Stop the Presses! by Rachel Wise Read Free Book Online

care.”
    â€œI think you need another nap,” Allie retorted.
    â€œMaybe,” I said.
    I grabbed a handful of carrot sticks and wentback upstairs. I carried my Maybe box into Allie’s room and then changed back into my pajamas. My room was already starting to look more organized. I tried to focus on that and not my fight with Hailey so I could go back to sleep. Because I knew if I thought about Hailey, I’d be up all night.

Chapter 6

BEST FRIEND BATTLE, ROUND TWO, NO WINNER DECLARED

    I was hoping that the equation of my late-afternoon nap, together with a full night’s sleep, plus waking up in a less-cluttered room, would add up to yesterday’s events seeming less devastating than they had the day before. You know how sometimes when you’re in the middle of something and it seems like the biggest crisis that has ever happened to you, and then you look back on it later and you think, “I was freaking out about not getting chosen to be editor in chief, but it gives me time to do all the other things I want to do.”
    Okay, well, that wasn’t a particularly goodexample. But I was hoping that maybe I’d wake up and realize that it was all a very bad dream caused by too much sleep. No such luck.
    I was bombarded with evidence of Hailey’s backstabbing as soon as I walked through the doors of school. She had posted signs for the GO GO subcommittee everywhere. I knew she was doing it deliberately, to rub my nose in it, because I didn’t see many signs for Anthony’s SOS group. Michael was standing under a sign that was posted right next to my locker.
    â€œI’m guessing you’re not too happy right now,” Michael said.
    â€œIt’s fine,” I said. “Two can play that game. I might start my own committee. POV. It stands for ‘Print Our Voice .’ ”
    â€œIt’s kinda catchy, Pasty,” Michael said. “But not exactly your usual detached journalistic approach.”
    â€œUgh.” I groaned. “You’re right. Maybe I should tell Mr. Trigg that I can’t write the article. You can do it alone.”
    â€œNo, I can’t,” Michael replied. “First, I don’thave time. And second, I don’t think you really need to start a committee.”
    â€œBut even if I don’t, I won’t be able to be detached,” I said. “As you heard, I have trouble seeing a point of view that’s different from my own.”
    â€œYou know that’s not true,” Michael said. “And you also know that Hailey didn’t mean it. You said something mean first.”
    â€œ I said something mean first?” I said, shocked. “I think you need to check your photographic memory. Remember when Hailey said all that stuff about stopping the printing presses? I think that came first.”
    â€œLook, I don’t want to get in the middle of this,” Michael said. “It doesn’t matter who said what first. We have a story to write, and we have to do it together.”
    â€œI’m not sure that I can be impartial,” I admitted.
    â€œIt’s okay. We can be impartial together,” Michael suggested. “I know how you feel, so I’ll try to lean the other way. Just don’t take it personally.”
    I agreed, and we made a plan to meet at lunchtime again to divide up the work. I was really relieved that Michael acted professional about the story and hadn’t brought up the whole “crush” comment. I can’t believe Hailey had dared to go there. I shouldn’t have been shocked, though, because it was obvious that I didn’t really know Hailey at all.
    Later that day Michael and I were sitting at a lunch table, talking about the people we might interview and some of the sources we might use for our research, when Hailey came marching over with her band of Green Team flunkies. She tossed a pile of printouts and pamphlets on the table. They all