President of Poplar Lane

by Margaret Mincks

  “What about you, Amelia?” I asked.

  “Anita Tinkle,” she said. “I mean, the Student Body Elective!”

  “You’re practically squealing!” I said.

  “Well, I’m excited to get back in the game!” she said, wiggling as she walked.

  Amelia’s “retirement” didn’t last very long. I guess being a wonk is her heart.

  “Thalia’s taking it, too,” I said. “She wants to design reusable water bottles with our school logo on them. She’s also lobbying Dr. Dana to fix the sanitary machines in the girls’ bathroom so she doesn’t have to punch them.”

  In a flash, Peter Gronkowski ran across the street. I swear he has hearing like my supersonic smelling. He handed me a business card.

  “Those water bottles sound like a great fit for the new and improved school store,” he said.

  Mike and Scott jogged across the street to catch up with him. “Come on, Peter,” Mike said. “They haven’t even had their coffee yet.” I wasn’t even allowed to drink coffee, but he said it in a funny voice, which made me laugh. When someone is funny, it makes them extra cute. Even though I was still kind of mad at Mike for lying, I guess my crush didn’t disappear completely.

  “Rachel?” Amelia asked.

  “I’m sticking with French,” she said. She pouted. “I’ll miss you, Amelie!”

  “You guys know your French names are basically the same as your real names, right?” I said.

  They both gave me “find your filter” looks. But then they laughed.

  “What are you taking, Scott?” Amelia asked.

  He patted a baby doll that was strapped against his chest in a sling. “I’m staying with Family and Consumer Sciences,” he said. “I can’t abandon my daughter.”

  “Mike?” I asked.

  “Public speaking,” he said.

  “He’s got a magic gig next weekend,” Peter said. “As his mentor, I advised him to work on his putter.”

  “Patter,” Mike corrected him. “Yeah, I’m doing a show at Town Hall with Granberry. The first grandson/grandmother performance in Poplar history. I’m her assistant.” He smiled proudly.

  “Wait,” I said. “Your grandma is a magician?! That’s the coolest! Can she be our celebrity guest at the Welcome Arch dedication?”

  “I’ll ask her,” he said. He waved as he ran to catch up with Peter and Scott.

  Rachel grabbed my arm. “Clover, did you see his wrist?”

  I squinted down the block, and my heart almost stopped. Mike was wearing a PROUD BOY LADYBUG bracelet.

  “I seriously cannot be expected to concentrate on school today,” I said.

  Amelia giggled. “How’s the design for the book cover coming along?” she asked me. Amelia and I are writing a guide to student government. Rachel is the editor. She’s making a press kit and everything to promote it.

  “I’m still marinating ideas,” I said. “But I’ll work on it during office hours today, when I’m not thinking about Mike wearing my bracelet.”

  My “office hours” aren’t really in an office. Dahlia and I are trying a new plan. We each get to have “a room of our own” for one hour each day. Dahlia needs her space, too. It’s not so bad. I’m even getting used to the pickle smell.

  “What about you? Any ideas for our logo?” I asked Amelia. “I want something bold and different. Something that’s never been seen before!”

  “I’m the wonk. You’re the artist.”

  I pictured my Dream Room Inspiration Folder and all the new color combinations and textures and patterns I’d imagined to make it special.

  I smiled. I was still an artist, even if I didn’t have my own room yet.

  “A swirl,” I said.

  MYSTIC MAYHEM MAGIC CAMP

  ESSAY

  Name: Michael “Mike the Unusual” Strange

  Question: How have you achieved the impossible with your magic?

  I tried to achieve the impossible and get elected class president. To win, I thought I had to disappear. I lied about who I was to make people think I was cool.

  And I won. I guess you could say I achieved the impossible, but it was just a confidence trick. The truth is, I’ve never done anything impossible with magic. But I know somebody who did.

  Her name is Selena Strange. Growing up, she read books about coin magic and linking rings and card tricks. She even learned how to read minds! Still, Selena never saw anyone like her, a black girl, doing magic for an audience. Sometimes she felt like it wasn’t even possible.

  But she kept working, and she succeeded. People called her an assistant, but she did a lot more than that. She came up with new tricks and made props and designed costumes. She even wrote a book.

  Selena Strange is my Granberry. I’m sad that she never got to have a role model growing up. But thanks to her, I do. I’m not sure I’ll ever do anything impossible like she did. But she inspires me to try to do what feels impossible to me, even if it’s easy for somebody else.

  That’s why I’m learning close-up magic. I used to think I could only do stage magic. Up close, people can see your mistakes. They might laugh at you and not with you. But that’s okay, because I’m a comedy magician. Laughter is part of the gig.

  28

  MIKE THE UNUSUAL

  My eyes were closed. I drowned out all the cafeteria smells and noise and focused on my breath. In, out. In, out.

  Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I took off my headphones. It was Peter.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  I nodded, sipping my chamomile tea.

  Mom and Dad decided they would pay for Mystic Mayhem Magic Camp if I got in. But I still had to get in. I’d written my essay. Now was the hard part: performing my “achieve the impossible” trick on video.

  Today I was trying something new: cafeteria magic. It’s my version of close-up magic, where you do magic, but not on a stage. You go up to people and do tricks right in front of them.

  Peter was setting up his phone on some kind of stick so he could follow me around the cafeteria.

  Poplar Middle School is changing. It seemed to happen pretty soon after the new government elective started. And the changes aren’t just regular stuff like more recycling and fund-raisers and pep rallies, even though that’s part of it.

  The real difference is in the cafeteria. There are still the same number of seats at the tables, but kids are starting to move around more. They don’t seem so stuck inside their boxes.

  I stretched out my fingers and wiggled them around a little bit. My heart thudded, but I knew I could do it because I was already doing it. I was walking across the cafeteria without my headphones.

  They flopped around my neck. I wasn’t even trying to look like a cool DJ. They were there just in case I needed them.

  I went up to Alan Firenza, who was playing with his magic eight ball.

  “Hey, Alan,” I said. “Want to see a trick?” I was starting with a warm-up before I moved on to my main event: the Thumb Fan. That was the trick I’d messed up at the Pancake Jamboree. When you make a mistake in magic, the only thing left to do is recover.

  Alan nodded.

  I held out my hand. “Pick a card, any card.”

  Acknowledgments

  As always, thanks to all my families (Jones, LeReche, Mincks, and Ross) for their love and support. Thanks to my agent, Steve Malk, for always keeping things in perspective. Thanks to Laura Park, Ken Wright, and the entire Viking team for supporting this second Poplar adventure. Special thanks to my editor, Joanna Cárdenas, for helping me push through political despair to celebrate the joyful spirit of activism embodied by kids all over the world.

  Thanks to Michael and Hannah Ammar for sharing their fascinating wisdom and experiences in the magic world; my father-in-law Rick Ross for talking through trick logistics
(and for Meredith’s patience!); my brother-in-law Nick LeReche for his middle-school savvy and commitment to creative, progressive education; my mother-in-law Terri Ross and Van Galyon for their generosity in caring for Mattie; Chelsea Beam for her valuable feedback; and Scott, Mattie, and Reesie for the group hugs.

  About the Author

  Margaret Mincks grew up the second oldest of eight kids. When she wasn't swimming, acting, making up slightly disturbing songs, or filming B-movie parodies with siblings and friends, she was writing stories. After graduating from the University of Virginia, she moved to Chicago to perform improv comedy with the iO Theater. She later worked at Spider, a literary magazine for six- to nine-year-olds, as an editor. She now lives in Florida with her family.

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