Zoo Breath (3 page)

“Exactly what I had in mind, Shayla. You will work in teams of two.”

Everybody sat up, trying to grab good partners. I glanced at Willy, Julio, and Rubin. Maya, Ace. Anyone but Shayla.

Mr. Purdy showed us a sheet of paper tacked to the bulletin board. “I’ve already chosen your partners. You may get up—
quietly
—and go see who your fellow detective is.”

Chairs screeched back.

Stampeding feet rolled toward the front of the room.

I squeezed my way up to the bulletin board. My partner was—
Julio!

Yes!

Someone slapped the back of my head and I turned. Julio flicked his eyebrows at me.

I raised a fist and turned back to the list. Who else was paired up?

Willy and Rubin.

Ace and Doreen. I glanced at Ace. How’d he feel about having to work with a girl? He seemed fine with it. He would. He liked everyone, and everyone liked him.

Who else?

Maya and … 
Shayla?

Really? They were total opposites.

I turned around to find Maya. This was too funny.

She was sitting at her desk looking like she’d just swallowed a fly.

Mr. Purdy clapped his hands. “All right, find your partners and come up with a research question. You’ve got ten minutes. Let the discoveries begin!”

“Maya,” I said, leaning over her desk. “Did you see who you got?”

She gave me a look that said, Keep talking if you want your eyes scratched out.

I staggered over to Julio’s desk, laughing my head off.

A
t recess, I sat slumped under a monkeypod tree with Julio, Willy, and Rubin. Maya usually hung out with us, too, but she was hiding. Shayla was looking for her.

I shook my head, grinning. “Can you believe Maya got Shayla?”

“Never work,” Julio said. “She’ll eat dirt first.”

“But she has to be Shayla’s partner, right?” Willy said. “I mean, Mr. Purdy—”

Julio humphed. “You don’t know Maya. Neither does Mr. Purdy.”

“She’ll do it,” I said. “She won’t back down.”

Julio stuck out his hand. “Bag of dried shrimp says she doesn’t.”

“You’re on,” I said, slapping his palm. “So, partner, got any ideas? Because if you don’t, I do.”

Rubin wrapped his arm over Willy’s shoulder. “Me and Willy got one.”

“We do?”

“Yeah, listen. You know how Mr. Purdy said to ask a question? Well, this is it: What’s better, Naruto or InuYasha?”

Me and Julio cracked up. “Serious?”

Willy looked confused. “What’s Nar … what?”

Rubin patted Willy’s back. “After school, come my house. I show you.”

“They’re books,” I said. “Manga.”

“Manga?”

Julio grinned. “Manga’s like comic books. You read um backwards like they do in Japan. Rubin goes there every summer to stay with his grandparents.”

Now Willy was really confused. He prob’ly didn’t know manga from mangoes.

“Stick with me,” Rubin said. “Our study will be the best, you watch.”

Julio looked at me. “So what’s your idea?”

“It’s weird.”

“So tell.”

I thought a moment. “Okay. Here’s the
question: How come dogs got stink breath, and how can you make it better?”

Julio, Willy, and Rubin stared at me. Then they busted out laughing, rolling on the ground, holding their stomachs.

I should have kept my mouth shut.

Julio wiped his eyes. “I like it, I like it!”

“You do?”

“We can study stinks! We can collect them! Show that there are things way more stink than dog breath … you know, for props.”

“Stinks can be props? How can you collect stinks?”

“I don’t know. But gotta be a way, ah?”

I laughed. “Maybe there is.”

Willy jumped in. “Stinkbugs could be a prop. We had those in California. Terrible smell. You can put one in a jar.”

“Yeah,” Rubin added. “And then you got stink eye and stink talk.”

I slapped Rubin’s arm. “You are so bazooks, Ruby-boy.”

“Whatchoo stupits doing, making all this noise?”

I snapped up straight.

Tito Andrade, sixth-grade troublemaker, hovered over us. His friends Bozo and Frankie Diamond stood on either side of him. With those three you could never tell what might happen. They could rob you, beat you up, embarrass you, or make you cry.

Bozo grinned. “Look how scared, ah, Tito?”

Tito snickered.

Me, Julio, Willy, and Rubin kept quiet. We
knew Tito was like a wasp. Sometimes he stung you, sometimes he just buzzed around your head making you sweat. Who knew?

Tito kicked my foot. “I axed you a question, Coco-punk, what’s so funny?”

“Nothing.”

“You just sitting here doing nothing? Like you stupit?”

“Yeah … I guess.”

Julio, Willy, and Rubin kept quiet.

Frankie elbowed Tito. Lovey Martino, a sixth grader in tight jeans, was walking by.

Tito whistled at her. “Hoo, Lovey! Some nice, you! Come see Tito.”

“Hanabata boy,” Lovey said without looking at him.

I spurted out a laugh, then slapped my hand over my mouth. She’d just called him booger boy … to his face!

Tito must have liked it, because he grinned
and forgot all about us. He, Bozo, and Frankie Diamond walked off to follow Lovey Martino.

I let out my breath. “That was close.”

“Yeah,” Julio said. “Okay, back to collecting stinks. So we start with—”

“Breath, bad breath, bad-bad-bad breath.”

“Zoo breath,” Rubin added. “The kind makes your nose go bent.”

Julio poked Rubin. “Since you got zoo breath yourself, you going be our first subject. Open you mouth.”

“Hey,” I said, elbowing Julio. “Look.”

Tito, Bozo, and Frankie Diamond were heading back our way.

Julio jumped up. “Let’s get out of here.”

We ran off and ducked into the boys’ bathroom.