Free Katie Friedman Gives Up Texting! by Tommy Greenwald

“You guys trust me with your phones?”
    Everyone nodded again.
    â€œOkay, I’ll store them in my locker and, just to be safe, I won’t even use my locker at all for the whole week.” This wasn’t a big deal, as most kids, including myself, barely ever used their lockers.
    â€œThe other thing we wanted to discuss with you guys,” Eliza said, “was what we plan on doing for fun, since we don’t have our phones. We’re going to need some activities and stuff.”
    Eliza hadn’t said a word to me about wanting to discuss this topic, but now that she brought it up, I realized she was absolutely right. What were we going to do?
    Ricky, Eliza’s semi-boyfriend whom I barely knew, raised his hand.
    â€œWe should totally party,” he said.
    â€œYou’re too young to use party as a verb,” Hannah told him. Ricky smirked, but his face turned red.
    â€œYou’re right, though, we definitely need to have fun things to look forward to so we can make it through the week,” Jake said. “We need to do something really fun halfway through, and then something even more fun at the end.”
    It was hard to argue with someone who had just used the word fun three times in two sentences, so we all nodded again.
    â€œI have a question,” Phil said. “Does five days count as a week, you know, like a school week? Or does it have to be seven days?
    â€œGood question,” said Phil’s girlfriend, Celia. “Since today is Monday, can we just say we give up our phones till Friday?”
    I thought about that for a second. Jane hadn’t been very specific. Technically, of course, a week did mean seven days, but whenever any kid talks about “the week,” they’re really talking about Monday through Friday.
    â€œWhy don’t we compromise,” I said finally. “Since the talent show is on Saturday night, we’ll say that’s the end of the week.”
    More nodding. This was an agreeable bunch. People were so nice to one another face-to-face!
    â€œI can host a barbecue at my house on Wednesday night,” said Tiffany, another Elizette. “That’s kind of the halfway point.”
    â€œGreat!” I said. “And I bet my parents will let me have a little party after the talent show, to celebrate.”
    â€œWe can do it!” shouted Becca.
    â€œYay us!” cheered Celia.
    Everyone laughed and cheered and hugged and high-fived. It was like we knew each other so well, like we’d been hanging out forever. It was really kind of cool. It was—
    â€œWeird.”
    Leave it to Charlie Joe Jackson, who’d wandered over from the jungle gym with Timmy and Pete, to get right to the heart of the matter.
    I stared at him. “What’s weird?”
    Charlie Joe laughed. “What’s weird? You want to know what’s weird? How about the fact that you and Eliza and the Elizettes are acting like you’re besties? And that you guys have to have a meeting to figure out what you’re going to do with yourselves since you’ll be so bored without your phones. How’s that for weird?”
    â€œThat’s totally beyond weird,” Pete chimed in.
    â€œWe better go,” I said to the group, not even acknowledging Charlie Joe’s comment. “See you guys tomorrow.”
    As we walked to the buses, Charlie Joe slid up next to me.
    â€œWhat are you doing? What is this all about?”
    â€œI told you already. I was sick of being addicted to my phone. I want to see if I can live without it.”
    Charlie Joe didn’t say anything for a minute. “I don’t believe you,” he said, finally.
    â€œWhat do you mean you don’t believe me?”
    â€œI mean, I don’t believe you.”
    Charlie Joe stopped walking, and for some reason, I did, too.
    â€œI know you hurt Nareem. I get it,” he went on. “But doing this whole phone thing with all