Frindle

By the following Thursday, the kids at the Westfield high school and middle school have all started using "frindle." Nick becomes a hero overnight but soon discovers that fame comes at a price. He can no longer walk around and not be recognized, and this makes him feel shy and awkward. At school, Nick's classmates seem to expect him to be funny all the time. Nick knows this is impossible, and he feels as though everyone is watching him. Fortunately, Mrs. Allen and Mr. Allen support Nick and believe he did nothing wrong. They also think it's amazing that their son invented a new word.

Bud Lawrence, one of Westfield's most successful businessmen, also thinks that the new word is fantastic. He began his career in business 30 years ago when he started buying fast-food restaurants and now he's one of the richest men in town. When he read the article in The Westfield Gazette, he filed a preliminary trademark claim on "frindle" and began selling pens with "frindle" printed on them. Bud sold out of pens in the first week, but the fervor died down around Halloween and he moved on to other projects.

However, Alice Lunderson, a part-time employee at the local CBS station, reads the article in The Westfield Gazette on the following Wednesday as she pores over local papers. She knows the story has potential, so she calls her manager. Her manager sends the story all the way to New York, and the CBS evening news decides that it will be a fantastic closing segment for the following evening. Alice is thrilled; it'll be her first assignment to make the national news.

On Wednesday afternoon, Alice interviews Mrs. Granger. Mrs. Granger insists that the dictionary is a fine tool for educating youngsters and says that kids need to learn that words and language have rules and histories that make sense. When Alice asks if Mrs. Granger has lost the fight against "frindle," Mrs. Granger simply says that it's not over yet.

When Alice and her crew arrive at the Allens' house, Mr. Allen and Mrs. Allen are ready. They squish Nick on the couch between them and Mrs. Allen puts her foot on top of Nick's. They decided that she'd push on his foot if she felt she needed to answer any questions for him. Nervously, Nick tells Alice how he made up "frindle": Mrs. Granger told him that all words are made up by people, and he wanted to see if it was true that someone could make up a word and make it mean something.

Mrs. Allen steps on Nick's foot when Alice asks if Nick was surprised when Mrs. Granger reacted with anger to the new word. Mrs. Allen says that it did create a disruption, but Mrs. Granger is a fine teacher. Nick says that without Mrs. Granger, he wouldn't have learned so much about words. Alice asks Nick what's next for him and for "frindle," and Nick says that the word isn't his anymore. All the people who use the word will decide what will happen with it.

The next evening, the CBS anchorman introduces the segment by saying that in 1791, a theater manager created the word "quiz" out of thin air. Over 20 million people see the segment, including the producer of The Late Show with David Letterman and a staff writer for People. Over the next three weeks, nearly everyone in the U.S. hears about "frindle" and kids start using it en masse. Bud is elated when he begins getting orders for frindle-branded items.

Bud's lawyer, however, tells Bud that there will be complications since Nick Allen actually made up the word and everyone in the country knows it. The lawyer tells Bud to make a deal with Mr. Allen to buy the rights to the word. When Mrs. Allen tells her husband the next day that he needs to call Bud Lawrence about the "frindle" thing, Mr. Allen is unenthused. He's tired of all the fuss and of being pulled away from his hardware store, but he stops in at Bud's office anyway.

Bud compliments Mr. Allen on Nick's ingenuity and sees his opportunity when Mr. Allen admits that he's ready for the fuss to die down. Bud begins telling Mr. Allen about all the orders he has for frindle-branded pens and tee shirts and says he even has a deal in the works with pen producers in Hong Kong and Japan. Mr. Allen sinks lower in his chair. Bud explains that he needs Mr. Allen's permission to use "frindle" on these products. He points to a big stack of papers and explains that it’s a contract giving Nick 30 percent of all profits from any frindle-branded things. If he signs, Mr. Allen won't have to do a thing.

Mr. Allen barely has to think about it before he signs the contract and the trademark papers. Before he leaves, Bud hands Mr. Allen a check for $2,250—Nick's cut of the proceeds from "frindle" sales in the first three weeks. Mr. Allen is shocked and asks Bud to keep the money thing secret from Nick, as he wants Nick to learn how to save on his own. Bud agrees. After Mr. Allen leaves, he walks to the bank and sets up a trust account for Nick. He sets up all of Bud's payments to deposit automatically into the account and wonders if things will ever be the same again.