With hesitation, Peter climbed the steps of the school bus. The driver wore an army jacket and had two teeth missing in the front. "There's seats in back," he said, and Peter headed down the aisle, looking for Joey.

His brother was sitting next to a boy Peter didn't know. Joey glanced at him as he walked by, but didn't say anything.

"Peter!"

He turned, and saw Josie patting the empty seat next to her. She had her dark hair in pigtails and was wearing a skirt, even though she hated skirts. "I saved it for you," Josie said.

He sat down next to her, feeling better already. He was riding inside a bus. And he was sitting next to his best friend in the whole world. "Cool lunchbox," Josie said.

He held it up, to show her the way that you could make Superman look like he was moving if you wiggled it, and just then a hand reached across the aisle. A boy with ape arms and a backward baseball cap grabbed the lunchbox out of Peter's grasp. "Hey, freak," he said, "you want to see Superman fly?"

Before Peter understood what the older boy was doing, he opened a window and hurled Peter's lunchbox out of it. Peter stood up, craning his neck around to see out the rear emergency door. His lunchbox burst open on the asphalt. His apple rolled across the dotted yellow line of the road, and vanished beneath the tire of an oncoming car.

"Sit down!" the bus driver yelled.

Peter sank back into his seat. His face felt cold, but his ears were burning. He could hear the boy and his friends laughing, as loud as if it were happening in his own head. Then he felt Josie's hand slide into his. "I've got peanut butter," she whispered. "We can share."

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