Mom and Allie were sitting at the kitchen table when I got home.
I was still smiling goofily when I joined them at the table.
“Productive meeting?” Mom asked.
“Very,” I replied. “We wrote a poll that we’re going to use for part of our article, and we’re going to use the results as part of the article.”
“Didn’t you do that before?” Allie asked.
“We did, and it worked really well,” I said. “So why mess with a good thing?”
“Speaking about messing with a good thing,” Mom segued, “what is going on with Hailey?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, pretending to be oblivious.
“I ran into her mom when I went out to the supermarket to pick up a chicken for dinner,” Mom said. “She said Hailey’s been just devastated by your fight and the hurtful things that you said.”
“The hurtful things I said?” I snorted. “She keeps forgetting about the hurtful things she said. She just wants me to look like the bad guy.”
“That happens a lot when good friends fight,” Mom said. “It can be worse than a fight with a stranger, because friends know what’s important to you, so they really know how to hurt you.”
“Well, if that’s what Hailey was going for, she definitely succeeded,” I said. “She knows how important the Voice is to me, and she doesn’t even care. Her Green Team is more important to her now than her best friend.”
“Yes, her mother filled me in about her plan to try to put the paper online. Are you sure you aren’t being overly sensitive, Sam?” Mom asked. “You and Hailey have been so close for so long. Do you really think it’s worth giving up over something that’s happening at school?”
“It’s not just something that’s happening at school,” I said. “Hailey could have chosen a different Green Team topic. She didn’t have to choose the newspaper. And she didn’t even tell me first! She ignored me for a week and then announced it at the meeting! I don’t know why she wanted to hurt me. I didn’t do anything to her.”
“I don’t know the answer either, Sam,” Mom said. “And I’m sorry I’ve been too busy to notice how you’ve been feeling. I just want you to know that I’m here if you want to talk about it.”
“I’d rather not right now,” I admitted. “I was kind of happy for a moment. You know the feeling, right, Mom? Like when you’d get a note from John.”
“WHO’S JOHN?” Allie squealed.
My diversionary tactic worked. We spent the rest of dinner talking about Mom’s love life and the letters I had found. Allie made Mom pull out the hatbox again, and we had a fun time teasing her about the romantic things her sweetheart John had written to her. I almost forgot about Hailey for the moment.
That’s when I made my decision. I would purposefully forget about Hailey. I would forget that we were ever best friends. I would put the Voice and my commitment to unbiased reporting first. Hailey was just the vice president of the student government who had an idea for turning the paper into a digital edition.
It’s easy enough to make those kinds of decisions when you’re sitting alone in your room. It’s a little harder when you’re face-to-face with your “never-was-your-best-friend.”
I was hoping that Michael would be waiting by my locker the next morning, but he wasn’t. Hailey was. I was so surprised I honestly didn’t know how to act.
“Sam,” Hailey said in way she had never said my name before.
It sounded so cold and detached it hurt my heart.
“I heard Mrs. Brennan called you to her office,” she continued stonily. “I just want you to know that I didn’t rat on you. I heard that you thought I had. I wouldn’t do that.”
“Okay, thanks for letting me know,” I said, trying to stop my voice from shaking. “And just so you know, I wouldn’t tell anyone about your dyslexia, or make fun of it.”
“So we’re all good?” Hailey asked.
“All good,” I agreed.
Hardly, I thought.
The rest of the day was just as tortuous as our brief conversation. I walked to classes with a group of other girls that I’m friends with, but every time I turned around, I’d see Hailey surrounded by her flock of Green Team admirers. The group seemed to be growing every minute. I was pretty sure that if they crowned a prom queen at this moment, Hailey would win by a landslide. She was superpopular. Everyone was talking about how great her ideas were and how lucky we were to have her on the student government. All hail Queen Hailey!
At lunchtime, I handed out some polls to random tables of students. I was in the middle of handing one to Michael Shea when Hailey tapped me on the shoulder.
“I thought we were all good,” she said.
“That’s what we said,” I replied.
“So why are you trying to sabotage my subcommittee?” Hailey asked.
“What are you even talking about?” I asked.
“This!” Hailey said as she held up a poll paper in my face. “Why are you trying to make it seem like there are two choices here?”
“Um, maybe because there are?” I huffed. “You said I don’t know how to see other people’s point of view. Maybe you don’t.”
“Except that I do,” Hailey snapped. “There are two choices when both of the choices are equal. There aren’t two equal choices here. One is clearly the right thing to do. The other isn’t.”
“Says you,” I said, sounding like I was five years old and fighting over crayons again.
“That is what I say,” Hailey replied. “And as student government vice president, I’m not even sure it’s within the rules to be handing out a poll in the cafeteria during school hours. I’m going to have to check into that.”
“Please do,” I said. “And I’ll check with Mr. Trigg to make sure it’s within the rules for the student government to interfere with Cherry Valley Voice reporting.”
Hailey tossed the poll on the floor and stormed off, her flock rushing behind her. She was definitely on a power trip. She thought she could stop me from handing out polls by intimidating me? Hardly.
Of course, who was witness to it all? Michael Lawrence. He was trying not to show his obvious amusement when he walked over to me.
“What’s so funny now?” I said, still fuming.
“I just never realized how competitive you were,” he said. “I mean, I know how competitive Hailey is because I’ve seen her on the soccer field. She’s fierce. I just didn’t know you were too.”
“Me, fierce?” I snickered. “I thought I told you to give up the comedy act.”
“Relax, Pasty,” Michael said. “It was just an observation. I liked the way you stood up for the Voice. And I think a good article might help everyone see that there are more sides to this story—maybe even Hailey.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” I said.
“I know you’re putting up a good front,” Michael said. “But I also know how much you must miss her. I know how close you two are.”
“Were,” I corrected him.
“Are,” he answered back. “If you didn’t care about each other so much, you wouldn’t be so mad right now.”
I didn’t have a snappy answer to that. He was right. It would be easy to just cut Hailey out of my life right now. I wish I didn’t care. There was one big problem. I did care. Every time I looked at her, I wished things were the way they used to be. But every day it seemed like that ship was sailing farther away.
“Sam?” Michael said quietly. “I don’t want you to be sad. I wish I could help fix this problem with Hailey.”
“Thanks. I wish you could fix it too,” I admitted.
“Well, I can’t, but I did get a chance to do some research,” Michael said. “Are you free Saturday afternoon? I have an early game, but I should be done by noon.”
“Sure. Do you want to meet at the library?” I asked. “I’d invite you to my house, but my mom’s really busy with work, and we’re renovating and stuff.”
“The library’s perfect,” Michael said. “One o’clock?”
“It’s a date,” I said. “Wait. I mean, you know, not a date, a meeting . . .”
Michael just ignored me and walked away. I’m pretty sure he was smiling.