Digital Disaster! (13 page)

I smiled and sighed and turned my attention to Mr. Trigg, who is British
and charming and very witty.

“Good morning, gang! Glad to see you all! Righty-ho, we have lots to
discuss today . . .” He rifled through a pile of papers in his hand
and found the one he was looking for. “Aha! Yes! Hmm. Here!” He looked up
and scanned the room. Despite Mr. Trigg's kind of careless appearance—his
tall, lanky frame stooped as usual, his suit wrinkled and bagging, and his trademark
scarf hanging limply around his neck—he is an exacting journalist and an
enthusiastic one. He was as excited today as he always is when starting a new issue, and
his excitement was contagious.

“I've got an interesting clipping here on year-round school,
something I think we should explore. . . .”

There were groans around the room, but Mr. Trigg shushed everyone with a
smile. “It's getting quite popular round the world these days. Hmm.
Let's see what this article says. Students receive the same number of vacation
days as always. Breaks are more frequent but shorter. . . . Shorter
breaks increase knowledge retention. . . . You know, students do tend to
forget quite a lot over the summer,” he said conversationally. “In
addition . . . blah, blah, blah . . . the school buildings
don't stand empty . . . easier for working
parents . . . and so forth. Quite interesting, I daresay. Now, who should
it go to . . . ?”

He looked up and surveyed the room, and his eyes stopped on me and
Michael. I'd known we were going to get it from the moment he started telling us
about it. It just felt like a me and Michael article—big, juicy, timely, lots of
research . . .

But suddenly the door to the newsroom opened and everyone looked up.

“Oh, hello! Pardon me, but is this the newspaper meeting?”

In the doorway was a very pretty girl my age. She had black, wavy hair, a
pale, creamy complexion, and bright blue eyes, and she spoke with an English accent, to
boot! She was smiling and didn't seem at all nervous to be interrupting.

Mr. Trigg was very welcoming. “Well, hello! This
is
the newspaper meeting. Won't you join us,
Ms. . . . ?”

“Bigley! Kate Bigley. I was wondering if you might need any more
writers. I've just arrived, transferred in from—”

“Manchester, England, right?” Mr. Trigg interrupted, pointing
his finger at her as a huge smile lit up his face.

Kate Bigley laughed and blushed prettily. “Why, yes! And
you . . . Liverpool, right?”

Mr. Trigg guffawed and slapped his leg. “Yes, indeed. Well done!
Wonderful to have someone from the mother country in our midst! And we've always
got room for more reporters.”

Kate Bigley said, “That's awfully kind,
Mr. . . . ?”

“Trigg. Mr. Trigg. Welcome aboard. Now, we were just discussing an
article we'd like to do on year-round schooling. . . .”

“Oh, we have that back home. It was all over the papers when they
started. Quite the controversy at first, but everything seems settled now in the schools
where they've got it. My friends are all a bit worried it's coming for
everyone!” Kate Bigley perched on the arm of the sofa where Michael and I were
sitting and crossed her legs, settling in. All eyes were on her, but she didn't
seem to mind one bit. I don't know why this immediately annoyed me, but it did. As
did her sitting right next to Michael without even asking if it was okay. This Kate
Bigley was pretty forward.

Mr. Trigg's eyes sparkled. “Well, since you have more
experience with the topic than the rest of us, why don't you and Mr. Lawrence, who
is seated right next to you, take this on for our next issue? He's got lots of
experience and can show you the ropes. You're in very good hands, Ms.
Bigley.”

Michael nodded up at her, and she smiled back, nodding too.

“Wonderful,” she said.

Wonderful?
How about
horrible?!
I wanted to throw up. I felt a hot blush starting, a mix of both
anger and mortification. How could Mr. Trigg just cut me out like that? He knew that was
my article! How could this girl sandbag him in just minutes, stealing my crush and my
assignment in one fell swoop?

All three of them were smiling in the aftermath of their little lovefest,
and I was seething.

RACHEL WISE
loves to give advice. When
she's not editing or writing children's books, which she does full time at a
publisher in New York, she's reading advice columns in newspapers, magazines, and
blogs, and is always sure her advice would be better! Her dream is to someday have her
own talk show, where she could share her wisdom with millions of people at once; but for
now she's happy to dole o ut advice in small portions in Dear Know-It-All
books.

Jacket design by Laura L. DiSiena
Jacket illustrated by James
Bernardin

Jacket illustrations copyright © 2013 by Simon & Schuster,
Inc.

Simon Spotlight • Simon & Schuster, New York

SIMON SPOTLIGHT

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

SimonandSchuster.com

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Copyright © 2013 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved,
including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon &
Schuster, Inc.

Text by Veera Hiranandani

ISBN 978-1-4424-7217-4 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4424-7218-1 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-4424-7219-8 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number

2012954934