils, his notebook covered with his drawings.
His mother had not been able to find his school things in the moving boxes yesterday, so theyd had to buy everything new.
The pencils came in a pack that said NEW! and IMPROVED! The notebook-paper pack said SUPER! and DELUXE!
A girl passed him in the hall. She wore a purple T-shirt and had lots of curly red hair. She was the only person he had ever seen who had more freckles than he did.
She smiled at him. At least he thought she smiled at him. Maybe she didnt smile at him. He looked down quickly.
Who would want to be friends with him anyway?
He was just plain old Cody who was too short and too freckled, whose father worked in a bank and whose mother sold computers. His family drove an ordinary station wagon and had an ordinary cocker spaniel who did nothing but sleep. Boring.
He thought about his new pencils and paper, and wished that he could be NEW! IMPROVED! SUPER! or DELUXE!
Its another new kid, a boy said to his friend as they passed Cody in the hall.
Watching the boys walk down the hall, Cody wished with all his might that he was not just another new kid. Then, as he waited for his mother, he had an idea.
No one knew him here. He could be anything that he wanted to be. He would no longer be the plain old Cody. He would be a new version of himself, like the pencils and notebook paper. He could use his imagination to make a new Cody. For once his pretending would not be for funit would be for survival.
Super Cody.
His mother came out and gave him a hug. Ms. Mallet will be right out to take you to your new classroom.
She straightened his shirt, then rubbed his cheek with spit.
Remember what your dad told you this morning, she said, about the little engine that could. I think I can. I think I can.
Mom, Im not a baby.
I know, Cody. I just want you to think positive.
I think I positively dont want to be here.
Cody, she said, the kids will love you.
Ms. Mallet came out of the office. Cody gave one more pleading look at his mother before he turned and walked down the hall.
And remember, be yourself, his mother called to him.
Which is one thing he had decided not to be.
