Frogman's Response by Heidi Voss

Author:Heidi Voss [Voss, Heidi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult; teen; blog; gamer; humor; midwest; high school
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2021-07-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Matthew hammered away at advice questions during his computer tech class one Thursday when a chime signaled morning announcements. He stopped typing and rubbed his arms. As soon as November hit, the temperature suddenly dropped, and now his light hoodie wasn’t enough to warm him in the near-freezing weather.

“Thank you to everyone for your patience during our lockdown drill yesterday. We don’t like to interrupt your classes, but drills are a necessary measure to keep our students safe.” The smooth voice of Mr. Cook, the front office receptionist, filled the room.

He didn’t mention the lockdown also allowed the drug dogs to come through the school and check everyone’s lockers. A happy thought struck Matthew. Had Zack and Jerome been caught with drugs? Watching the police escort them out of school would be so satisfying. Zack couldn’t punch his way out of that situation.

He remembered seeing Zack’s frayed blonde hair on the bus that morning, so probably not. Matthew’s phone buzzed in his pocket. More text messages from his mom. A few days ago, they were nothing more than garbled nonsense, but she must have painstakingly worked out how to type the words she wanted. She barraged him with notes last night while he was managing the practice space calendar.

—Call me now ASAP!!!—

—a VIRUS is on my phone PLEASE HELP NOW—

—Something is wrong with tv!!! Get ur butt downstairs and help ur mother!!—

He ignored every message and, as if he heard her thumping upstairs to collect him in person, he hid in what used to be his parents’ room. Stacks of boxes made finding him impossible, and his Port Pocket could travel anywhere with him.

“Don’t forget to wear your Whitetail gear for tomorrow’s pep rally to kick off our basketball season.” Mr. Cook’s announcements continued. “We have an extra special announcement for everyone that will be revealed then.”

Matthew’s phone buzzed with a text from Riley.

—Extra special announcement?—

He typed his response, smiling.

—Maybe it’s like the extra special announcement to welcome members of the Environmentalist Club into other clubs when their funding got cut—

When Matthew returned to the computer lab at lunch, he saw Evan already wrote three paragraphs of a lengthy response to the extra special announcement. Riley reviewed blog stats on the neighboring screen.

Matthew read Evan’s draft.

These morons think that _____ will placate us when our school is obviously falling apart? The Hope Creek CSD tax levy didn’t pass, and we’re barely getting by as it is. They want to wave the basketball flag to rally us when they’re constantly stabbing us in the back and screwing us over. Sure, we should get excited about the only sport our school is good at, but will basketball wins make us less pissed off about ______?

Evan stretched his fingers. “After they make the announcement, I’ll just fill in the blanks.”

Riley leaned over to read. “It’s not the school’s fault the levy didn’t pass.”

Evan minimized the draft. “Well, we wouldn’t need tax levies to fund us if the government worked right. School is a government program so they’re both part of the same big pigsty.

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