It's Only Temporary by Sally Warner Page B

ARE GONG TO SANTA FE FOR THNSKGVNG AND SPND 3 DAYS, ITS A PRESNT FRM GRAN. WE STAYE IN A HOTL, MOM SAYS WE EVEN GET RM SEVICE IF WE WANT 2! NO MATTR WHAT HAPPNS WITH MOM AND DAD, YOU AND I HAV FUN, OK? ALWASE. I MISS YOU! LOVE, SCOTT

    Dear Scott, Really? That is so cool about Santa Fe!! But I still have to go to school for 2 1/2 more days. Be thinking of me after lunch today, okay? Because I have a feeling I am in big, big trouble with my art teacher.
    Love, Skye
    P.S. I got my sketchbook back! I’ll tell you all about it when I see you. Oh, and some of my friends came overthis afternoon. I thought it was going to be terrible, but we ended up having a lot of fun. Gran even sent out for 3 pizzas, one plain cheese pizza just for Maddy!
    â€œFront and center, art activities kids,” a grim-looking Ms. O’Hare said a few minutes after art class began on Monday and the students had gotten to work on their torn paper collages. “Gather around my desk, if you please.”
    Skye, Amanda, Jamila, Matteo, and Pip shot each other brief, panicky glances, then sidled up to their teacher’s desk. Ms. O’Hare pulled a cardboard file out of her gingham-lined tote, opened it, and placed the Homecoming newspaper insert square, on her desk. “So,” she said, and then she waited, as if the other kids in class – industriously snipping and gluing, and pretending not to listen – didn’t know exactly what was happening.
    Silent, Skye and the other art activities kids stared down at the insert as if hypnotized; Skye’s four drawings seemed to jump off the page.
    â€œWe’ll gather after school for a short meeting, people,” Ms. O’Hare told them. “No excuses. And that includes Maddy, Skye. You can round her up.”
    â€œBut I have gymnastics,” Matteo argued feebly.
    â€œAnd I have track,” Jamila chimed in.
    â€œAfter school, and no excuses,” Ms. O’Hare said again,sounding more like a scary principal than an art teacher, in Skye’s opinion. “This was a group effort, and you’ll face the consequences as a group.”

    â€œYou really let me down,” Ms. O’Hare said when everyone assembled after classes had ended for the day – everyone, including the still-grumbling Matteo and Jamila and Maddy, who, though terror-stricken, had quietly told Skye she would share the blame, if that would help.

    â€œThat’s what friends are for,” Maddy solemnly said.
    â€œThis – this
escapade
really makes me look bad, do you realize that?” Ms. O’Hare told her art activities kids. “It makes it seem as though I don’t know what’s going on in my own class! And the art department is on thin ice around here already.”
    The art activities kids shifted back and forth, scared that one of them was going to say something about what they’d done, or about why they wanted to get revenge – orthat no one would say anything. Skye didn’t know which would be worse.

    â€œNow, I know whose drawings these are,” Ms. O’Hare continued gravely. “I recognize the line. But I’d like that person to step forward and take full responsibility.”
    Jamila scowled. “I wasn’t even at the dance, so it’s not me,” she objected, though that wouldn’t clear her at all if she were the guilty one, Skye thought, working it out.
    â€œI was at the dance,” Amanda admitted. “But I didn’t have any fun, if that counts.”
    Frozen where she stood, Skye suddenly heard the sound of her beating heart echo in her ears. Did this mean she was about to faint? She cleared her throat. “I – “
    â€œIt was all of us,” Pip interrupted, his voice surprisingly firm. “Even Jamila and Amanda. We all thought up the idea. We just talked Skye into doing the drawings, that’s all. She didn’t know any better, ’cause she’s new here. She’s