Michael Bracken

"It pays to keep your wits about you, chica." Maria had led a sheltered life with her eccentric artist father. Raul Dysart warned her himself that she should be more streetwise. Instead, Maria fell into the trap of treating him like a knight in shining armour and let him sweep her off her feet - only to find disillusion and heartbreak...

After meeting on the first day in Mrs. Chemsky's fifth-grade class, Margalo and Mikey help each other in and out of trouble, as they try to maintain a friendship while each asserts her independence.