Stop the Presses! (4 page)

“Great, then you'll have to invite me over the
next time you make them,” I said.

Wait a minute! Did I just say that?
Martone Requests Invite to Crush's Kitchen, Waits for Rejection.

“Of course, but it probably won't be until after baseball season,” Michael replied. “I don't have a lot of free time these days.”

Ugh! He totally thought I was inviting myself over. Way to go, Martone.

“No problem. I didn't really mean you have to invite me over,” I started, embarrassed, and then it was like I just couldn't stop. “I mean, if you wanted to, I wouldn't say no, but you really don't have to. You can even just give me the recipe and I'll make my own. I'm pretty—”

“Calm down, Pasty,” Michael said. “I knew what you meant. Let's leave the cinnamon buns in the kitchen and talk about this Green Team meeting.”

“Good idea,” I said. “The meeting is tomorrow, after school. I know that Anthony and Hailey have been disappointed because not a lot of kids have been coming to the student government meetings.”

“Well, it
is
student government,” Michael said. “What do they expect? They're competing with a lot of other after-school activities too, like baseball and the play.”

“It's true,” I admitted. “But not everyone is on a sports team or in the play. I think only ten kids showed up to their last meeting, and one of them was a reporter for the
Voice
.”

“So tomorrow there will be
two
reporters.” Michael laughed. “That should help.”

“I don't know if Hailey would agree.” I laughed too. “But let's figure out what we want to find out there.”

As usual, Michael just sat and talked and listened while I scribbled frantically in his notebook. I wondered what it would be like to have a photographic memory. One thing that would be totally awesome: I could replay word for word every conversation I had ever had with Michael Lawrence. Even something that might seem boring to someone listening in could be thrilling to me. There was always just a tiny detail about the way he raised his voice when he added, “Right,
Pasty?” to the end of a statement that made it seem like he was talking about so much more than just writing a story. It was the type of subtle clue that you wanted to rehash a thousand times with your best friend. “Do you think he just meant, ‘We'll find out tomorrow, right, Pasty?' because we're going to the meeting, or do you think there was something deeper behind it?” Hailey would listen to me go on and on and she wouldn't even seem annoyed by it. If she were around to listen to me go on and on, which of course she wasn't.

After our lunch meeting, I was secretly hoping I would bump into Hailey in the halls so I could give her the cold shoulder and show her how it felt to be snubbed by your best friend. No such luck. It was like Hailey had disappeared from the halls of Cherry Valley Middle School. On the way home from school, I turned off my phone, then turned it back on again, sure that I must have missed a call or a text from Hailey and this was all just a big misunderstanding. Nada.

I moped into the house, so frustrated that I even slammed the door behind me—really loudly.
Usually Mom would be all over me for that, but she was so wrapped up in some tax dilemma that I just heard her groan. Great, I'm not even worthy of the attention it would take Mom to reprimand me.

At least Allie seemed to realize that I was alive. She ran down the stairs, her hands full of fabric swatches.

“Sam, I'm so glad you're home,” Allie cooed. “I hope you don't mind, but I've been checking out some samples in your room, and I think I've found the perfect ones.”

“Um, hold on a minute, okay? I think I need to put on some sunglasses first,” I said snarkily.

The colors might have been trendy, but they were hard for me to look at—a green so bright that a lime would have been jealous; metallic patterns that looked like an optical illusion; and a hideous fuchsia, orange, and turquoise combination that might have been inspired by a melted bowl of rainbow sherbet.

“Here's a little advice, Sam,” Allie said, obviously not happy with my reply. “When people are trying to help you, you should act appreciative
and grateful, even if you're not.”

“I'm sorry, Allie,” I said, and I was. “Some things have been bothering me lately, and I took it out on you. I do appreciate that you're helping me. It's been a rough week.”

“Oh, is it the Hailey thing?” Allie asked.

“How do you know about the Hailey thing?” I gasped. “Uh, I mean,
what
Hailey thing?”

“Sam, just because you
think
I'm not paying attention doesn't mean that I'm not actually paying attention,” Allie said. “Hailey's usually the first person you talk to when you get home from school, if she's not actually here.”

“She's just busy with school stuff,” I said. “It's not a big deal.”

“Okay, if you say so,” Allie said. “But believe it or not, I know what it's like to have a fight with your best friend, and it really hurts. So if you want to talk, I'll listen.”

“There's nothing to talk about.” I laughed, trying to look less upset than I actually was. “There's no fight. Everything will be fine as soon as this Green Team stuff is done.”

And when those words came out of my mouth, I really believed that they were sort of true. Hailey and I have been best friends for as long as I've known her. I didn't think anything could ever change that. I had no idea how wrong I was, but I would find out soon enough.

There are some things that you never really expect to happen. Like, you never expect your big sister to suddenly turn insightful and friendly and helpful after she's spent most of your life either taunting you or ignoring you. And now, when I think about it, I realize that maybe there's a price you have to pay when a remarkably positive turnaround like that happens. Maybe something equally as negative has to balance it out. It makes sense if I think about it enough. What doesn't make sense is that the negative would be something as horrific as having your best friend turning against you.

The concept is so horrific that it's difficult for me to write about it, and writing is something
that always comes incredibly easy to me. But every time I think about the fact that Hailey Jones, the person I have shared every secret with for as long as I can remember, would not just ignore me, but would do something that she knew would be hurtful to me, it makes a ball of sadness and anxiety and queasiness start to rise from my stomach and travel up my throat. I've cried a lot since the Green Team meeting earlier today, so much that I would think I didn't have any tears left, but just typing her name makes me start to well up again.

Anyway, I am a reporter, and it's a reporter's duty to report the facts in an unbiased manner, without letting emotions get in the way, so I will report what happened first. And I apologize in advance, because I'm pretty sure that an emotion or two is going to sneak in there anyway.

Today, Wednesday, was just like Monday and Tuesday. I didn't hear from Hailey, didn't see her at the lockers in the morning, didn't catch a glimpse of her in the hallways during school. I saw her in the cafeteria at lunch, but she was sitting
with Anthony Wright—of course—and didn't even look my way. Some of my friends from the newspaper asked me if I wanted to sit with them, but I couldn't stand the thought of sitting there and watching Hailey ignore me, so I just went to the library and did my homework. I figured that would give me more time after school to work on the Green Team story.

After last period, Michael met me by my locker and we walked into the auditorium. I know Hailey and Anthony had worked really hard at publicizing the event—there were Green Team posters hanging all over school—but when we entered the auditorium, you could still hear our footsteps echoing through the room. It was definitely a better turnout than usual. There might have even been fifty kids there. Still, I knew Hailey was hoping for the whole school, so I felt a little bad for her and Anthony and decided that I would try to make the Green Team sound really important in the article. Maybe if my article helped Hailey's Green Team, she would have more time to spend with me.

Anthony Wright went up to the podium and
started to speak. Anthony is a great guy, and he has good ideas for improving the school, but his public speaking skills can still use a little work. If the
idea
of the Green Team wasn't appealing to most students, hearing Anthony speak about it wasn't going to convince them otherwise. He did a good job of outlining the mission of the team and explaining the work that he and Hailey had already done to get started, but if I weren't a reporter intently taking notes on what he was saying, it might have just sounded like
“Green Team, blah blah blah, environmental responsibility, blah blah blah, student activism, blah blah blah.”

I'm sorry. That's harsh and not particularly objective. Like I said, Anthony did a pretty good job giving an overview of the Green Team.

Then Hailey stepped up to the microphone. She's a lot more dynamic a speaker than Anthony is, and she seemed to be bursting with Green Team pride. I'm always proud of Hailey when she speaks at student government meetings, because even though the audience tends to be small, she does an amazing job at motivating them. I'm especially
proud because I know how much Hailey's dyslexia gets in the way of her schoolwork and how easy it would be for her to just chalk up school as a necessary evil on the road to future success as a Team USA soccer star, but Hailey really defines school spirit in these moments.

She told the students that they were looking to start Green Team subcommittees. Each subcommittee would be responsible for researching and implementing an environmental reform in the school. Anthony was going to be heading up an “SOS.” The acronym stood for Styrofoam Out of Schools, and their first mission would be to get the Styrofoam trays taken out of our lunchroom and replaced with a more environmentally friendly option. It seemed like a worthy cause, and some of the other students agreed. At least ten kids raised their hands and signed on to help out.

Hailey continued by saying that they would welcome ideas from anyone who wanted to start a Green Team subcommittee and that they would help them organize and sign up group members. She said that the next Green Team meeting would
be in two weeks and at that meeting they would discuss subcommittee ideas. Finally, Hailey said that she would be closing the meeting by announcing her own subcommittee.

As I was scribbling notes, my feelings toward Hailey started to change, and I felt a little guilty that I had been angry that she wasn't around for me. Obviously, she had been really busy with this Green Team stuff. She'd put together a great presentation, and I think it was probably going to create a lot more interest in student government, too.

Michael was obviously thinking the same thing, because he leaned over and said, “Wow, Hailey and Anthony's work on Green Team is really impressive.”

I nodded my head in agreement, eager to hear what Hailey was going to say next. I decided that I would probably sign up for her subcommittee. She could use the support, and even though I was busy, it would be a fun thing to do together.

And then Hailey presented her idea.

“My subcommittee is called GO GO,” she said. “It stands for ‘Get On Board, Go Online.' ”
I didn't want to ruin Hailey's moment, so I didn't say that GO GO was wrong—“Get On Board, Go Online” means her acronym really should have been “GOB GO,” which wasn't as cute or catchy.

“Are you aware of how much paper is used by our school every time they print a new issue of the
Cherry Valley Voice
?” Hailey asked. “How much energy goes into making that paper? How many trees have been cut down to produce one single issue, which you probably throw into your trash can when you get home?”