IN THE NEWS

When I got to school the next day, I was still thinking about that football game. But all of that changed when I saw the Channel 11 news van parked out front.

It was sitting right there when I got off the bus. Some guy with a microphone and a cameraman was talking to the kids who were getting dropped off by their parents.

In fact, he was talking to Jeanne and her mom when I walked by.

“I do think it’s a good thing,” Jeanne was saying. “Everyone knows bullying is a problem, but nobody ever does anything about it.”

Well, you know that got my attention. Time to pull my trusty old stalling trick. I stopped right there on the sidewalk and started tying my shoe, really slowly.

“So why do you think bullying is such a big problem at Hills Village Middle School?” the reporter guy asked her.

“I think it’s a problem everywhere,” Jeanne said. “And if something like this gets people talking, then I’m all for it. It’s a pretty clear message, right? Just—be nice.”

I almost said “YEAH!” right out loud, but I covered it up with a cough at the last second. Then my fake cough turned into a real one, and I started hacking so much that Jeanne and the reporter guy turned around to look at me.

That’s when I got the heck out of there. The last thing I needed right now was a camera in my face.

Still, I was pretty excited. I couldn’t believe someone would want to do a real news story about my art project. (Correction: an anonymous art project that just happened to be done by me.) I guess a bunch of kids must have gone home talking about it the day before, and one thing must have led to another.