Funny Mao replied stopping at her locker When it’s meat loaf day I’m all about the hot lunch Ava laughed and waved good-bye to Mao as she made her way to her own locker She dialed her combination to unlock it The metal door rattled as it opened Taped inside were pictures of some of her favorite video game characters Some of them held swords Others had blue flames of magic swirling around their fingertips Come here Ava whispered reaching into her backpack for her two favorite things her lunch bag and her MyPad tablet Though she wasn’t really supposed to have it at school Ava had a hard time leaving her MyPad at home She’d saved her money for the better part of a year and always brought it with her to the after-school coding club she’d joined Her plan was to finish the 6
video game she was working on and port it to her MyPad As she walked down the hall she passed by Miles Patrick another member of the Codeheads the name the club members called themselves Miles was pulling everything out of his locker mumbling to himself Seriously Miles cried pulling two textbooks free I just had it Ava didn’t bother to stop and ask She was interested only in her sandwich and playing a quick game or two before lunch was over Hey Ava Can I sit with you Mao called from behind Sure Ava said as they headed into the lunchroom I’ll grab a spot over there As Mao made her way to the hot lunch line for her beloved meat loaf Ava set her 7
lunch sack on the table and took a seat As she did Colleen McGill plopped down across from her She looked upset What’s going on Ava asked as she unwrapped the sandwich her brother had made for her It was loaded with turkey Swiss cheese a generous amount of pickles and spicy mustard It was sliced diagonally into two nearly perfect triangles My lunch Colleen groaned I think someone stole it Ava looked up just as she was about to bite into the first half of her sandwich Are you serious Ava replied You sure you didn’t leave it at home or something Colleen shook her head Not a chance I remember putting it in my locker and seeing it before second period 8
It didn’t fall out or something Ava knew she’d know if her own lunch had fallen out of her locker I know it was stolen Ava Colleen insisted because I found this in my locker Colleen handed her a small business card Ava looked at the card In the upper left hand corner was the face of what looked like a robber It was a pixelated 8-bit drawing a throwback to video games from the 1980s The thief had beady eyes and looked like he could use a shave In the middle of the card were the words Lunch Bandit followed by a web address What the heck Ava whispered to herself She flipped open the cover of her MyPad and pulled up a web browser She typed in the web address and waited Nothing loaded up 9
