The Real Z by Jen Calonita

Author:Jen Calonita [Calonita, Jen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

Z: LOVE “The Homework Hacker” script!

For the umpteenth time that week, she didn’t respond. I threw my phone across the bed, startling Popcorn.

“Sorry, girl,” I said, and scratched her behind the ears. At least Popcorn wasn’t mad at me. I looked up. The bulletin board that hung next to my bed caught my eye. My favorite picture of me with Lauren, eating cotton candy at a Seattle street fair, stared back at me. I missed my best friend.

I heard a knock at my door.

“Very late production assistant reporting for duty,” Dad said. He had been working downstairs on a prototype for a new plane, and Mom was at the university grading a big exam. Popcorn jumped off the bed and ran straight toward him.

“It’s okay,” I said. I was going to make a joke about Dad being fired, but my heart wasn’t in it. “I’ve shut the set down today.”

“Shut down the set?” Dad asked, sitting down on the edge of my bed. “Are you on strike?”

I shook my head yes, then shook my head no. “I’m just not in the mood to film today.”

“Everything okay?” Dad asked, growing serious.

“Lauren and Mari are mad at me,” I said. I could feel my lower lip start to quiver.

“Ah, is this why you were so upset at the Locks the other day?” Dad asked.

I sat up. “Yes.” I was dying to tell someone what was going on. Gigi was traveling, and Becka had a wheelchair basketball tournament. I liked Andrew and Maddie, but I didn’t want to make them feel like they had to pick sides. There was no one around to talk to with Mari and Lauren not speaking to me. So I spilled my guts to Dad.

“It sounds like you really hurt Mari’s feelings,” Dad said. “Have you apologized?”

“Well, not exactly, but … ,” I protested. “They both said all I’ve been talking about is CloudSong and nothing else.”

“Well, haven’t you?” Dad asked honestly.

“Well, maybe, but this is a huge deal,” I reminded him.

“It is,” Dad agreed, “but so is the social studies project. Lauren worked hard on it and she wanted to be more involved, and it sounds like you didn’t let her.”

I thought back to how many times she had asked to help and I had shut her down. And it had taken me till today to read her script for our next AGSM.

“And Mari and her band took time out of their practices to record a version of the song you wanted in your movie. How do you think she felt, hearing you act like that was no big deal?” Dad asked.

Well, when he put it that way…

I flopped down on my bed again. Maybe my friends were right: I was living, breathing, and talking about the CloudSong movie 24-7. I had forgotten to pay attention to everything else around me. I had made Mari feel like her music didn’t matter and let Lauren think our project wasn’t important.

“I’m a bad friend,” I said, pulling down my beanie over my face.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.