Digital Disaster! (6 page)

“It's okay. I'll read it,” Michael said, sighing,
and read the quote out loud.

“Well, that's a juicy bit,” Mr. Trigg said, smiling.
“Good work!”

Good work? Had Trigger gone off the deep end? I cleared my throat and
spoke. “Yeah, but he sounds like he's almost trying to defend himself or
might know the person who did it,” I said a little louder than I should have.

“Ms. Martone,” Mr. Trigg said. “It's up to you to
cover the story from all angles and present it as objectively as possible. Don't
go jumping to conclusions. There's a team of people investigating the breach.
That's not your job.”

“But what if he did it? Is it okay that we do nothing?”

“He just gave an opinion. He didn't confess anything,”
Mr. Trigg said. “I appreciate you telling me, though. I just don't want to
start a witch hunt. Is that all?” He got up to press the button of his electric
teapot.

“I guess so,” Michael said.

“Well, it looks like your article is on its way to being brilliant.
Keep going.”

Michael and I walked out of his office and into the hallway. We both
didn't say anything for a moment.

“That was weird,” Michael finally said.

“I know. Not what I expected. I thought Mr. Trigg would definitely
want to alert the authorities.”

“Maybe he knows something we don't.” Michael rubbed his
chin in a particularly cute way.

“What do you mean?”

“Maybe he knows who might have done it, and he knows there's
nothing to worry about where Will's concerned.”

Huh. I never thought of that. “That would make sense then. But how
would he know something that we don't?”

“Who knows what happens in faculty meetings? All the teachers
probably know things that we don't about this and everything else.”

I nodded. I just couldn't shake some sense of responsibility I had,
probably because we were the only students actually investigating this story.

“Well, got to go to practice,” Michael said. “I'll
catch you later!”

I walked home in the rain. Luckily, I had taken Allie's super-cool
plaid green umbrella, which she would probably be looking for right about now. Whoops.
Still, I felt soggy and tired when I came home. Allie wasn't home yet. I said hi
to my mom, who was huddled in her office, made myself a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich, poured a big glass of milk, and sat in my desk chair. I took a bite of my
sandwich and twirled around a bit. I wasn't sure if I should call Hailey. I kind
of wanted to wait until she was less mad.

I lingered over a few of my go-to news Web sites. I knew I was trying to
avoid the stack of homework piled up on my desk. I had a vocabulary test, some math
homework, and a book report due tomorrow. If I felt overwhelmed, though, which I
sometimes did, I asked my mom for help. She always knew what to say to keep me calm,
organized, and moving forward. I always felt proud when I finished something I thought I
couldn't. If I cheated on a test or had someone else write my book report for me,
I would never feel proud, just bad and guilty. How did the hacker and Rock Star feel
right now? Maybe they just didn't care about feeling that way. I decided to take
another crack at the Know-It-All letter.

Dear Rock Star,

I understand that you may think a rock star doesn't need to know how
to write well, but how do you know you'll actually be a successful rock star?
Anyone with half a brain in their head needs to know how to write. Plus, you'll be
writing songs. To write great songs you need to write well. Also, I'm wondering if
you realize that you put your friend at a huge risk when you asked him or her to
essentially cheat with you. It's one thing to make your own stupid decisions, but
it's even worse to involve other people. Why don't you try writing the paper
yourself for once? If you do badly, following your argument, it won't matter since
you're planning to be a “rock star” and all. Then you can be honest
about your choices and leave your poor friend out of it.

I sat back and read what I wrote. It was clear, direct, and to the point,
and exactly what Rock Star needed to hear, at least in my opinion. And I was proud that
I hadn't written “YOU'RE AN IDIOT!!!” anywhere, which was what I
really wanted to say. I would show it to Mr. Trigg the next day and cross one more thing
off my list.

Chapter 6

Girl Saves Friendship with a Sleepover

I didn't see Hailey until lunch the next day. When I walked into
the cafeteria, she and Michael were sitting with Jenna and Kristen, Frank, and a couple
of other people. I approached them with my tray. Hailey looked at me and then kept right
on talking to Michael. She might as well have punched me in the stomach. I sat down
quietly at the other end of the table.

“
Hey, Paste!” Michael said when he
saw me. “Why are you sitting all the way over there? I saved a seat for
you.” He patted the empty chair next to him.

My heart sped up a little. Banana bread and saved seats. Is this how all
guys treated their “friends”? I wasn't sure if I felt comfortable
sitting right near Hailey, but how could I pass up an offer like that? I managed a
little smile and moved over. I picked up my veggie pizza and took a bite. Yum. It was
one of our most delicious options from the organic table. I don't know how the
chef made whole wheat crust and broccoli taste so good, but she did. I chewed quietly
for a moment.

“Hi,” I finally said to Hailey, and waved my hand at her. I
was tired of this ridiculous silent treatment. I hadn't done anything wrong. I was
just trying to keep my promises.

“Hey,” she said, and turned to talk to Jenna. The blood rushed
to my face. She couldn't be serious.

“Did you hear that a special teacher/parent meeting is planned for
next Tuesday to discuss the retest?” Michael asked.

I snapped out of my Hailey thoughts and looked up. “Really? When did
this happen?”

“My mom told me last night,” Michael said. “It was
e-mailed to all the seventh-grade parents yesterday. I was surprised too.”

“Oh” was all I managed to say. I wondered why my mom
hadn't told me. I thought of her last night, doing work in her office. She was
probably so busy she forgot. Normally, I understood when Mom had a lot of work, but I
couldn't help feeling a little angry and embarrassed that as a reporter for this
story, I was the last to know. Maybe she needed to do a little rebalancing.

“So, we definitely need to be at that meeting,” he said,
seeming kind of surprised by my lack of words.

“Yeah, definitely.” I was trying to focus on Michael and the
meeting, but I had too many thoughts swirling around my head at once. I saw Hailey look
at me out of the corner of her eye.

“Hailey,” I said a little louder than I meant to, “can
we talk for a minute?” Suddenly everyone at the table was looking at me.

“Uh, sure,” she said, surprised.

“Over there.” I motioned to an empty table. She followed me
and sat down. I sat across from her.

“Are you really this mad at me?” I asked, “because I
don't get it, Hailey.”

Hailey swung her legs back and forth and looked down at the table before
answering.

“I just feel like every time you work on a big story for the paper
with Michael, I become second fiddle. I mean, when was the last time we had a sleepover
or just hung out all weekend and went to the movies? I know I'm busy with stuff
too, but we should always be able to make time to have fun.”

I took in a deep breath. Hailey was right in some ways. I did get a little
obsessed with the paper sometimes and it had been a long time since we had just hung out
all weekend.

“Why couldn't you just tell me that? I wanted to keep my
promise to Michael just like I would keep a promise to you,” I said. “I
don't know why you had to get so mad about it and give me the silent
treatment.”

Hailey's face changed from angry to a little sad. She looked down at
her lap. “It just made me a little jealous that you had a secret with Michael and
not me. I know. That's pretty stupid.”

It's true that I didn't really have to share Hailey with
anyone else. We had other friends, but no one that made me feel “second
fiddle,” as Hailey had said.

“I have an idea,” I burst out. “Next Friday we should be
done with the article, and now that the paper is online, it's going to be even
quicker to post it. Let's plan a sleepover/movie night, okay?”

Hailey smiled her big sparkly smile. “Okay!”
Girl Saves Friendship with a Sleepover
. Now I could cross off
two more things on my list: 1. Dear Know-It-All letter, check. 2. Making up with my
bestie, check.

“Hails,” I said, grabbing her shoulders, looking her right in
the eye. “You're irreplaceable, okay? Not second fiddle at all. And you know
all my secrets that really matter.”

She nodded again and smiled.

“Want to go back to the other table?” I asked. She said yes,
so we walked back over and sat down. Everyone was suddenly quiet with blank expressions
on their faces, as if they hadn't been discussing mine and Hailey's drama at
all.

“Everything okay?” Michael asked, breaking the silence, a
worried look on his face. It was sweet that he seemed to care so much about me and
Hailey.

I gave him a double thumbs-up. Hailey nodded.

“So,” I said, “why do you think they called this
parents' meeting? And who called it, the administration? The PTA?”

“A group of students wrote a letter of protest about taking the test
over, signed not only by them, but by their parents. It's becoming a bigger issue
than anyone thought. So I think the school administration called it.”

“Well, it's good for the article at least,” I said.
“I'm sure we'll get a lot of great quotes at the meeting.”

“Yeah, and maybe when it's all said and done, we won't
have to take the stupid math test over,” Michael said. I nodded emphatically.

“I kind of don't mind,” Hailey said. “It'll
be good to have another chance at . . .” She stopped midsentence as
my mouth dropped open. “Don't look at me like that, Sam!” she
exclaimed. “If I could take every test two times I probably would. It's
easier once I've already been through it.”

“I'm sorry. I was just surprised.” I felt bad that
I'd reacted so strongly. I was so in my own head, I'd never considered
Hailey, of all people, would have a different opinion than I did. When I thought about
it for a second, I understood why Hailey felt that way. Tests had always been hard for
her. “Do you mind if we quote you for the article? We want a good balance of
opinions,” I said, whipping out my notebook.

Hailey's shoulders straightened up and she beamed at me.
“Sure!”

After school Hailey had soccer practice and Michael had baseball. It was a
perfect time for me to show Trigger my response to Rock Star before I officially
e-mailed it. I marched down to his office, my response clutched tightly in my hand. I
glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. I knocked the secret knock—two
quick knocks and then a third. Mr. Trigg and I had made it up so he would always know it
was just me with a Know-It-All question or a draft I wanted him to look at. I heard Mr.
Trigg chuckle upon hearing our secret knock.

“Enter at your own risk, Ms. Martone,” he called out.

I walked in and he was squinting at his computer, his glasses slipped down
on his nose.

“Is that the new paper template?” I asked after seeing the
screen. It had the
Cherry Valley Voice
at the top and looked
just like the printed version, except it was blank, just filled with empty boxes where
the articles were supposed to go.

“Yes. Isn't it splendid?” he asked, but he didn't
sound like he thought it was so splendid.

“Yeah, it looks very cool.” I sat down next to him, gazing at
the screen. A ripple of excitement ran through me. The paper was going to look amazing
and all we had to do was drop our text into the boxes. “It's going to make
things so much easier.”

“That's the idea, except I can't figure out how to get
any text in here,” he said, pointing to one of the empty boxes. “They showed
me several times. I guess it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.”

“Can I try?” I asked, putting the letter back in my jeans
pocket. I was dying to check out the new online site.

“Absolutely. I need all the help I can get!” he moved his
chair over.

I wasn't a computer whiz like the kids in the IT club, but I knew my
way around. I opened a couple of drop-down menus to find what I was looking for.