Dork Diaries: Books New |work|

For the next forty-eight minutes, the world ceased to exist. Nikki, Chloe, and Zoey huddled in their corner table, devouring chapter after chapter. MacKenzie Hollister, who normally patrolled the library like a perfume-soaked shark, was too busy facetiously ‘studying’ by the window to notice.

She pulled out her real diary, the one with the broken lock and the chewed-up corners, and wrote one line: dork diaries books new

The story was epic. Nikki (the fictional one) had accidentally been nominated for class president against her arch-nemesis, the perfectly ponytailed McKenzie (notice the subtle ‘K’ – pure evil). There was a subplot involving a runaway hamster named Sir Fluffington, a disastrous school bake sale, and a boy-band concert where everything went wrong in spectacular, doodle-filled fashion. For the next forty-eight minutes, the world ceased to exist

Later, after the final bell, Nikki carefully placed the advanced copy back on the ‘New Books’ cart. She’d only gotten to page two hundred. But she felt a strange sense of peace. She pulled out her real diary, the one

Then came the sound. A sound more terrifying than a pop quiz on fractions.

Chloe snorted so loudly the librarian, Mr. Grumbles, shushed her from across the room.

“You’re right, MacKenzie,” Nikki said, standing up. She grabbed a dry-erase marker from the whiteboard. “We’re terrible rule-breakers. We deserve… public shaming.”