Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Breaking News breaking news (n) a news story that is unfolding at the moment that reporters are reporting it There was a mad scramble as all the kids in 4-O ran to their desks to look for boxes of candy hearts. Jessie's desk was very neat, so it took her no time to find hers. But other kids had to pull out crumpled papers and notebooks and pencil cases before they uncovered the familiar pink and red box with the little cellophane window. Everyone started rattling the boxes, and soon the room sounded like a maraca band in full swing. "Mine says CAPTAIN JACK," shouted Jack Bagdasarian, and he growled like a pirate to show that he deserved the name.

"Look at mine!" said Michael Mahoney. "FLY HIGH!" Michael's dad was a commercial pilot, and Michael took lots of trips on airplanes. Jessie carefully removed one of the hearts from her box and read the message. GOOD IDEAS. Where had she heard that before? She tried to think, but Mrs. Overton shouted out in a near panic, "Do not eat any of this candy!" and Jessie's attention switched to her teacher. Mrs. Overton looked like the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote when he realizes he's about to drop one thousand feet into a canyon. Jessie pulled out her reporter's notebook. This was breaking news, and she didn't want to miss anything. "Where is this candy coming from?" asked Mrs. Overton. "Can I please go to the bathroom?" asked Evan in a loud voice. "Not right this second, Evan," said Mrs. Overton, rubbing a hand across her forehead. "I need to go now!" Evan nearly shouted. Jessie

stared at her brother. Was he about to pee in his pants? But his face didn't have that kind of look on it. Instead, he looked like he was ready to rip someone's head off. What could Evan be mad about? "Yes, go. But come straight back. We've got to figure out..." Mrs. Overton didn't even seem to know how to finish her sentence. Jessie watched as Evan grabbed the big wooden bathroom pass from the hook by the door, then stormed out of the room. There was something red in his hand. She made a note of this in her notebook. A lot of the kids were circulating around the

classroom, comparing candy-heart messages. Mrs. Overton stood with her hands on her hips for a moment, then made a beeline for the classroom phone. Meanwhile, Jessie meandered over to Evan's desk and took a quick peek inside. As expected, it was an atrocious mess, but there was no box of candy hearts. Jessie stooped down and looked under Evan's desk. "Jessie, you're not eating candy, are you?" asked Mrs. Overton, still talking on the phone. "No, Mrs. O. I'm just looking for trash." If something was on the floor, it was trash. Everybody knew that. "Nobody eat anything. Take your seats. I'm going to collect the candy—"

There was a shout from the classroom. "No way!" called out Scott. "I'm not giving mine up!" Almost everyone in the class was against the idea of Mrs. Overton confiscating their Valentine treat. "Jessie, it's private property, right?" asked Tessa. "Can a teacher take something that belongs to us? I mean, legally?" At the beginning of the school year, Jessie had organized the entire class into a courtroom to put Scott Spencer on trial for the theft of two hundred and eight dollars. Whenever there was a question about the law, the kids in 4-O turned to Jessie. Jessie shrugged. "We're kids." She'd learned the hard way that the legal system couldn't be counted on to fix the injustices of the world. "We're not even allowed to own property." "Is that true, Mrs. Overton?" asked Paul. "That stinks!" said Jack. "You can take stuff from us?" said Ray. "That's

not fair!" "Look," said Mrs. Overton. "I just don't want anyone getting sick. We don't know where this candy is coming from." "Nobody's gotten sick yet, and we've been eating these hearts all week," said David. "I'm pretty sure if they were poisoned, someone would have died by now." The class agreed. When Mrs. Overton finally got everyone to quiet down, Megan raised her hand. "Maybe you could let us take them home and let our parents decide?" Evan walked back in the room at that moment, but no one noticed except Jessie. She watched him hang the bathroom pass on its hook, then return to his seat. He still had that angry look on his face, but it wasn't quite as bad as when he'd left the room. And his hands were empty. Jessie wrote this fact in her notebook.