Free It's Only Temporary by Sally Warner

use another ride in it about now.
    Love, Skye
    P.S. Mystery drawing number three! It has teeth at one end and what looks like a mouth at the other end. What do you think? Is someone trying to tell me something?

16
Special Edition
    P ip strode into the almost empty art activities room ten minutes after school ended, as the muffled
thump thump
of the school band’s drums floated in from the playing field. The game was about to begin, and the special edition of the Homecoming newspaper he’d just turned in to the parent volunteers would be given out at halftime.
    Skye planned to be long gone by then.
    â€œDid you do it?” Amanda asked in her squeaky voice. “Did they notice anything was wrong with the insert?”
    Pip shook his head. “It’s not like they would,” he told the nervous group of kids. “It’s on the inside, and Skye only changed four little pictures. Besides, everyone is gonna be too busy watching the game to check out the paper for at least another hour. It’s not like they think anything in it is really
news
.”

    â€œThose guys are going to be so sorry,” Amanda whispered, narrowing her eyes in gleeful anticipation. “This’ll teach them to be mean to us for no reason.”
    â€œAnd it’s not like they didn’t already get a lot of attention today,” Pip chimed in. “I mean, when is Amelia Ear-hart ever gonna have a special assembly just for artists? When are
we
going to get to walk across the stage while everyone whistles and claps? And we’re the ones with talent. All they ever did was
grow
.”
    â€œI’ve never heard of anyone clapping for artists,” Jamila said, frowning. “Even other artists don’t clap for artists, I don’t think.”

    â€œI wonder what Ms. O’Hare is going to say?” Skye asked, her voice tight with sudden worry – because Skye really liked Ms. O’Hare. She was like a cross between an actual artist, a cool older sister, a hippie aunt, and a grown-up friend.
    â€œWhere is Ms. O’Hare, anyway?” Maddy asked, looking around nervously, as if their art teacher might suddenly materialize next to the cutting board or near the giant roll of butcher paper.
    â€œShe’s at the game,” Pip said, shrugging. “I guess she loves football.”
    â€œI need to go home,” Skye announced, trying to keep her voice steady. “Gran’s expecting me.”
    â€œI’m going with you,” Maddy said.
    â€œWell, okay,” Pip told them. “But you guys have to come to the Homecoming dance tonight, because we can’t act like we’re scared of what’s gonna happen after Aaron and the other guys see the paper. We gotta see this thing through.”
    â€œOoh,” Amanda said under her breath.
    â€œI am kind of scared,” Skye admitted, stunned that shehadn’t thought past that triumphant moment when the mean football guys opened the Homecoming paper at half-time in their locker room and saw those drawings they –
she
– had done of them. When they saw how the art jerks had taken their revenge.
    But Skye did feel a little bad about having included Kee – maybe-nice Kee? secret artist Kee? – in that act of revenge, she realized suddenly. Because what had Kee done, except to choose the wrong friends?
    But that in itself was a pretty dumb thing to do. Just look at Scott.
    â€œI’m scared, too,” Maddy announced. “I’m
extremely
scared.”
    â€œBut you guys are gonna be at the dance, right?” Pip asked everyone again. “We can’t hide out forever. We have to get this over with.”
    â€œI’ll be there,” Skye said, nodding reluctantly.

    â€œWell, my mother said I
can’t
go to the dance,” Maddy said, sounding matter-of-fact and more than a little relieved. “She says it isn’t appropriate for sixth-graders to go to thesame dance as