Carl was patrolling the streets on his police motorcycle when it was just getting light. He was on a small road, where there was not much traffic, when he became displeased with a car that took a right turn just as they were about to meet. It made the turning too quickly, and didn't indicate. Carl frowned. The motorcycle stopped, turned and made off after the car with an aggressive roar.

Once Carl was behind the car and making his intentions known, the driver pulled over without any trouble. They were driving up an otherwise deserted street on a slight incline. Frowning deeply, the driver opened his window and awaited his ordeal. Carl dismounted from the motorcycle, took off his helmet and approached the car at a dignified pace, his face full of authority. He leaned down to address the driver through the window.

'Do you always drive round corners –? Oh, shoot!'

Carl disappeared from the car window and shot off in pursuit of his motorcycle, which was now rolling down the hill at a brisk pace. He caught up with it just in time to grab the handlebars before it ran into an oncoming car in the street he had just left. The driver was alert, and had slowed down enough to frown at Carl before continuing on her way.

Beth and Kevin were in Beth's car, behind a long line of traffic, at the front of which a lot of teenagers and adolescents were exiting the vehicles.

'I can get out here, Mom,' said Kevin.

'Are you sure, honey?' asked Beth.

'It's only just down the street. I'll be fine.'

'Okay, sweetheart. Do you have everything? Lunch money? Pencil box? Summer project?'

'Yes, Mom. I'll see you later.'

Beth smiled at him. 'Bye, honey. Good luck.'

Kevin got out of the car, slung his bag onto his shoulder and made his way slowly up the street towards the junior high school. Once at the gates, he paused to take a deep breath, which he hadn't let out by the time he was knocked sideways by two girls who ran in shrieking with their ponytails and bags flying behind them. The quad was filled with kids, most of them older and bigger than Kevin, and all of them seemed to be very comfortable standing there with a group of friends.

'Seventh grade students this way!' a female voice called, and Kevin turned to see a smartly-dressed girl and a smartly-dressed boy ushering smaller students past them, towards a custom-made signpost that read Auditorium – 7th Grade.

'Seventh grade?' the boy asked, when Kevin approached him.

'Yeah,' said Kevin.

'Go wait in the auditorium,' said the boy, who had acne and glasses and a sticky label on his jacket that said his name was Martin. 'When school starts, the principal will talk to you all and then you'll get sent to class with your homeroom teacher.'

'Thanks, Martin,' said Kevin.

'Good luck,' said the girl, smiling at him and showing her braces. Kevin glanced at her name label.

'Thanks, Phoebe,' he said, and scuttled off towards the auditorium.

When he arrived, his way was blocked by a young female teacher holding a clipboard, and a girl wearing green combat trousers and a crop top. Kevin stopped dead in his tracks, wondering how to get around them.

'What's your name?' the teacher was asking.

'Ella,' the girl said defiantly.

'Ella what?'

'Ella Williams.'

'Well, Ella Williams,' said the teacher, 'you don't need me to tell you that what you're wearing is completely inappropriate for school. You'll have to go home and get changed.'

'You can't make me,' said Ella.

'Well, you can't come to school dressed like that.'

'Well, I think you'll find I have.'

'Um... excuse me,' said Kevin, raising his hand timidly as though he were in class. 'I don't think it's a good idea to send her home unsupervised. You could get in trouble if anything happened to her, or she went someplace she wasn't supposed to.'

The teacher looked at him and raised her eyebrows. 'And your name is...?'

'Kevin Rivera, ma'am.'

'Kevin Rivera...' muttered the teacher, looking at her clipboard, then making a mark on a sheet of paper. 'It's great to meet you, Kevin. I'm Miss Ortega. You're in my homeroom. You can go on in. All right, Ella.' She turned back to the girl. 'Go to the office and get Mrs Lang to call your parents to bring you something else to wear.'

'No,' said the girl.

Miss Ortega took a deep breath. 'Ella...'

'Um, excuse me,' said Kevin, pausing halfway through the door to the auditorium. 'How about if I just lend Ella my jacket for today?'

Miss Ortega considered for a moment. She looked at Kevin's timid expression as he held his weight against the heavy door, and then at Ella's defiant glare and folded arms.

'Thank you, Kevin,' Miss Ortega said at last. 'That will do for today. I'm going to write you a note, Ella, so you can show it to anyone who challenges you on your pants.'

'What's wrong with my pants?' said Ella.

'They're very garish. Please take a look at the dress code when you go home this afternoon, and make sure you find something appropriate to wear tomorrow, and every day you're here after that. If you don't, I'll call your parents myself. Is that understood?'

'Yes, Miss Ortega,' chanted Ella, taking the weight of the door as Kevin took off his jacket. Then she shoved him through as he was handing it to her, and said, 'Teacher's pet.'

Kevin turned and frowned at her. 'If you feel that way, I'll take my jacket back and you can go get Mrs Lang to call your parents.'

'Oh, don't be so touchy,' said Ella, grinning at Kevin as she zipped up his jacket. 'I was just kidding. Seriously, man, thanks. I owe you one.'

'Um, no problem,' said Kevin, as Ella strode confidently into the midst of the waiting new students.

Beth was sewing a seam on a pair of Kevin's trousers when Carl came home. He was looking distinctly unhappy as he flopped into an armchair, put down the sheaf of papers he was carrying and let out a loud exhalation.

'Hi, hon,' said Beth, smiling pleasantly at him. 'Do you want me to get you anything?'

'No, that's okay, you're busy,' said Carl.

'Not for long,' said Beth. 'Apart from this pair of pants, everyone's clothing seems to be in pretty good shape. Actually, I was thinking of trying this pattern I found in the bottom of the sewing basket. It's for a shirt or something... could be fun.'

'I guess it could be if you like that kind of thing,' said Carl.

'So how was your night, hon?'

'Terrible. I don't wanna talk about it.'

'Oh, I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?'

'No, honey, don't worry about it,' said Carl. 'Did Kevin get into school okay?'

'He got in, yes,' said Beth. 'I don't know what happened after that. I hope he's okay.'

'He'll be fine. It's just school. I mean hell, I'd rather be there than chasing faulty tail lights on that stupid motorcycle.'

'I'm sure Kevin would switch places with you in a heartbeat.'

'I guess so,' said Carl. 'But y'know, I've been thinking. Maybe it's time for a change. I mean, when I compare myself to my father... everything he did to make this city a better place... and I'm just enforcing a few petty traffic laws...'

'There's nothing wrong with working in traffic, honey,' said Beth, as she cut off her seam and shook out Kevin's trousers. 'Those laws are important – they're for the safety of everybody. And...'

'What?'

'Well... no one ever got killed working in traffic, did they?'

'Not very often,' said Carl. 'But there's always a risk. I mean, I could meet an armed carjacker, or –'

'Don't!' said Beth. 'I don't want to think about it.'

Carl smiled tenderly at her, then stood up and went to kiss her on the top of her head.

'What was that for?' asked Beth, surprised but touched.

'Do I need a reason?' said Carl. Then suddenly a car door slammed outside and Carl, going to the window, became suddenly brusque again. 'That's Eddie. What's he doing back so soon?'

'Are you sure it's Eduardo?' said Beth. 'He doesn't have a car.'

'It's one of those idiot friends of his,' said Carl, sweeping through the room and picking up his sheaf of papers on the way, so that he was at the front door by the time he'd finished speaking.

'Hey!' Carl barked, once he was outside, and Eduardo stopped halfway up the metal staircase at the side of the house. 'I brought you some fliers.'

'Fliers?' Eduardo said blankly, turning to face his brother.

'Yes,' said Carl, ascending the stairs and thrusting the fliers into Eduardo's hand. 'They're about the police academy.'

Eduardo sighed deeply. 'Carlos...'

'At least just read the damn things, will you? You don't even know anything about it! You can even join before your birthday since the minimum age has come down, and all this college stuff won't be a complete waste of time because you could be... I don't know... a body language expert or something. What's your major, anyway?'

'If you really care,' said Eduardo, 'it's urban studies.'

Carl's face darkened. 'Urban studies? That's not a real subject – what the hell is that?'

'Oh, lots of stuff.'

'Lots of stuff like...?'

'Well, I'm taking classes on stuff like inequality, social psychology, law enforcement...'

'Law enforcement?' said Carl, his face brightening.

'Yeah... last year they pretty much taught us how everything the NYPD does is wrong.'

'WHAT? Well, you can just get on the phone and drop any more classes like that right now! What the hell have you even done today, anyway? I thought you were supposed to be on campus this morning!'

'I was,' said Eduardo. 'We didn't do much – just signed some forms and stuff.'

'I knew college was a waste of time,' said Carl. 'And what are you gonna do now, huh? Just sit around watching TV?'

'No,' said Eduardo. 'Roland's driving me to the firehouse. I only came home for a change of clothes.'

'Spent the night at her place, did you?'

'That's not really any of your business, Carlos.'

'Yeah, well, I was just thinking... and I'm not saying this to be unkind or anything, just realistic...'

Eduardo frowned. 'What?'

'These friends of yours,' said Carl, gesturing behind him at Roland's car, then at the world in general. 'They didn't go to college to slack off, did they? They've all got stuff they want to do, including Kylie. No, don't say anything yet – just let me finish. What'll you do, huh, with this... urban studies of yours? You can still change your major to criminal psychology or something, and then you can enrol in the police academy in the summer, and when all your Ghostbuster friends are off doing their own thing you can still make something of yourself.'

'I am making something of myself,' said Eduardo.

'Right – you're making a fool of yourself. What would Dad say, huh?'

Eduardo responded by throwing Carl's fliers into his face, then turning away and disappearing into his apartment, slamming the door behind him. When he came out again, Carl had gone and Roland was picking up police academy fliers from the staircase.

'You don't have to do that, man,' said Eduardo, hastening to pick up the two remaining fliers, but Roland got there first. 'And I'm sorry you had to wait.'

'Don't worry about it,' said Roland. 'Are you okay?'

'Yeah, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me, Roland.'

'Well,' said Roland, as they made their way back to his car, 'I do, sometimes. I mean, the way we saw him threaten you that first time we really met him...'

'Oh, that was nothing – that was just because Kevin was missing,' Eduardo said, buckling his seatbelt. 'Seriously, Roland, just worry about yourself. I'm not the reason you didn't go to Stanford, am I?' he added flippantly.

'No,' said Roland, smiling. 'I'm staying for T'Keyah.'

'Oh, cool,' said Eduardo. 'So does that mean you're staying for good? I mean, she's planning on going to med school in New York, right?'

'Well... yeah, she is.'

'Um... sorry, man,' said Eduardo. 'None of my business.'

'I'm really starting to think I could go to Stanford, you know,' said Roland. 'It's such a good opportunity, and I read another copy of Professor G. Gaubert's book over the summer – one that wasn't haunted – and I understand it a lot better now. But then if T'Keyah's staying here...'

'You don't have to decide right now,' said Eduardo.

'No... not right now.'

'I wonder if Kylie's decided anything yet.'

'If she had,' said Roland, glancing at him, 'you'd have been the first to know, surely.'

'Yeah,' said Eduardo, 'I guess.'

Meanwhile, back at Kevin's new school, Miss Ortega was now at the front of a class full of students and ticking off their names.

'Mark Warner...'

'Present.'

'...and Ella Williams.'

No reply. Miss Ortega looked up sharply.

'Ella Williams!'

'You already know I'm here,' said Ella.

'Thank you, Ella,' said Miss Ortega, ticking off the last name and closing her register. 'Now, first of all I'd like to collect your summer projects.'

'It was a stupid project!' said a boy in the back row. 'How are we supposed to know anything about real-life heroes?'

'Have you done your project, Michael?' asked Miss Ortega.

'Yeah,' said the boy, producing a single sheet of paper from his bag and dropping it onto his desk.

'Good.' Miss Ortega got to her feet. 'I'll come round and collect them, and while I do, I'd like all of you to take a look at the sheet of paper on your desk. That's a list of all the extracurricular classes you can choose from. Everybody needs to take one this semester.'

'Extracurricular?' somebody moaned.

'I'm afraid so,' said Miss Ortega. 'Wow, Kevin, this is a big one!'

Kevin sank into his chair as Miss Ortega picked up his project, and the boy called Michael threw a spitball at the back of his head. There were a few sniggers from the back row.

'Quiet!' said Miss Ortega. 'All right, since there are twenty of you, we can do the next few things in groups of five.'

'Is it four things?' a girl piped up.

'As it happens, Lucy, we have exactly four things to do in small groups,' said Miss Ortega. 'Five of you are going to go to the library and get registered on the computer system; five of you will figure out your timetable from the chart I'm about to give you, and write it into your planners; five of you will go to the school nurse and make sure she has all your correct information; and five of you will gather around my desk for a little informal Q-and-A. If the timetable group finish, you can come over and join us before we switch. Okay, library group... let's start with Lucy, Kevin, Michael, Catherine and Stephanie. Ah!' as a knock came at the door. 'Perfect timing. Come in!'

The door opened to reveal Martin and Phoebe standing in the corridor.

'Okay, library group go with Martin,' said Miss Ortega. 'The nurse group can go with Phoebe. Let's send Ella, Mark, Alejandro...'

Miss Ortega's voice became inaudible as Kevin followed Martin down the corridor, with four of his contemporaries. Catherine and Stephanie evidently knew each other, as they had linked arms and were hanging behind the rest of the group, talking and giggling quietly together. Lucy stuck close to Martin, and when they had turned a corner, Michael suddenly grabbed Kevin by the shoulder and turned him viciously round.

'Dude, what the hell?' said Kevin.

'I got a question for you, Rivera,' said Michael. 'What's your jacket doing on my girlfriend?'

'Stopping her from getting in trouble,' said Kevin. 'Ella must have told you what happened.'

'Listen. You don't rescue my girlfriend from Miss Ortega or anyone.'

'Dude, seriously,' said Kevin. 'It sounds like you're way too possessive.'

'Oh yeah?' said Michael, shoving him in the chest. Kevin stumbled backwards, but quickly regained his footing, and took a step towards Michael.

'Don't do that, please,' he said.

'Oh my God, you guys, come on!' said Catherine, as she and Stephanie barged between the two boys, giggling uncontrollably as they turned the corner.

Kevin hurried after them, and found Martin holding open the library door.

'Thanks, Martin,' said Kevin, following his pointing finger to the computer area, where Catherine and Stephanie were just sitting down with Lucy and five kids from another homeroom. There was a seat between Lucy and a boy Kevin didn't know, so he slid into it before Michael could touch him again.

'Hurry up, all of you!' a small, grey-haired woman barked importantly. 'We don't have all day!'

Kevin looked at the computer monitor in front of him. It wanted a username and password. He looked at Lucy's screen. She had typed 99chanl into the username field.

'It's ninety-nine because that's the year,' she whispered, when she saw him looking, 'then your surname, then your first initial.'

'Thanks,' Kevin whispered back, and he typed in 99riverak.

'The password is "password",' said the librarian. 'Type it in, and then to change it you have to right click on the menu icon, then...'

Her voice became a blur before Kevin had even logged in. He stared blankly at his screen until Lucy leaned over, clicked a few things and brought up a field that demanded his current password, new password and confirmation of new password.

'She says five to seven letters,' Lucy whispered.

'Thanks,' Kevin whispered back, and typed in P-A-S-S-W-O-R-D, then B-U-F-F-Y twice.

'Log off and then on again,' whispered Lucy, 'to make sure it's worked. Then you have to save a Word document.'

'What do I have to write in it?' asked Kevin.

Lucy shrugged. 'Anything.'

Kevin logged out, logged in, opened Word 98 and typed Anything. Then he saved the document.

'Good!' the librarian barked behind him, making him jump. 'That seems to have worked. Log off and go to the desk where Mrs Carter will issue your library card.'

'Thanks, Ninety-Nine-Chan-L,' grinned Kevin, as he and Lucy exited the library. 'Sorry – I forgot your real name.'

'Lucy,' said Lucy. 'And you're Kevin, right?'

Before Kevin could reply, Michael had stepped between him and Lucy, pushing Kevin to one side to make room for himself.

'I saw you in there!' he said. 'Can't even set yourself up on the computer without a girl to help you.'

'I told you not to push me,' said Kevin. 'And by the way, there's nothing wrong with being helped by a girl, or anyone.'

'What's your problem, anyway?' added Lucy.

'Your boyfriend's been coming onto my girlfriend,' Michael told her.

'Oh, don't be so paranoid,' said Lucy. Then she barged past Michael, looped her arm through Kevin's and dragged him off down the corridor.

'Your girlfriend won't always be there to save you, Rivera!' Michael called after him.

'This place is ridiculous!' said Kevin. 'That guy's got it in for me for no reason, I can't follow a word that librarian says and do you have any idea where we're going? This place is huge!'

'Don't worry about it,' said Lucy. 'I got a good sense of direction. Let's stick together today, shall we? You don't seem to know anybody else in homeroom, and neither do I.'

'Everyone from my old school seemed to go with that beefy gym teacher,' said Kevin.

'Then we'll be homeroom buddies. If you don't mind hanging out with a girl, that is.'

'Hey, man, I'm no sexist.'

'I'm happy to hear it.'

Beth was hunched over a sewing machine, running some striped fabric through it with an intense look of concentration on her face, when Carl came in wearing boxer shorts and pulling a T-shirt over his head.

'That looks great, honey,' he said, when his head emerged from the T-shirt, so that he was standing in his complete men's pyjamas.

'No it doesn't,' said Beth. 'What a mess! My pattern matching is off, and I think I've used the wrong kind of stitch on the hem. How long before I can pick up Kevin?'

'Still a few hours,' said Carl. 'I'm going to bed.'

'Oh,' said Beth, stopping the sewing machine and looking up eagerly. 'Do you want me to, um...?'

'Well,' said Carl, 'I'm pretty tired. Maybe another time. I mean, definitely another time...'

'Absolutely,' Beth smiled at him. 'Do you need anything before you go?'

'Actually, yeah. I won't be able to sleep until I run something by you.'

'Sure, hon. What is it?'

'I've been thinking about this a lot,' said Carl, 'but I got the impression earlier that you didn't want me to do it.'

'Do what?'

'What Dad did... you know... get my shield and everything.'

'You mean become a detective?' said Beth.

'Yes. But if you don't want me to...'

'Oh, honey, listen – I want you to do whatever makes you happy. I mean sure, I'd worry about you, but I worry about you anyway. I've been worrying about carjackers the whole time I was sewing this thing together. That doesn't mean I'm going to stand in the way of you doing what you want.'

'Really?' said Carl. 'Are you sure?'

'Of course,' said Beth. 'You were sure to want a change sometime. Everyone does, don't they? I mean, I sometimes wonder if I could... I don't know... do something. I seem to have too much time on my hands, now Kevin's getting so grown-up and independent.'

'What would you like to do?' asked Carl.

'Oh, I don't know. Right now I'd settle for getting this shirt so I'm happy with it.'

'Maybe you should stop if it isn't fun.'

'No, I'm enjoying it,' said Beth, returning her attention to the sewing machine. 'Maybe I'll even try to sew something else tomorrow.'

'Aw man,' Kevin said to Lucy, as they traipsed into homeroom, the clock on the wall now reading one p.m. 'They call that lunch?'

'You should've gotten there sooner,' said Lucy. 'Mine wasn't so bad.'

'You must've gotten there before they started letting the ninth graders push in,' said Kevin. 'You seem to be finding today a lot easier than I am.'

'Don't worry,' Lucy smiled at him. 'You'll be fine.'

'All right, settle down,' said Miss Ortega, sweeping into the room with a few of the students' projects in her arms. 'Places, everyone. I've been reading some of your projects over the lunch period. Kevin, I thought yours was excellent. I'm giving you a merit.'

Nearly everyone in the classroom reacted, with sounds either of jealousy or derision. Kevin sat rigid in his chair, looking embarrassed, as Miss Ortega gave him his project and a square of blue card.

'I haven't read all of them yet,' said Miss Ortega. 'I'm sure a lot more people will get a merit for their projects. Here you go, Stephanie – good try.'

Stephanie scowled, first at whatever Miss Ortega had written on her project, and then at Kevin.

'All right,' said Miss Ortega, returning to the front of the class. 'All I have to do now is give you a few things to take home to your parents, so you can talk amongst yourselves while I hand them out. Make sure you know where you're going for your classes this afternoon, and do not leave without your letters and consent forms. You should all have one for your extracurricular class, the Little Canada trip and the human development class.'

'That means sex ed., right?' Ella called from the back of the room.

'Yes, Ella, it does,' said Miss Ortega. 'Now, keep your voices quiet for the next few minutes, please.'

Lucy scooted closer to Kevin's desk, and said, 'So who was your project about?'

'Mi abuelo... sorry... my grandfather,' said Kevin.

Lucy grinned at him. 'Ngóh mìhng.'

'What was that – Japanese or something?'

'It was Cantonese.'

'Oh... sorry.'

'Don't be sorry,' said Lucy.

'Hablas español?' someone said sharply, just behind Kevin, making him jump out of his skin. It was Miss Ortega. She came to the front of his desk to gaze inquiringly down at him.

'Well... not very much,' said Kevin.

'Un poco?'

'Um... sí.'

'We have an excellent languages programme here,' Miss Ortega went on. 'Students don't take a language as standard, of course, but you might have noticed that your extracurricular options include Spanish, French, German and Mandarin. If you took Spanish, we wouldn't put you with the complete beginners. If there are enough seventh graders who already speak a little, we'll put you together, or if not we can put you with the eighth grade class. If you started Spanish now, Kevin, you'd be fluent in no time. Alejandro's thinking of doing it. ALEJANDRO!' she yelled across the room. 'Come and talk to Kevin about taking extracurricular Spanish!'

The boy who was sitting in the far corner got meekly out of his seat and came to join Kevin. He perched on the edge of his desk, smiled bashfully and said, 'It's Jandro.'

'Hi, Jandro,' said Kevin. 'So, um... what exactly are we supposed to say to each other?'

'Kevin,' said Lucy, 'do you want to take Spanish? Don't let Miss Ortega pressure you into it.'

'I was already thinking about it, actually,' said Kevin. 'But... I'm not sure.'

'How much can you speak already?' asked Jandro.

'Well...' Kevin considered. 'I don't exactly know. I mean, it sometimes turns out I know more than I think I do.'

'I'm the same way,' said Jandro. 'Mom speaks a lot of Spanish to Abue, but my dad doesn't understand much so we mostly just speak English at home. I've sometimes thought about learning more, and Miss Ortega says if I start now, I'll be fluent in no time. How about you?'

'Me?' Kevin said awkwardly. 'Well, see, my dad... I mean, we don't really speak Spanish at home either. But I've picked up a little from visiting in Cozumel, and from my uncle.'

'Your name's Rivera, right?' said Jandro. 'By any chance, are your dad and your uncle a cop and a Ghostbuster?'

'Yeah. How do you know that?'

'I met them both last Día de Muertos.'

'Ugh,' said Kevin, putting his head in his hands. 'Don't talk to me about Día de Muertos!'

'Um, okay,' said Jandro.

'I don't know about this,' said Kevin, searching among his pieces of paper until he found the one about extracurricular classes. 'Would we have to learn with Miss Ortega?'

'Probably not – she's a music teacher,' said Jandro.

'She is?'

'That's what it says on the teacher list in those planners she gave us.'

'Don't you like Miss Ortega?' asked Lucy.

'I'll tell you later,' said Kevin, glancing up at the teacher's desk, where Miss Ortega was scribbling all over someone's project.

'What extracurricular class are you taking, Lucy?' asked Jandro.

'I don't know,' said Lucy. 'I'll talk about it with my parents later.'

'Oh yeah?' said Jandro. 'You're not gonna let them pressure you, are you?'

'Of course not!' Lucy said defensively. 'I'll decide right now what to do, if you want, and then I'll tell them: this is what I'm doing!'

'You don't have to do that for me, cúmbila,' Jandro grinned.

Lucy looked at Kevin. 'What'd he just call me?'

'Pal, buddy, something like that,' said Kevin. 'Right, Jandro?'

'Right,' said Jandro.