Just My Rotten Luck Read online

  Ms. Green shows us the cafeteria next. Then I ask her where the gym is, but she just shrugs.

  “They’ve got a gym at Union High,” she says. “Here at the middle school, we just sectioned off a part of the parking lot. Sometimes we take students to the park down the street.”

  And I haven’t even talked about the other kids yet.

  At UMS, the sixth-grade classes are on the second floor. Seventh grade is on the third floor. And eighth grade is on the fourth floor. In other words, the higher you go, the more dangerous it gets. Because those eighth graders… I can’t even front… they can be a little intimidating—scratch that, they can be straight-up scary sometimes. About half of the boys have full beards, and I’ve seen at least three girls with healthy mustaches. No lie.

  Believe me, you do not want to get caught alone on the fourth floor in this place.

  Or in the stairwell.

  And definitely not in the bathroom. Never in the bathroom. I’ve already decided that if I ever have to go, I’m just going to hold it until high school. Peeing your pants is not a good look, but you know, sometimes in life, especially life at Fort Union, a brotha has to weigh his options. Carefully.

  So wish me luck. I think I’m going to need it.

  Contents

  COVER

  TITLE PAGE

  WELCOME

  DEDICATION

  CHAPTER 1: THIS IS NOT A DRILL

  CHAPTER 2: ROUGH START

  CHAPTER 3: SPECIAL

  CHAPTER 4: AMBUSH

  CHAPTER 5: NO COMMENT

  CHAPTER 6: AND NOW FOR MY NEXT BAD MOVE

  CHAPTER 7: MAYA, DEE-DEE, JONNY, AND ME

  CHAPTER 8: FLIP OUT

  CHAPTER 9: HOME RUN(BUT NOT THAT KIND)

  CHAPTER 10: NEW ADDITION

  CHAPTER 11: NAME THAT DOG!

  CHAPTER 12: LEARNING KILLS

  CHAPTER 13: PROOF

  CHAPTER 14: THERE’S ALWAYS ART

  CHAPTER 15: A FLIPPIN’ BIG IDEA

  CHAPTER 16: Q.T. PIE

  CHAPTER 17: A LITTLE BIT FAMOUS

  CHAPTER 18: CHASE SCENE

  CHAPTER 19: HERE’S THE DEAL

  CHAPTER 20: NOT EXACTLY A NEWS FLASH

  CHAPTER 21: GIVING MOM THE SLIP

  CHAPTER 22: ALL THE HAIRY DETAILS

  CHAPTER 23: MILLER-FREE ZONE

  CHAPTER 24: ME REALLY, REALLY TIRED! PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

  CHAPTER 25: A LITTLE HELP?

  CHAPTER 26: BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

  CHAPTER 27: GOOD ADVICE

  CHAPTER 28: WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?

  CHAPTER 29: STROKE OF GENIUS

  CHAPTER 30: SAM

  CHAPTER 31: ART SHOW

  CHAPTER 32: SLEEPOVER BOOT CAMP

  CHAPTER 33: FACE YOUR FEARS

  CHAPTER 34: MORE, PLEASE!

  CHAPTER 35: BLENDING IN

  CHAPTER 36: GAME FACE

  CHAPTER 37: HERE GOES NOTHING

  CHAPTER 38: RUNNING SCARED

  CHAPTER 39: TOUCHDOWN!

  CHAPTER 40: GIRL TROUBLE, ON THE DOUBLE

  CHAPTER 41: COOL KIDS’ TABLE

  CHAPTER 42: FANS

  CHAPTER 43: MAKE A STATEMENT

  CHAPTER 44: TALKING IN CODE

  CHAPTER 45: AFTER-SCHOOL SPECIAL

  CHAPTER 46: PARTY DOWN

  CHAPTER 47: THE RUNAWAY

  CHAPTER 48: DÉJÀ POO

  CHAPTER 49: FALCONS AND SPECIALS

  CHAPTER 50: IT’S NEVER TOO LATE

  CHAPTER 51: SECRET ARTIST MAN 2.0

  CHAPTER 52: PHASE TWO

  CHAPTER 53: HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

  CHAPTER 54: THE BIG REVEAL

  CHAPTER 55: AWESOME AND ANONYMOUS

  CHAPTER 56: GAME TIME

  CHAPTER 57: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

  CHAPTER 58: LIKE TALKING TO A BRICK WALL

  CHAPTER 59: IN THE NEWS

  CHAPTER 60: SPECIAL SESSION

  CHAPTER 61: MINE

  CHAPTER 62: BIG MESS

  CHAPTER 63: WHAT DO YOU SAY?

  CHAPTER 64: END RUN

  CHAPTER 65: GOOD (FOR NOW)

  CHAPTER 66: I GOTTA BE ME

  CHAPTER 67: YOU DOG!

  CHAPTER 68: LASAGNA, APPLE PIE, AND ICE CREAM

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  JAMES PATTERSON GETS KIDS READING!

  BOOKS BY JAMES PATTERSON FOR READERS OF ALL AGES

  A SNEAK PEEK OF PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPERHERO

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2015 by James Patterson

  Illustrations by Laura Park

  Middle School® is a registered trademark of JBP Business, LLC.

  Excerpt from Public School Superhero copyright © 2015 by James Patterson

  Illustrations in excerpt from Public School Superhero by Cory Thomas

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

  lb-kids.com

  Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  First ebook edition: June 2015

  ISBN 978-0-316-29983-1

  E3