I printed out the email from Dave Motts and brought it to school today. I could have just forwarded it to Buzz, but I don’t think he ever uses email. I actually brought in two copies, one for Brianna and one for Doug.
I feel a little funny pretending I’m not Dave Motts. I know. I’ve been pretending I’m not Dan Welch for a while now. But not to other kids. Not even to other grown-ups that live in my town. This feels different.
I don’t want to get into a whole big thing with Brianna, so I didn’t talk to her in any of my classes, which she probably didn’t notice, because she was still ignoring me. I waited until lunch, and then I did something I almost never do. I went to the cafeteria.
Brianna always sits at the same table, in the same seat. There are always a bunch of girls sitting with her. I’m not sure if they’re the same girls every day, but whoever they are, Brianna is usually talking and they’re listening.
She saw me walking over, and she kept talking. I got there and stood next to her. The other girls all looked at me. Finally, Brianna stopped talking and turned to me. “Yes?”
“Can you give this to Buzz for me?” I handed her the paper with the email printed on it, folded in half. She took it from me, opened the paper, and started reading it.
As I walked away, I said, “Thanks.”
I saw Ethan sitting by himself. I went over to say hi. He knows I don’t like the cafeteria, so he never expects me to eat lunch with him. I sat down for a second and took out the other copy of the email. One thing I like about being with Ethan is we don’t really have to talk.
Ethan’s quiet. Very quiet. And I know you won’t believe this, but so am I. You probably think I never shut up, and if you’ve seen my podcasts, you know it’s easy for me to just start talking to people. It is, but remember, I’m talking to them about them, not about me. Most of the time, I don’t talk.
I looked around the cafeteria. I said to Ethan, “Do you see Doug?” Even sitting down, he can see a lot more than I can. He pointed.
“Thanks. See you later.” That was me. Ethan didn’t say a word that whole time.
I walked over to Doug, who was sitting with his friends.
“Hey, Doug. This came from Dave Motts.”
I handed him the piece of paper and started to leave.
“Wait.”
“I can’t right now, but I’ll see you later.”
I actually might not see him later. We don’t really have classes together. We did in elementary school, but now the smarter kids are in different classes from the not-as-smart kids.
I went into the boys’ room and texted Buzz.
Got an email from Dave Motts. Gave it to Brianna and Doug. Talk later.
I sent it, and the next second, I heard an announcement.
“Sean Rosen, please report to the principal’s office.”
Uh-oh.
Thank goodness I’m not still in the cafeteria. As soon as the assistant principal said my name in the announcement, I’m sure all the kids went “WOOO!” and made other obnoxious sounds, and I would have been embarrassed, which would make me turn red, which would make everyone make fun of me even more.
I stopped for a second before I left the boys’ room to think about what I might have done. You’re not supposed to text during school. Do they have cameras in here? No. You don’t get called to the principal’s office for turning in a short story a day late, which is good because Mr. Parsons would need a much bigger office. I guess I’ll find out in a minute.
When I walked into the office, Trish said, “Hi, Sean. Sorry about the announcement, but I never know where you are during lunch. Only where you’re not.”
“I actually went there today. I’m not in trouble?”
“No. Not at all.”
“Good. So . . . the track team didn’t exactly work out.”
“I know. I ran into Mr. Obester.”
“What did he say?”
“Oh, you know. Nothing bad. Just that it wasn’t your cup of tea.”
“He said ‘cup of tea’?”
“No. You know, the sports version of that. Anyway, that’s old news. Do you know any other Sean Rosens?”
“Are there any?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes people Google themselves and find other people with the same name.”
“Now that you mention it, I think there are a few other Sean Rosens. Why?”
“I got a call. I didn’t see her number because it was transferred to me. She said, ‘I’m calling about a student of yours.’”
“Is that what her voice sounded like?”
“No. I don’t know. I can’t do impressions. Why do I even try? Anyway, then she said, ‘His name is Sean Rosen.’ And I said, ‘Who am I speaking with?’ She didn’t answer me. She just said, ‘He’s a very creative student.’ And I said, ‘If you can just give me a number to call you back—’ Then she said thank you and hung up. Sean, do you know who it was?”
“I have no idea. Probably just someone who saw my podcasts.”
“Your what?”
I told Trish about my podcasts. We watched a little bit of the dog one. I said I don’t want to make a big thing of it at school, because other kids might think they’re stupid.
She said she was going to call my parents about the lady who called. I said, “You can call them if you want to, but they already know about my podcasts, and I don’t think there’s anything else to tell.”
Actually, I do have an idea who it was.
It was the end of the day, and I was waiting outside school for Ethan. He’s smarter about computer stuff than I am. Kids kept asking me why I’m in trouble. I couldn’t think of a good answer, so I said, “I’m not supposed to talk about it.” Now they really want to know.
“Hey, Ethan!” He came over. “If someone liked my podcast, and wanted to find out where I live, could they do that?”
“Depends. Is your domain registration public or private?”
“I don’t know. How do you know?”
“Does your phone have internet?”
“No.”
“We can check in the library.”
We went back into school, and on one of the library computers, Ethan went to a site called Whois.net. He typed in SeanRosen.com, and there it was: the exact address of my house, plus my cell phone number. I guess I gave it to them when I got my website.
I don’t know why, but it felt a little scary seeing it there. Like if you hated my podcast, you could come to my town and throw eggs at my house. Or keep calling me and not say anything and use up all of my minutes.
But I don’t think the lady who called my school was someone who hated my podcast. I think it was Kendra or someone else who works for Hank Hollywood. First they tried to find out where Dan Welch lives, and now they’re trying to find out where I live.
But why, Kendra??? Please! Do what Dan Welch asked you. Set up a Skype meeting for me and Hank Hollywood, then you can just ask me where I live. I’ll tell you. Probably.
Anyway, when I get home, I’m changing my domain registration to private. I think it costs more, but I don’t want people throwing eggs at my house.