Read Online Breaking News by Rachel Wise - Free Book Online

add?” Mr. Trigg asked.
    â€œMe? No, I think Sam mostly said it all,” Michael replied. “I’m doing interviews too, but I haven’t finished yet.”
    â€œOkay, Mr. Lawrence,” said Mr. Trigg. “Just remember we have a paper to print, so wrap those up soon so you and Ms. Martone can turn in the story on time.”
    â€œOf course,” Michael said, blushing.
    When we split up into groups, Michael didn’t have much more to say. “I’m sorry, Sam,” he said.“With the extra football practice and all, I just haven’t had a lot of time to put into the interviews. But I’ll wrap them up.”
    â€œThat would be good,” I said. “We really need to meet and start putting it all together, too.”
    â€œYeah, sure,” Michael said, but he seemed distracted.
    I looked up and saw that Ms. Fields was walking over to us. Michael got up and shook her hand.
    â€œThank you, Ms. Fields,” he said. “I learned so much from you. I have to run now. I have some interviews I need to catch up on.”
    Michael waved good-bye to some of the other kids in the room and darted off.
    â€œEverything okay with you and Jimmy Olsen?” Ms. Fields asked.
    â€œHis name is Michael,” I said, confused. “Michael Lawrence.”
    Ms. Fields laughed and explained that she was making a joke. Jimmy Olsen was a character who worked on the Daily Planet with Clark Kent, better known as Superman. I laughed along with her.
    â€œSorry,” I said. “I knew that, actually. I’mjust a little off at the moment.”
    â€œDoes Michael Lawrence have anything to do with that?” she asked.
    â€œA little.” I sighed. “Well, actually a lot. He’s usually an excellent writing partner, and he always gets the job done. Lately he’s been acting like the Cougar Curse is targeted at him. It’s weird.”
    â€œThat’s tough,” said Ms. Fields. “I can tell you two have great chemistry from reading the stories you’ve written together. You’ll get it back. I know it.”
    â€œI hope so.” I sighed again. “I’d like to do a great job on the cougar story. It’s our first real news story.”
    â€œThat’s not really true, Sam,” Ms. Fields said. “The news is whatever story is of high interest to your audience. Pay to play, healthy food for the cafeteria, school elections—those are all real news stories to the students at Cherry Valley.”
    â€œI never looked at it that way,” I said, secretly smiling inside. “Thanks.”
    â€œOne last piece of advice,” Ms. Fields added. “Whatever Michael’s problem is, it’s his problem, not yours. You can always be his friend. You canbe there for him if he needs you. But for now, focus on what you have to do. I know that’s going to be hard. . . . He’s really cute.”
    I knew my cheeks were probably as red as the inside of the cherry pie that was served for lunch that day in the cafeteria. “You think so?” I said, trying to sound casual. “He’s all right, I guess.”
    Ms. Fields chuckled. “So, Martone, when are you coming to see me at the Gazette ?” she asked.
    â€œYou were serious?” I said. “I’d love to visit.”
    â€œHave you ever been to a postmortem?” she asked. “That’s when we review the stories we’ve written and talk about how we might do them differently the next time. I’ll ask my editor, but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have a problem with letting you sit in.”
    â€œI’d love to!” I gushed. “We don’t really get a chance to do that here, because we only meet after school and we don’t have a lot of time together.”
    â€œPerfect!” Ms. Fields replied. “Send me an e-mail to remind me to check into it. Sometimes I get so involved in a story, I forget