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You're startled out of your daze, however, when the headline jumps out at you from the front page:

"Local Teens Stop Attempted Robbery at Silvertree Fair"

For a split second when you read the word robbery, your mind jumps to the crafts store, and you wonder how and why you've been exposed to the whole town—but then you blink and take in the rest of the headline, and you realize that far from being condemned for stealing, you're the one that's being celebrated. Well, that's certainly a lot of emotions in quick succession.

You read the article, unsure how to feel about having words like "hero" and "asset" applied to you, and even less sure how it feels to see a picture of yourself in front of all of the fair stands, taking up half of the screen. You feel even more uncertain when you discover the comments section below the article, where you find person after person congratulating whoever stopped so much money being stolen—while at the same time directly responding to your quote and discussing, albeit in conflicted terms, your statement about the forest.

For maybe the first time, it hits you how big this story actually is—and, more than that, how just a simple news article can get so many people talking. You didn't really think about it yesterday when you were talking to Minnie, but it really seems like this article has made an impression on people.

Then, on top of that, you remember the poll that the paper is running. You feel a little apprehensive as you go to check it—but when you see that the number of people opposing the developments is at 52%, you're left feeling flat. Not much has really changed. You're just glad there's still almost a week before the vote.

Just like that, you're struck by a thought: What if this is the way to send the town a message? What if this news site, or something like it, is the way to turn the spotlight on something you care about?