Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks

Chapter 6 is organized in a list that details five things easier to do than Simeon’s and Kenzi’s secret handshake. Each item on the list is followed by a related anecdote and follows Simeon and Kenzi through their afternoon.

The first item listed is “Getting through the crowded hallways after the bell rings” (97). The third-person omniscient narrator describes Simeon Cross as “impossible to miss when he was around and impossible not to miss when he was absent” (97). Simeon has a secret handshake with his friend Kenzi Thompson. Unlike Simeon, Kenzi is “tied for the smallest kid in his class” (98). While Simeon’s size distinguishes him, Kenzi “wasn’t particularly tough or loud or funny or sad or weird or even smelly” (98) and carries around a small blue bouncing ball. Kenzi avoids the crowded hallways because of his small stature. He waits for Simeon in his last class of the day. Kenzi jumps on Simeon’s back with “his arms wrapped around Simeon’s neck, tight enough to hold on, but not tight enough to choke him” (101). This is how they get through the crowded hallways.