Black and White and Gray All Over by Rachel Wise Page B

column, and I’m always waiting for him to trip me up and somehow get me to confess it. I have to choose my words very carefully when he brings it up.
    â€œUm, no. Why?” I said, the picture of innocence.
    â€œIt kind of reminded me of us. Did you write it?”
    What????
    â€œUm . . .”
    â€œI mean, maybe I wrote it,” he said with a half smile.
    â€œ Did you write it?” I asked, giddy with relief now that I knew he meant the question and not the answer.
    â€œMaybe yes and maybe no.”
    â€œWell, what does it say?”
    â€œI’m surprised you waited this long to ask me that. Are you sure you didn’t write it?”
    Oh dear.
    â€œJust tell me!” I cried.
    â€œIt says, ‘Dear Know-It-All. I miss my friend. We used to spend a lot of time together, but now we’re both really busy and we don’t see each other very often. I’m not sure what to say or do. Any advice? From, Feeling Left Out and Lonely.’ ” He looked at me.
    â€œSo did you write it?” I asked quietly. I was scared to breathe.
    â€œNo,” he said, shaking his head. “But I could have. Did you?”
    I gulped. “No.” We were quiet for a minute. “But I could have,” I said.
    He nodded.
    â€œSo what did he say?”
    â€œWho?” Michael asked.
    â€œDear Know-It-All?”
    â€œOh. She said, ‘Dear Lonely: Don’t despair. Just tell your friend you miss him or her. It’s reallythat simple. Good luck, KIA.’ ”
    â€œI noticed you called Know-It-All a ‘she,’ ” I said bravely.
    â€œAnd I noticed you called Know-It-All a ‘he,’ ” said Michael.
    I shrugged. “Maybe it’s you.”
    â€œI couldn’t fill those shoes,” he said.
    â€œHow do you know?” I asked.
    â€œThey’re girls’ shoes.” He smiled and shrugged, starting to walk away.
    â€œHey, Mikey?”
    â€œYeah?” he said without turning around.
    â€œI miss you!”
    â€œI miss you, too, Pasty.” Journalist Struck by Cupid’s Arrow Dies of Love in Hall.
    Oh boy. I couldn’t wait for the next issue. Or the next meeting tomorrow, when I’d sit next to Michael Lawrence and we’d get assigned another article. I made a mental note to ask Allie for some outfit advice. All I could think about was what shoes I’d wear.

Extra! Extra!
    Want the scoop on what Samantha is up to next?
    Here’s a sneak peek of the eighth book in the Dear Know-It-All series:
    Texting 1, 2, 3

BREAKING NEWS: YOUNG GIRL MELTS ON SIDEWALK DURING RECORD HEAT
    It’s hot. Right now as I sit on my front steps waiting for my BFF, Hailey Jones, and her mom to take us to the air-conditioned mall on the third day of an awful heat wave, it’s the kind of hot that makes me wonder if I could actually dissolve into a unrecognizable blob of goo by the time Hailey gets here. Breaking News: Young Girl Melts on Sidewalk During Record Heat is what I’m thinking.
    It’s also the kind of hot that makes me wish for a chill in the air and sweaters and, believe it or not, school. School just goes with fall. School also goes with seeing my forever and ever crush, Michael Lawrence, every day. I haven’t seen him since the town’s Fourth of July fireworks display, which wasawesome. Hailey, Michael and his friend Frank, and I all went together. I couldn’t really call it a double date since Hailey says she doesn’t have a crush on Frank, but he definitely has a crush on her and maybe one of these days Hailey will like him back. Hailey says he’s a really nice guy, but his hair is too dark and his ears are too big for her taste. I think she’s actually afraid to like someone she knows has a big crush on her. But that secret’s just between me and me.
    The only thing that bums me out about the start of school is that I’ve finished my tenure as Dear