You can’t believe it’s Friday already.
Your sister’s crazy stunt with the black pen has distracted you a lot from school, and yesterday’s disaster in particular almost makes you forget about the Literature project you had due today. To your fortune, you were only a third of the way done, but it still forced an all-nighter on you. You’re dragging your legs to school, making you slow on the take.
But hitting your backpack’s pockets – particularly the one with the black pen – quickly wakes you up. You turn around, only to see Trish’s impish grin meet you. “Hey, stranger!”
“Hey, you.” You’ve been too occupied to speak to Patricia O’Neill this week, and it seems she has too. She’s strangely average for someone who’s aiming to be a marathon runner – slender, yes, but small and short-legged, and her breasts seem squished from the constant use of sports bras. The only thing that alerts to her fitness is her mild tan, her sun-kissed hair, and the fact that you know her mother's actually a runner and has trained Trish to follow on her steps. (Unfortunately, her fatal flaw of loving sweets too much hasn’t given her a killer figure like your sister Tina.) “What’s that about skipping on Jimmy?”
“Maybe that he’s an idiot.” Which is odd, since Trish wouldn’t miss on pranking the popular guys. She’s got everything to belong to them, but she’s also got smarts, and she’s never been the kind of superficial dunderhead people like Ethan or Mackenzie tend to be. She ignores them, preferring to unleash her wrath on the bullies – taking advantage that not even they would hit a girl. (Unfortunately, they pick on you instead.)
“I think he’s growing up, though.”
“Why would you say so?”
“What he said. I told him to grow up – not that way, of course – and he told me he needed to, and I quote, ‘stick it up to the jocks one last time’.”
“Well, it’s our last year. Or he could say ‘stick it up to this year’s jocks’ one last time. He’ll probably join a fraternity that does the same thing in college.”
“Maybe. But I think he’s gonna stick it up to Freddy too. Really not interested?”
“No.” That was a reaction so firm, it left no doubt to her change in attitude. “I mean – maybe I’ll get him one last time, but that’s it. Tom told me he’s probably flunking.” (That’d be Thomas Feely, from the Athletics team, one of the few jocks that Trish knows from competitions that’s friendly to her – and by extension, to you.) “Knowing he’ll never pay that prank back will be enough punishment for him.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
She slaps your shoulder, lifting her eyebrow. “What about you? Jimmy told me you’ve been distant.”
“No biggie, really.”
“He told me he saw you at someone else’s house.” (Why the fuck didn’t Jimmy tell you!?) “Said he saw you with Tina.”
That must’ve been on Tuesday... “Oh, right. We were visiting our new neighbor – she moved in recently, stopped on our house and connected with everyone.”
“Oh, I see...” Her chortle ended as she asked the next question – and you sense a hint of jealousy tied to it. “And Jess?”
“She’s doing fine. You haven’t seen her?”
“Well...” She bugs out, trying to dismiss it with a snort. “Yeah. Like I see you walking around. You know we don’t hang out in the same circles; you’re basically our only connection.” That’s mostly true. Trish and Jessica know each other, but don't relate unless you’re around them. Maybe because they roam in different circles, despite both being pretty and smart – Jessica's more academically minded than Trish, after all.
You can’t expect to have them befriend now if they haven’t done so in two years, but you can still try. “She doesn’t bite,” you say, making the flimsiest of efforts.
“Maybe if we meet at lunch time – if it weren’t because we’ve got different times.” She pats your backpack one more time, winking. “See you at Mr. Kwan’s class,” she says before leaving. That would be your third class – Algebra II – which is one of two you have together, and which she joined because you’re good at it and thus can help her pass.
But now it’s your first period class – Sociology II – and you can’t wait for it to be over. You send a text to Jessica before entering, as the bell rings. [when do we meet?]
--
“Hey, David.” Ashley White greets you, her light-rimmed glasses showing tired eyes. Probably because of the weight of being the newspaper editor, or because she’s tired of trying to be approachable to the school community. “You’ve been late on the layout.”
“I’ve been busy this week,” you tell her as you sit before the monitor. You took on layout duties these past two weeks, which everyone hates because it involves arranging the articles in each page. Ashley’s got a good eye on which article deserves which page, which makes half the job easy.
Unfortunately, the other half – actually arranging the content– is what makes this job tedious. Especially the main article for next week’s release, related to a project Rick Iannone has always been interested in, and which even Ashley’s sharp editing can’t slash to size. And she asks you to share it with two other articles on Page One. One about next week’s charity drive by Ben Wister, and the other--
“Make sure mine’s on the left,” says Joanna Kuntz with a bossy tone about her water fountains’ article. (You’re lucky Ashley got assigned as editor rather than her – her surname surely reflects her attitude.) “Maybe I can help you when I get layout duties.”
“If his article’s good,” Ashley replies. “Which reminds me – Founding Day’s gonna be the week after, and I need you to deal with it.”
“I don’t know if you’re lucky or fucked,” says Ben, just arriving. He’s the one who goaded you to get into the newspaper, but you don’t talk a lot with him - you shared a class last year and suggested it after you helped him on some projects. He hates big pieces – he's aiming to be an entertainment host – so he’s probably relieved you got saddled with that instead.
“I’ll set you up with a big one next time,” Ashley retorts, mocking him. The school chose her right – with her, everyone has a moment in the gutters (like you are now) and a moment in the spotlight (like you will next week). “I also need another article from you, Dave – free choice.”
Or, like in this case, a subtle fuck up. You don’t mind getting assignments, but you hate free choices, because they’re make or break. Almost always on the middle pages, they’re often hit pieces or favors – but as you do neither, they end up stale and critiqued by the rest of the committee.
The layout program you use makes your current task easier. It divides the page into segments, which you can arrange as Tetris pieces where you can copy and paste the articles. One half-page for Rick’s, two quarter-pages for Joanna’s and Ben’s, the ad for Page 5, Rick’s follow up on Page 2 as a two-thirds – you play with the arrangement with great ease.
Still – despite all your work, and having to cut three more lines in Rick’s big story, you’re halfway through when the bell rings. Ashley muses through your work and hums. “I gotta have this by Monday. Can you come in tomorrow?”
“Sure, sure.” You check on your phone, with Jessica’s current reply. She’s waiting for you by one of the trees at the front entrance. “Listen, I’d stay in to do a bit more work, but I promised my girlfriend I’d meet her yesterday, and--”
“Go ahead,” she claims, sounding tired. “Just remember I want everything done tomorrow.”
“I’ll be here at ten,” you tell her, grab your bag and leave. You make a brief check to see if the pen’s still inside, and to your fortune, it does.
You meet Jessica under the tree, sit down and kiss her. “Sorry I’m late,” you tell her while pointing at the school building. “Ashley had me on layout duties.”
“Ashley?” your girlfriend asks, reminding you that you know another Ashley now.
“White. School newspaper editor.”
“Ah,” she recognizes. “I see. It’s alright.” Then, she turns very serious. “Did you bring it?”
Before you can take it out, you question her. “What’s up with Katie?”
“She’s a bit depressed but she’s doing fine. And Claire?”
“Disappointed but spooked. Why?”
“Didn’t see her all day. I suppose they’ll be together, whining about...” She sighs, rubbing her forehead. “They’re not gonna like this.”
“Like what?”
“Listen...” She takes a deep breath and turns towards you. “I gave a good thought to all this.”
“You found a way to destroy it?”
She shakes her head timidly. “No. I mean... Stealing someone’s life is wrong, but... After doing what I did with Katie, even if she’s still distant, it feels like we connected. That made me wonder – if we could use this to do something positive, would it make it right?”
That piece of news shocks you. “Whaddya mean?”
“What I mean is... If you could help someone by taking their place, just for a moment, would you do it?”
“I...” That sounds noble, but you recognize it has its own issues. “What if we screw it up?”
“Not if we study how we do it! That’s why I wanted to run it with you first. I thought about what you said, and... Maybe we could use it for good.”
You’re very tempted, but you know it can end up in disaster. It already has. And what if Claire and Katie find out about it? There could be other ways to help – like with your free choice article.
But what if it works, and you could make that into your article? Or even embellish it as a short story and suggest that instead?
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