The next morning, I woke up with a start. My mom was downstairs yelling my name.
“Babymouse!” she called. “Are you awake? You’re going to be late for school!”
I looked at my clock. It was eight-thirty already!
Eep! I’d overslept by a whole half hour.
How had this happened?
I rushed to the bus stop, just in time to see the big yellow monstrosity pulling away.
“WAAAAAIT!” I screamed, chasing it down the street. My backpack was open, and papers, pens, and pencils were flying everywhere. Felicia and her friends were sitting in the back, watching and waving to me mockingly.
Georgie had craned his neck around to see what was going on. When he saw me running like a crazy person, he motioned to the bus driver to stop.
Moments later, the bus pulled to the side of the street so that I could get on. I was a sweaty, panting mess. I climbed aboard and mumbled, “Thanks,” to the bus driver before collapsing into the seat next to Georgie.
“Sorry I didn’t see you sooner,” he said. “I didn’t notice anything until I saw the video on Felicia’s account.” Ugh.
Penny moved back to sit by us.
“Want to borrow a brush?” she asked, handing me both a brush and a mirror. I did my best to freshen up and get everything reorganized in my bag. It was then that I realized the terrible truth: my Rome report, the one I had spent all night REdoing with my friends, must have fallen out during the chase.
“Georgie, let me see that video you were telling me about,” I said, panicked.
He handed over his phone, and I clicked “Archive” and then “Most Recent.” There I was on the screen.
It went like this: Me running awkwardly, shoelaces everywhere, with my glorious, most PERFECT Rome report flying out of my backpack like a dove being released into the sky by a magician. I watched as it flew gracefully through the air and landed in a big mud puddle, just as a camper rolled over it—PLOW!—smashing it into tiny, mushy bits. Then, more embarrassingly, there was me screaming “WAAAAAAAAAAAIT!” in slow motion over the sounds of a gaggle of nasty giggles from Felicia and her friends.
Once I got to school, I went into the bathroom to take some slow, deep breaths before class. I was so angry! The first bell rang, a warning to everyone to get to class or risk getting detention.
I hurried back to my locker to get my books. On the way there, a kid I had never seen before walked over to me.
“I think this is yours,” he said, handing me my report on Rome. The FIRST one.
I was in total shock. “You had my Rome report this whole time?!”
“I found it on the hallway floor a while ago,” he said. “I’ve been texting you over and over again to return it, but I think you blocked me.”
I was grateful but kind of annoyed.
“Thanks, but WHY didn’t you just look for me IN PERSON to start with?? You could have just given it back to me a week ago! I had to write the whole report all over again!”
He shrugged. “My parents have a rule against talking to strangers, so I thought texting was better. Anyway. See ya.”
Then he walked away.
I got to homeroom and took my seat just as the bell rang. People were talking about what was trending on PA2ME. I couldn’t hear much of what they were saying, but one thing was clear. Kids were agreeing it was “hil-hair-ious!”
I pulled out my Whiz BangTM and turned it on. I did a quick look through all my social-media accounts to see which one was blowing up.
Talk about bombing out. Maybe technology wasn’t for me.
Le sigh.