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Except
     don’t trip on a pile of cones.
    As I was sitting at my desk, reading his e-mail, Allie appeared in my
     doorway. I quickly minimized the e-mail window, kicking myself for not having created a
     password-protected folder yet to store the Know-It-All stuff. I couldn’t risk
     someone coming over and going online on my computer, only to have her find the
     Know-It-All information! And I knew Allie sometimes poked around when she was bored.
    â€œHey,” said Allie. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at me.
     “What were you working on?”
    â€œOh, nothing. Just typing up quotes for my article on the
     curriculum changes.”
    Allie looked like she didn’t really believe me, but she could
     hardly dive across my desk to prove me wrong. Instead she said, “Oh yeah. I heard
     something about that. They changed all the classes and now you’re just taking,
     like, basket-weaving and folksinging or something?”
    â€œNot exactly. It’s just that instead of having regular
     subjects like math and English, they’re integrating subjects so we study the same
     topicsand themes but from different angles. It’s called
     ‘multidisciplinary.’”
    Allie raised her eyebrows. “Fancy. But I still have no idea what
     you’re talking about.” She crossed her arms and leaned against the
     doorjamb.
    I had to struggle to explain it myself. I could only do it by using
     examples. “Like, say we’re studying the founding of the United States this
     year; in language arts we’ll read books about the settlers and write diaries as if
     we’re settlers. Then in earth science we’d talk about the New World’s
     climate and geography and the crops they grew back then.”
    Allie looked begrudgingly impressed. “That’s kind of cool.
     So it all ties in?”
    â€œYeah. It’s just hard to keep track of what class
     you’re in and what is expected of you. Like in earth science, am I supposed to be
     focusing on memorizing facts or creative writing? It takes a while to get used
     to.”
    â€œHuh. Well, I came to see if you have any printer paper I can
     have, please.” Allie was clearly done with the topic.
    â€œYeah.” I went under my desk and grabbed abunch of pages and handed them to her.
    â€œAny word on who the Know-It-All is this year?” Allie asked
     suddenly.
    I felt a jolt go through my body. Was the girl psychic or what? But I
     played it totally cool. “No. I haven’t heard anything. Have you?”
    â€œWhy would I hear anything? High schoolers don’t talk about
     middle schoolers. Ever,” Allie said in a huff.
    Right, so why are you wondering , I wanted to
     ask. But instead I said, “Oh. Well let me know if you accidentally hear
     anything.” I thought that was good, throwing that in there.
    â€œAs if,” said Allie, and she left.
    Phew! That was a close call! Quickly, I created a desktop file and
     password-locked it (ML15 was the password, get it? Michael Lawrence, number fifteen),
     then I dropped the Trigg e-mail into it and relaxed back into my desk chair. I knew I
     should get started on my homework, but I decided I’d let myself have just a few
     minutes online first.
    I trolled around CNN and the Huffington Post to see if there was any breaking news since I
     lastchecked an hour ago, but there really wasn’t. I stopped
     by some of the celeb-watching sites and checked to see if there were any of my favorite
     postings—disgusting-celebrities-in-bathing-suits photos—but there
     weren’t. I know those are totally mean and usually fake, but I can’t help
     myself. Finally, I checked my in-box to see if I’d received any more e-mail, and
     there was one. It was yet another invitation to join Hailey on Buddybook.
    I have to say now that I don’t really get those sites where
     everyone posts all their updates. I know they make it