A Hundred Ways to Cross the Gym

When a folding-chair collision turns lunch transition into chaos, eleven-year-old Priya Patel thinks she knows exactly what Fairview Elementary needs: one perfect hallway map. Blue arrows, red arrows, timed releases, and no surprises. If her plan works before Friday's decision, outdoor recess can come back. But the old Newark school is under renovation, the gym is shared with a community center, and real students do not move like arrows. Tariq needs a quieter moment to cross. Leila needs routes that work before she arrives, not after someone calls her an exception. Priya's neat solution starts causing new jams, new jokes, and a painful fight with her friend Omar. With the clock running, Priya must trade the comfort of being right for the harder work of listening, testing, and revising in public. Can she prove that a better rule leaves room for more than one way through?