Katie Friedman Gives Up Texting! (10 page)

“I still recommend you all tell your parents. Now go—I gave you way more than a second—even way more than a minute. When am I going to get these papers graded now?”

“I'm not sure.”

“Well, this should be interesting,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “Keep me posted. And good luck.”

 

Part 3

THE PHONIES VERSUS THE CAVEMEN

 

25

NOW WHAT?

So it turns out it's really hard
to get eleven people together for a meeting, when you don't have phones.

I spent the entire recess running around to everyone who'd given me their phones, arranging a quick meeting after school. There were only about ten minutes between the end of school and bus pickup, so we were going to have to make it quick.

We met at the edge of the blacktop in front of the playground. I saw Charlie Joe, Timmy, and Pete looking at us and pointing.

“Welcome to the beginning of our big experiment,” I announced.

“Yes, welcome to all,” Eliza repeated. She had decided to be my copilot on this whole thing, and considering she was the one who basically got everyone to give up their phones, I couldn't exactly object.

“The first thing we need to do is figure out where to keep all the phones,” I went on. “I asked Ms. Kransky but she said if she took them she would have to tell our parents about this whole thing.”

All the kids looked at each another like they hadn't thought about that at all. Which they probably hadn't.

“Why don't you just put them in your locker?” suggested Amber, who was one of Eliza's devoted followers (otherwise known as the Elizettes).

Everyone else nodded.

I frowned. “You guys trust me with your phones?”

Everyone nodded again.

“Okay, I'll store them in my locker and, just to be safe, I won't even use my locker at all for the whole week.” This wasn't a big deal, as most kids, including myself, barely ever used their lockers.

“The other thing we wanted to discuss with you guys,” Eliza said, “was what we plan on doing for fun, since we don't have our phones. We're going to need some activities and stuff.”

Eliza hadn't said a word to me about wanting to discuss this topic, but now that she brought it up, I realized she was absolutely right. What
were
we going to do?

Ricky, Eliza's semi-boyfriend whom I barely knew, raised his hand.

“We should totally party,” he said.

“You're too young to use
party
as a verb,” Hannah told him. Ricky smirked, but his face turned red.

“You're right, though, we definitely need to have fun things to look forward to so we can make it through the week,” Jake said. “We need to do something really fun halfway through, and then something even more fun at the end.”

It was hard to argue with someone who had just used the word
fun
three times in two sentences, so we all nodded again.

“I have a question,” Phil said. “Does five days count as a week, you know, like a school week? Or does it have to be seven days?

“Good question,” said Phil's girlfriend, Celia. “Since today is Monday, can we just say we give up our phones till Friday?”

I thought about that for a second. Jane hadn't been very specific. Technically, of course, a week did mean seven days, but whenever any kid talks about “the week,” they're really talking about Monday through Friday.

“Why don't we compromise,” I said finally. “Since the talent show is on Saturday night, we'll say that's the end of the week.”

More nodding. This was an agreeable bunch. People were so nice to one another face-to-face!

“I can host a barbecue at my house on Wednesday night,” said Tiffany, another Elizette. “That's kind of the halfway point.”

“Great!” I said. “And I bet my parents will let me have a little party after the talent show, to celebrate.”

“We can do it!” shouted Becca.

“Yay us!” cheered Celia.

Everyone laughed and cheered and hugged and high-fived. It was like we knew each other so well, like we'd been hanging out forever. It was really kind of cool. It was—

“Weird.”

Leave it to Charlie Joe Jackson, who'd wandered over from the jungle gym with Timmy and Pete, to get right to the heart of the matter.

I stared at him. “What's weird?”

Charlie Joe laughed. “What's weird? You want to know what's weird? How about the fact that you and Eliza and the Elizettes are acting like you're besties? And that you guys have to have a meeting to figure out what you're going to do with yourselves since you'll be so bored without your phones. How's that for weird?”

“That's totally beyond weird,” Pete chimed in.

“We better go,” I said to the group, not even acknowledging Charlie Joe's comment. “See you guys tomorrow.”

As we walked to the buses, Charlie Joe slid up next to me.

“What are you doing? What is this all about?”

“I told you already. I was sick of being addicted to my phone. I want to see if I can live without it.”

Charlie Joe didn't say anything for a minute. “I don't believe you,” he said, finally.

“What do you mean you don't believe me?”

“I mean, I don't believe you.”

Charlie Joe stopped walking, and for some reason, I did, too.

“I know you hurt Nareem. I get it,” he went on. “But doing this whole phone thing with all these kids? You don't even know half of them. You think the Elizettes are ridiculous, but now you're all pals.” He leaned in and whispered, “You're up to something. I know it.”

I felt my face go hot. Was there any way he could know about my deal with Jane? I quickly realized it was impossible. “You're being ridiculous. You're the schemer around here, not me.”

Charlie Joe laughed that Charlie Joe laugh. “It takes one to know one.”

 

26

TV NIGHT

“Whatcha watching?”

My parents looked up at me in shock after I asked the question. For good reason. It's probably safe to say that in the past few years, the amount of times I'd wandered into the TV room after dinner to ask them what they were watching was about … let's see … zero.

It's not that I don't love TV. I do love TV. I just don't love watching it with my parents, when I could be in my room watching it on my computer while texting my friends and sending Snapchat pictures of my dog crossing his legs like a person while lying down. (He's so cute when he does that.)

But that night, I wasn't doing any of those things. Oh sure, I could have been on my computer, since technically, it wasn't off-limits. But I had decided I was going to go all the way. When the week was over, and Jane asked me if I'd been on my computer the whole time, I wanted to be able to say “Absolutely not,” and not be lying.

Which brings me to the part where I asked my parents what they were watching.

“Well, honey, we're just kind of flipping around,” my dad said.

My mom stretched and groaned. “There's never anything on. I don't know why we bother.”

“That's not true,” I said. “There's tons of great TV on all the time.” I grabbed the remote from my dad and changed the channel to one of my favorite shows,
Daughter of the Devil
, about a high school girl whose dad is actually Satan. Unfortunately, right when I turned it on, the dad was in the middle of turning red and growing two horns.

“What is this?” my dad said, and not in a good way.

“It's not always this weird,” I said quickly.

My mom put the television on mute. “Can I ask why you're hanging out with us, instead of in your usual spot at the opposite end of the house?”

I sighed. I wasn't really crazy about the idea of telling my parents what I was up to, because I knew they'd ask me a million questions. But I decided what the heck. It was easier just to come out with it.

“Ten friends and I decided to give up our phones for a week. And me personally, I'm giving up my computer, too.”

My parents stared at me as if I'd just told them
I
was the Devil.

“Give up your phone, as in completely and totally not use it at all?” asked my mom.

I nodded.

My dad rubbed his eyes, as if he couldn't believe it was his daughter sitting in front of him. “I don't get it. How will you live? Isn't your phone kind of like oxygen? Isn't it possible you will actually suffocate without it?”

“Ha-ha,” I answered.

“Well, I think it's wonderful,” said my mom. “Good for you. Is this all because of your meeting with that singer?”

I stared at her. “That singer?
That singer?!
”

“Sorry,” said my mom. “I forget her name right now.”

“Jane,” I said shortly. “Jane Plantero. She's a genius, so you should probably know her name.”

“Got it,” my dad said. “Jen Romero.”

“Dad, you are just so hilarious tonight.”

He grinned. “Thanks.”

“And yes,” I said, “meeting Jane did change my life, and this is part of that change.”

My mom hugged me, and my dad leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Well, we can thank whatever her name is,” he said, “because I think it's pretty cool. And if it means we get to hang with you a bit more, well then, I'm all for that, too.”

“Cool,” I said. “Can I see the remote?”

“Of course, honey,” said my mom, handing it to me.

I turned the sound back on just in time to see the dad eating his dinner with a pitchfork.

My dad rolled his eyes. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously,” I said.

He harrumphed. “Fine, but only because this is a special occasion.”

By the end of the episode, both my parents were hooked.

 

27

THE NEXT LETTER

Dear Jane,

I hope you're doing great!

I was so honored to meet you the other day, and was so inspired by your words. In fact, I wanted you to know that it's happening! I found ten friends, and together we've all decided to give up our cell phones for a whole week. We started today and will go all the way to our school talent show, which is this Saturday. Technically that's only six days, but I hope that's okay. We want to make a big announcement at the talent show and show everybody that we did it!

I am also working on the song and will send it to you as soon as it's done.

Thank you for trusting me. I promise to stick to my end of the bargain! I won't let you down.

 

Your absolutely biggest fan ever,

 

Katie Friedman

 

28

WRITING A SONG IS HARD, BUT MAKING A PHONE CALL IS HARDER

After
Daughter Of The Devil
,
and after ice cream, and after playing with the dog, and after trying to play charades but realizing it's hard with three people, and after playing War instead, and after finishing my homework, and after writing a letter to Jane, and after doing everything possible that doesn't involve a cell phone and a computer, I got out my guitar and tried to write music for my song, “How.”

It turns out writing music for a song is really, really hard.

It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to put a melody to a few words.

How do you

Speak the words

That you never thought would be spoken?

How do you

Break the heart

That never has been broken?

Pretty soon, I'd written a new verse: