Is a school fight ever a good thing? Can detention be a lot of fun?  Is cleaning the cafeteria punishment or an adventure? <br><br>When the new student Sid defended took his breath away, made him feel brave, and changed his life, he knew he was going to pay for fighting at school when he got home, and he does. He remembers telling his little sister to dial 911, and now Daddy is hauled off to jail, and he wonders if his world is falling apart.<br><br>But Royal has walked into Sid’s life and his heart, so maybe the end is really just a new beginning.

A Royal Holiday

It wasn’t just about home, Sid realized suddenly. What about school? He couldn’t imagine the principal hurting her or any of the other children, even verbally, but what about the other children themselves? What if someone bullied her there?


“You know you can tell me anything. I mean, Janice can. And should. And if I’m not there you—I mean Janice—could tell someone else, like your teacher or the police. Did they teach you at school how to call 911?” He held out his cellphone and showed her where the numbers were. She knew them, but only nodded yes to his question and he wasn’t sure she was being honest. Well, she knew now anyway. “If there’s trouble or you see someone getting hurt, you just press those numbers and the police will come and help you. That’s what they do.”


“What about this one?” she asked, pointing to the camera icon.


“That’s how you take pictures, and this is how you take movies, see?” and he showed her.


Chapter 5