Dangerous Deception Read Free Page A

community service project.”
    â€œThere’s always Dairy Queen or pizza,” said Shoeless.
    Abby said, “I move that we show the letter to Mrs. Reed and explain why we can’t tell anyone else.”
    â€œSince I am a totally unselfish person who always puts others first,” said Jelly Bean, “I vote yes.”
    â€œEven though I am seriously malnourished myself,” said Shoeless, “I vote yes.”
    â€œOh, brother,” said Lauren.
    It was unanimous, and the group chose me to present our proposal to Mrs. Reed.
    The other groups from my class all gave their proposals orally. Their spokesperson simply stood and explained what the group wanted to do. When my turn came, I said, “My group needs to present a written proposal.”
    â€œOh?” said Mrs. Reed. “Why is that?” I think she suspected that we weren’t ready and were trying to buy extra time, but I had been writing down our proposed project while the other groups presented their ideas.
    I held up my paper and Sophie’s contest entry. “If you read our proposal, I think you’ll understand,” I said.
    Mrs. Reed looked unconvinced, but she took the two papers. She read my group’s proposal first, in which I explained about Dunbar’s rules and how Mom could lose her job. I could see her expression change as she read what Sophie had written. When she had finished reading, she said, “Your proposal is approved. Please stay in for a few minutes during afternoon recess so that I can talk to you about it.”
    I looked at Lauren, Abby, and Hunter. They were grinning at me. Jelly Bean and Shoeless high-fived each other. Our project was approved. Now all we had to do was figure out how to make it work.
    When the other kids left for recess, my group hovered around Mrs. Reed’s desk.
    â€œThis will not be an official class project if we can’t talk about it in class,” she said, “but I am willing to give you credit for it, anyway. However, you will need to tell your mother what you are doing, Emmy.”
    I gulped. “I can’t do that,” I said. “If she knew, then she would make us stop.”
    â€œI do not condone hiding your actions from your parents,” she said. “What if the secret gets out? What if someone at Dunbar’s finds out what you’re doing?”
    â€œIf that happens,” I said, “I want to be able to say that Mom didn’t know anything about it. I can say she told me at the start that I couldn’t help Sophie, and she had no idea that I had gone ahead.”
    Mrs. Reed sighed. “In this case,” she said, “perhaps it is better if your parents don’t know what you’re doing. For that matter, it would be better if I didn’t know what you are doing, either, so from here on, you are on your own and if anyone asks if this is a school project, the answer is no.”
    We all stared at her. “Your mother is not the only one who could get in trouble for breaking the rules,” she said. “You may go to recess now.”
    We all trooped out to the playground but none of us felt like playing kickball or scaling the new rock-climbing wall. Instead we clumped together by the drinking fountain and considered our next move.
    â€œInstead of having a big school-wide food drive,” I said, “we’ll each have to collect donations on our own.”
    â€œI can ask my grandma,” Abby said.
    â€œMy neighbors are good about supporting whatever I’m involved in,” said Hunter.
    â€œCollecting food won’t be the only hard part,” I said. “We also have to deliver it to Sophie’s house. I looked up her address, and she lives on the east side of Cedar Hill, over by the gravel pit.”
    Our school sat on the western edge of town and, since it was a neighborhood school, my classmates and I all lived on the west side.
    â€œThat’s way too far to