The Renegade Reporters stood in the middle of the hallway while kids poured past them on their way out of school. It was Friday, which meant Brielle didn’t have The News at Nine, but now they couldn’t work on The Underground News either. They walked, zombie-like, to get their backpacks and then outside. Ash texted Olive to say they’d be late, and the three girls wandered silently around the neighborhood until they found themselves at Federal Hill Park.
It was a cool, cloudy day. The wind on the hill only added to their negative energy. The playground was nearly empty, so the three girls sat on the swings, which hung too low for them to actually swing, making it a fitting place to wallow in disillusionment.
“He didn’t let us explain,” Brielle said. “He didn’t even want to look at our video.”
“They’re spying on us,” Maya said, “and they’re selling our personal information, and now they’re going to stop us from reporting it.”
“They say they want kids to create things,” Ash said, “but they won’t let us create anything important. Are we just supposed to report on stupid stuff like the dog poo bandit?”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, the tops of their shoes scraping the ground and Maya letting out the occasional sniffle. Ash looked at the city skyline. That usually cheered her up, but today the buildings were wrapped in clouds, which made them look as gray as she felt.
A dog appeared on the edge of the playground. It stopped by the fence and barked, making all three girls look up. It was a Saint Bernard, huge and white with a brown patch that made it look like it was wrapped in a blanket. The dog barked again and ran around to the flag pole. Ash felt a jolt of recognition. She’d seen that dog before: in that exact spot, in the photo on the Van Ness Media website. The photo where Maria Van Ness had posed with her own Saint Bernard. And again in Harry’s “exclusive” video. The one in which Maria Van Ness announced Van Ness Dream Journal.
“Bernard!” came a woman’s voice from behind the fence. “Come here, Bernard.”
The dog barked and ran back around. A woman’s body rose up over the hill. Her silver hair appeared first. Then her glasses. Her black scarf. Black jacket. Black leggings. Black sneakers.
Ash grabbed her friends’ hands and squeezed them hard. There was no mistaking it. The woman was Maria Van Ness.
“Holy moly,” Maya whispered. “What do we do?”
“Keep facing this way,” Ash whispered back. “Don’t let her see our faces.”
“Good boy,” the CEO said to Bernard. “Go play.”
The dog took off around the path, and Maria Van Ness walked up to the fence that surrounded the playground. She leaned against it, not even five feet from the swings, and said, “What a dreary day.”
Ash was suddenly consumed with so much anger, she could barely contain it. Maria Van Ness was complaining about this day? After what she’d just done to Ash and Maya and Brielle? After what she was doing to all the kids at John Dos Passos and across the country? She thought she had the right to expose what all those kids believed they were doing in private, but the minute someone got close to exposing what she was doing in private, she tried to shut them up? Well, she couldn’t shut Ash up in real life.
“I’m going to talk to her,” Ash declared.
“Are you serious?” Brielle asked.
Ash stood up from her swing.
“Wait!” Maya said. “Give me your phone.”
It took a second for Ash to realize what Maya was going to do. Then she looked at Brielle, who nodded. Ash marveled at her friends’ bravery. “Here,” she said, handing over the phone to the camerawoman.
“Stay close to her, Maya,” the director said quietly. “And try to talk loud, Ash, because of the wind.”
The anchor nodded, her heart pounding. Maria Van Ness had walked around the path and taken a seat on a bench overlooking Harbor East, her own company’s headquarters viewable across the water. She couldn’t have asked Maya to set up a better shot.
“Here we go,” Ash said. She set purposefully across the grass until she was standing right behind the CEO. Maya got into position and pressed record. Brielle mouthed, “Go.”
“Maria Van Ness?” Ash said loudly.
The CEO turned around.
“We’re the Renegade Reporters with The Underground News. Is the information kids put in Van Ness Media software kept private?”