Free Black and White and Gray All Over by Rachel Wise Page A

palm and held it out to me.
    â€œEeeewww!” I screamed, slapping her hand away, and just like that, we were back. If only it were that easy with Michael.

Chapter 9

ALLIANCES SHIFT AS NEW BATTLE LINES ARE DRAWN!

    Hailey and I had a blast at the mall. Pizza was fun: We ran into a bunch of girls we’re friends with from school, and we all sat together and checked out some accessories they’d bought with their babysitting money.
    The movie was good. It was a romantic comedy, and everything about the couple reminded me of me and Michael. I cried when they broke up and cried when they got back together and all around loved it.
    Back home we chowed our sundaes—even Allie and my mom made their own—and then we headed upstairs to “settle in,” as my mom calls it.
    But we weren’t going to settle immediately.There was a Buddybook survey to set up first. We got in our pj’s and brushed our teeth; then Hailey pulled up her page and helped set up a little poll for me. It basically asked if kids were for or against school uniforms. We didn’t make it specific to Cherry Valley Middle School, since it would be too hard to control for the answers, and anyway, since it wasn’t up for real as a possibility, it didn’t even matter. Hailey said she’d check it again for me tomorrow morning and tomorrow night, and I’d run with whatever the final tally was tomorrow night.
    After Hailey did that, we decided we’d better look at Michael Lawrence’s page. He doesn’t have a photo up of himself—just a photo of his dog, Humphrey, who is a basset hound and really cute; even his dog is cute!—but a lot of times people tag him and their photos appear on his page. As we poked around his wall, Hailey suddenly gasped and pointed. I looked closely, and it was a tiny photo of Kate Bigley: her profile picture next to her name. She and Michael Lawrence were Buddybook friends! And not only that, they were playing an ongoing game of Words with Pals!
    Alliances Shift as New Battle Lines Are Drawn!
    Hailey and I looked at each other in shock; then I dropped my face in my hands and wailed. “I knew it! I knew they’d end up together! This is just like in the movie tonight when the guy meets the new girl!”
    â€œOkay,” said Hailey, trying to click on the link to read the thread of the game, but it was locked. “Listen.” She grabbed me by the shoulders and made me look at her. “Just because they’re playing some kind of dorky online Scrabble thingy doesn’t mean they’re dating.” Then Hailey muttered, “Why anyone would waste their time practicing their spelling online is beyond me . . . .”
    I had to laugh. “It’s not just spelling, Hails!”
    â€œOh, whatever! You know what I mean. Let’s look at her page and see who she knows, okay?”
    Hailey did some clicking and we were on Kate’s page, but it was locked.
    â€œShould I send her a buddy request?” asked Hailey.
    I thought about it for a minute. “Nah. Nottonight. I’m not in the mood to know any more anyway.”
    â€œO-kayy . . . ,” said Hailey. “But if you change your mind . . .”
    â€œOkay, I changed my mind. But you know what? Send it tomorrow after you leave. She knows you’re sleeping over, and it’ll look like we were Buddybooking all night long, checking her out and stuff.”
    Hailey looked at me. “But we are.”
    â€œDuh!” I laughed. “But she doesn’t need to know that.”
    We tried Googling her next, but nothing came up, except about some Kate Bigleys who were obviously older and not her.
    â€œWhatever. This is boring.” I looked at the clock. An hour had passed. “And a total time suck, as usual. Will you please check the survey before you log out?” I asked.
    Hailey checked. “Wow. Already a lot of replies.