Free Diplomatic Immunity by Brodi Ashton

off for the crimes they’d committed.
    I closed out the window and got back to looking for the Bennington-winning stories, and that’s when I came across a story from the winner five years ago. Liam Rathbone wrote an article about how he had pretended to be a paparazzo and embedded himself with a group of photographers who hounded the rich and famous. But he turned the story around and made the tactics of the paparazzi the story.
    Readers love a good story about someone who dares to embed themselves. One of my favorite books I read as a young girl was the story of a reporter named Nellie Bly. She exposed the horrors of Blackwell’s Island Insane Asylum by pretending to be insane herself. She was admitted, and once inside she documented the inhumane conditions. After she was released, she published her story.
    She was one of my heroes. She made me want to act insane and embed myself everywhere I went. That’s who I could channel in my story. I would be the Nellie Bly of the DI kids. The next night, at the Yogurt Shop, all I could think about was mystory, and because of that I messed up four orders in one hour. Charlotte wasn’t working tonight, which was too bad, because I could’ve used another person to bounce ideas off. At the end of my shift, the tip jar was empty, but my head was filled with the exposé. And if it got me the Bennington, I wouldn’t need the tip jar.
    Except now I had no gas money.
    The next morning at breakfast, my mom was checking her emails when she gasped.
    â€œFour hundred sixty-two dollars?” She squinted at the screen. “For gems?”
    Michael’s face went ashen. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
    â€œWhat are gems, Michael?” my mom said, trying and failing to keep her voice calm.
    â€œThey’re for his game,” I said.
    I thought she was going to blow up, but then her lip quivered and she burst into tears. Michael started pacing and spinning his hanger faster. He was upset.
    My dad put his hand on my mom’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay. We’ll explain the situation to the credit card company. I’m sure they’ll expunge the charges.”
    Why would she burst into tears instead of scolding Michael?
    I didn’t think now was the time to ask questions, especially if one of the questions was going to be Can I borrow some money for gas?
    Mom got up quietly from the table and went to her room.
    â€œShe’s feeling a lot of pressure,” my dad said.
    â€œAt the bakery?” I asked.
    He didn’t answer.

9
    The rest of the day, I readied myself for my plan to embed with the diplomatic immunity kids. A reporter’s best weapon is the art of conversation. Without sitting down for a formal “interview,” any reporter worth her salt knows how to get the most out of a casual conversation, as long as she follows a few simple guidelines.
    Ask open-ended questions. Avoid yes or no. Don’t ask, When you have diplomatic immunity, do you get away with things other students don’t? Instead, ask, When did you first realize you weren’t like the rest of us?
    Start with broad questions to get the interview subject comfortable. Establish trust. Then, as the conversation goes on, narrow the questions.
    Don’t be afraid of silence. Silence may make some people uncomfortable, but it will also provoke expansion on answers.
    Never let the subject get the questions ahead of time.
    Do some background work. Get to know your interview subject before the interview.
    I started with the background work. One of the keys to embedding yourself with an exclusive group is to make sure they think it was their idea to invite you, so I tried to find some common interests.
    I memorized the DI kids’ class schedules. (It’s not stalking if it’s in the service of a story, by the way.) Monday morning, I walked down hallways convenient to the schedule of one of the diplomatic immunity kids, Mateo