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

Seventy-three for it, twenty-two against.”
    â€œHuh. It’s totally weird, Hailey, but that’s about the ratio I got when I interviewed peopleoutside school the other day.”
    â€œShould we tack on a question about what the uniform should be?” asked Hailey, squinting at the comments on the screen.
    â€œNah. Thanks, though. With Pfeiffer’s take on it all, I don’t think anything will come of it anyway. Why make extra work for ourselves?” I said.
    Hailey shut down the computer, saying, “You don’t have to tell me twice.”
    After we got into our beds and turned out the lights, everything was quiet, and then Hailey said, “Sam? If you like Michael, why don’t you just tell him? There’s always all these misunderstandings between you two, and it’s because you don’t talk! For journalists, you’re not very good at communicating.”
    â€œMaybe I should write it down.” I yawned. There was no way I was going to tell him anything of the sort.

    Hailey left early for her watercolor field trip the next morning, but not without checking Buddybook for me.
    â€œFirst of all, Michael hasn’t replied on Words with Pals, just FYI.”
    â€œThanks. That is the important news, after all.”
    â€œSecond of all, the current polls are in and it’s two hundred and thirty-four for to fifty-nine against uniforms.”
    â€œWow! People really have no life!”
    â€œI know. It’s sad.”
    â€œImagine the losers who write these polls,” I said, grinning.
    â€œThey must be total dweebs,” agreed Hailey, laughing.
    â€œHave fun today, Hails,” I said, standing up and giving her a big hug in her chair.
    After she left, I had some time to look at the Dear Know-It-All letters again. Mr. Trigg had e-mailed me back last night to say that there weren’t any more letters so I’d better just go with something I had, assuming there was something good enough.
    Sadly, there was something good enough , but it wasn’t what I needed. I needed better than good enough. I needed awesome! I decided I’d go with the“I miss my friend” letter, since it hit home the most for me. I started mapping out my reply, listing all kinds of things I could suggest they do together, like “Take a class,” “Go paint pottery together,” “Play Words with Pals” (aaargh!), and more. I’d write a little about the importance of shared interests and how they could keep friends united, and about making an effort to plan social outings and sleepovers and stuff. I had quite a lot of material by the time I’d completed my brainstorming, and I knew I could keep coming up with more. This column would be a blockbuster. A friendship 101 guidebook (or guide column—I was getting carried away!).
    When I finished, an hour had passed and it was time for me to go meet Kate at the mall. Where before I’d been really looking forward to our outing, now I was kind of dreading it. I knew the subject of Michael would come up. How could it not? But what would I say? Ugh. I had a stomachache just thinking about it.

    â€œSam!”
    I turned to see Kate waving heartily at me fromthe Starbucks at the end of the mall.
    â€œHey!” I called in reply, and picked up my pace to meet her.
    She started chatting as soon as I was within earshot. “Oh, I was so nervous you wouldn’t come! New-girl jitters and all that. Like maybe I’d misunderstood, or gotten the time wrong or something.”
    â€œAm I late?” I asked, feeling bad suddenly. I looked at my watch. Three minutes to spare.
    â€œNo, I’m just pathetically early because I had nothing else to do.”
    â€œOh, what did you get?”
    â€œA strawberry Frappuccino and a cupcake. It’s divine right now, but I’ll probably feel ghastly once I’ve finished it.” Kate grinned. “It’s a lot of