Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Despair Deeper Than the Ocean hyperbole (n) an extremely exaggerated statement "Evan, is Jessie absent today?" asked Mrs. Overton, holding her attendance book in her hands. Mrs. Overton had a pink heart pinned to her red sweater in honor of Valentine's Day. Near the end of the day, the kids would distribute their valentines to one another, placing the cards in the shoeboxes they'd decorated last week. "Nope. She's here somewhere." The kids in 4-O had all settled down to their morning work, but a few desks were empty. Evan noticed that Jessie, Megan, Chaz, and Sarah were all missing. He was glad Megan was out. Evan didn't want to

have to deal with his friends making jokes about Megan and him on Valentine's Day. Plus, he didn't want to see the hurt look on her face when he ignored her. All in all, it was good that she was absent. Even though there was a part of him that felt disappointed. A few minutes later both Jessie and Megan walked into the classroom and took their seats. "Girls, you're late," said Mrs. Overton, then stopped when she caught sight of Megan's face. "Don't let it happen again, okay?" "Mrs. Overton?" said Jessie. "Can I stay in at recess and work on my newspaper? I need to fix a few things before I hand it out. It's a special Valentine's Day edition." "Ooooh," said Scott Spencer, and some of the boys laughed. Evan stared at his morning work paper. He was not going to get involved in this conversation. "Jessie, are you going to tell us about the survey?" asked Rachel.

"Yeah, we want to know about that. You promised," said Taffy. Jessie smiled and faced the class. "Yes. The full —and accurate—results of the survey will be included on the front page of the newspaper. Along with some special features. First, a sweet mystery will be solved"—Jessie looked straight at Megan when she said this—"and there will be a poem by a surprise poet." Evan watched as Jessie turned her gaze on him and flashed him a smile. "What survey?" asked Mrs. Overton. "A love survey!" shouted Scott Spencer. And the boys started making kissing noises and whooping it up. "Jessie?" "It's just a survey I handed out. All the kids answered it. Mrs. Feeney said it was okay!" Evan listened as Jessie's voice got squeaky in the way it did when she was nervous. Mrs. Overton stared straight at Jessie, then

tapped her pencil on her desktop. "I want to see your newspaper before you hand it out, okay? I'll look at it during recess. Meanwhile"—she turned her attention to the whole class—"I wanted to update you on the boxes of candy hearts that I collected from you on Friday." "Confiscated!" shouted Scott Spencer, whose mother was a lawyer. "Private property," called out David K. "Power to the people!" yelled out Malik, then shrugged his shoulders to show he was just goofing around. "Excuse me," said Mrs. Overton, lifting one eyebrow in the way she did when she was warning them to settle down. Evan always marveled at this technique. He'd never met anyone who could lift one eyebrow as high as Mrs. Overton. "As I was saying, I spoke with Mrs. Fletcher and she in turn spoke with the superintendent, and it has been decided that because we do not know the source of the candy,

we cannot allow you to have the candy." "Oh, come on!" shouted several of the kids in the class. "It's just candy, for crying out loud!" said Ray. "And it's Valentine's Day," said Salley. "Yeah!" shouted most of the class in agreement. "Enough! As I said, it has been decided." Mrs. Overton looked severely around the room. Good, thought Evan. No more stupid candy hearts. Jessie raised her hand. "Mrs. Overton, what if we did know where the candy came from? Would that make a difference?" Mrs. Overton looked at her, perplexed. "Jessie, do you want to talk with me privately?" "No." Jessie's face had that blank-slate look that left most people confused. But Evan knew that something was going on inside Jessie's head. "Well," said Mrs. Overton. "I suppose it might make a difference if we knew who left the candy.

Or maybe not. It would depend." Just then a voice came over the PA announcing that an assembly for the lower grades had been canceled. When the announcement ended, Mrs. Overton told them to break into their rainforest groups. They were going to continue working on their group projects. Evan looked around the room for his group and found them gathering at the back table. But his mind wasn't on the great kapok tree as he joined them. He was wondering why Jessie had looked straight at him when she mentioned the surprise poem in the newspaper? Was it a poem that Evan particularly liked? And then an awful thought came to him. What if it was the framed poem he had given to Grandma? Jessie must have noticed it on Grandma's dresser and copied it to put in the paper. For everyone to see. Evan's head sank into his hands, and he groaned.