Read Online Digital Disaster! by Rachel Wise - Free Book Online Page B

asked.
    â€œUh, nothing,” I said. I needed to talk to that kid again.
    â€œI think we got some great stuff as far as students and parents are
concerned. Let’s get some more teacher opinions while we’re here,”
Michael said. “Then we’ll really have all we need.”
    I nodded, and we both went over to interview the teachers. They were
excited to talk to us and seemed anxious to allow their voices to be heard, since the
parents and students were really the dominating voices at the meeting. Many teachers
reiterated what Mr. Pfeiffer had said. Then we went up to Mr. Evans, a math teacher and
the head of the IT club.
    â€œMr. Evans,” I said in my best authoritative reporter voice.
“What’s your opinion on all this? You must have a specific viewpoint since
you’ve been helping with the investigation.”
    He looked at us and rubbed his beard for a second. “I guess I
do,” he said, “but my opinion is pretty much in line with what many of the
faculty believe. You simply can’t steal the answers to something and think
that’s the solution to your problem. It may seem like a quick solution. But
you’re actually starting to stack a row of dominoes against yourself—you
didn’t study for this test, but you did well. Then your stolen test score
qualifies you for an advanced placement class next semester. You had difficulty doing
the work in a regular class, and now you’re in AP! You fall way behind and are
anxious and miserable all the time. Your self-esteem plummets because you think
you’re stupid. You’re not stupid, but you were lazy and made a stupid
decision and now may be paying for it for a long time to come.”
    â€œWow,” said Michael. “Well put. Thanks for your
time.”
    â€œGlad to be of service,” he said, then smiled and walked
away.
    â€œThis is awesome. We have an amazing story here. Too bad they
don’t hand out Pulitzer Prizes for school newspaper articles,” Michael said.
“You’re a great writing partner, Nailsy.” He held up his hand for a
high five.
    â€œThanks,” I said, smacking his hand. Now it was my turn to
blush. “I think we should meet tomorrow and get all of this down into one coherent
piece. Want to come over after school?”
    After the words came tumbling out of my mouth, I realized I had just
invited Michael Lawrence over without thinking/stressing about it for days, getting
advice from Hailey, getting advice from Allie, and then stressing about it some
more.
    â€œSure, and then after we post this, we can celebrate at Spring
Fling!” Michael said excitedly.
    Right! Spring Fling, where our whole class gets to go to an amusement park
for the entire day. No work, no paper, just pure fun. I had totally forgotten about it
because I was so stressed out about the story and about Dear Know-It-All. And it was the
most fun day of the year. I was really out of balance.
    â€œI almost forgot, with all this going on,” I said, sweeping my
hand over the auditorium full of concerned and somewhat frustrated parents, students,
and teachers. Maybe Will Hutchins had a point—there was a lesson to be learned
here. “So we’ll write the rest tomorrow and put it online Monday or Tuesday,
and it will be ready for the world to see on Wednesday!”
    â€œDo you think we need more time than that?” Michael asked.
    â€œWe have a lot of it in place already. It’s really just
combining what we both wrote and uploading it to the paper template, which seems a lot
easier than it was before. We can actually see the layout and tweak it right before we
publish it. Mr. Trigg showed me, or actually I showed him,” I said.
    â€œIf you say so,” Michael said.
    â€œHeelooo, superreporters. Get some good stuff?” Hailey asked
as she walked up to us. She had borrowed the Aqua Fantasy, and her turquoise nail
fabulousness flashed at me. The