Me & My Invisible Guy (29 page)

It was a little pathetic, but I had to ask someone to help me find the newspaper office. A guy led me down a hallway to the very corner of the building. It was a large room with windows, and I was surprised by the number of people in there—probably a dozen or more.

Samantha came over as soon as she saw me.

“I’m so glad you could make it. I really appreciate this.” She led me to a bank of computers along the wall. “You can put your stuff anywhere. I already had Drew pull up the template program for you to look at.”

Drew, a nervous, skinny guy with glasses and a deep voice, pointed at one of the computers. “It’s right here. The navigation is there on the left.”

“Do you need anything else?” Samantha asked.

I set down my bag. “No. Let me just take a look at it.”

Samantha went off to work on something else and I sat. It was a PC, and I couldn’t help but notice two gorgeous, dusty iMacs sitting in a corner not even turned on. I had never used the software, but it took me only twenty minutes of playing with it to see that it was severely limited. I gave it another twenty just to see if there was anything at all I could suggest. I had nothing. They were either going to have to start from scratch or be stuck making tiny changes that no one would notice at all.

As soon as I turned around, Samantha hurried over.

“So what do you think?”

I showed her the places where changes could be made but explained how more elaborate changes weren’t possible in the current program.

“InDesign would work much better for you. Do you have that software?”

Samantha looked completely deflated. “Yeah, it’s loaded on the Macs I think, but everyone already knows how to use this program. Thanks for trying. I guess we just can’t do it.”

I stood up and glanced around the room at all the people who were completely devoted to a newspaper that I seriously wondered if anyone read.

“Have you ever thought about publishing
The Falcon’s Nest
online only?”

“Yes,” Drew said.

“No.” Samantha glared at Drew. “It’s a newspaper, not a website. People still read regular newspapers.”

I resisted asking her how she knew that. “Does everyone feel that way?” I glanced at Drew, who didn’t look like he was going to speak up again.

“You’re not the first person to suggest it, if that’s what you’re asking,” Samantha said.

That
was
what I was asking. “It would be worth considering. There’s a reason why so many print mags and papers have been moved online. You can have fresher content, and it’s more accessible.” I was pretty sure Samantha wasn’t buying it. “Look, just think about it. If you switch to something like InDesign, the paper could be redesigned the way you really want it. At least online.”

“Thanks for your help,” Samantha said again, and I knew
I was getting the brush-off. I grabbed my bag, surprised at how disappointed I was. I had only been doing a favor. This wasn’t my world, so why did it matter to me?

As I walked home, I couldn’t help planning what I would do if she’d given me the chance. By the time I got home, my head was so full of ideas that I had to put them somewhere. So I fired up my computer and went to work. Maybe if I showed Samantha what I was talking about, she’d get excited about it.

At the very least, it helped me avoid the world and homework a little longer. I had a working web layout of
The Falcon’s Nest
by eight.

When I finally wandered downstairs to find some food, Liam and Brian were at the counter talking with my dad. Huh? It was at once both so bizarre and so comforting that I had to stop and take it in. Liam looked up and smiled—the kind of smile that you know is meant only for you.

“You’re ignoring your phone.” He raised his eyebrows at me.

“Sorry. But it’s your fault.”

“How could it be my fault?”

“You were the one who was all ‘explore the possibilities.’”

“The newspaper?” he asked.

I took him upstairs to show him the layout and told him my plan to try and convince Samantha and the newspaper staff to go to a web-only version. “Not only is it environmentally friendly, but I think people would actually read it if we could deliver the content in multiple ways. Don’t you think?”

“
I’m
convinced.” He laughed. “And I’ve never seen you so excited about something. Definitely a side of you I like.” He took my hand and pulled me and my chair closer to where he was sitting.

“I have some news, too.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“I got a nomination to attend the naval academy.”

I frowned. “Is that good news?”

“No, but I told my dad that I didn’t want to go there or join any branch of the military.”

“You did!” I hugged him but sat back quickly. “What happened?”

“Let’s put it this way—I’m living with Brian at the moment.”

I covered my mouth with my hand. “That bad?”

Liam nodded. “Yeah. But I feel so relieved, I swear I could fly. I didn’t know how much it was holding me down until it was finally out in the open.”

I could relate to that.

He rubbed the top of my hand and smiled at me.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“I’m thinking that I’m just beginning to know who you are, Mallory Dane.”

“Maybe I am, too.”

He laughed at that and then leaned in and kissed me. Total perfection.

“Wait!” I jumped up and grabbed my camera from my dresser. “We need a picture.” I put my cheek next to his, held out the camera, and snapped our picture.

No Photoshop necessary.

A few minutes later we heard voices downstairs. That meant Mom and Darby were home. I squeezed Liam’s hand before we went to join them.

The first thing I noticed was the laughter. Darby was in Brian’s arms, and my mom was smiling—something I hadn’t seen since that day they went to the mall.

Mom caught my eye, walked over to me, and wrapped me in a hug. I stayed there soaking it in until she leaned back with her hands on my shoulders.

“I’m sorry, Mallory. I took out my frustration on you, and it wasn’t fair. You’re right. Darby’s happy. And I want that for you, too.”

She hugged me again.

Dad made everyone come into the living room, and the six of us sat around and listened to Darby tell us everything that had happened on the show. Every time I saw a smile spread across her face, it caught me off guard. This was a new Darby. It was pretty amazing to see.

Once Liam left and I assured Tess that I wasn’t dead, I was drawn back to my computer. I kept rearranging the placements, trying to get a feel for the best way to arrange the content. I used the paper with my interview as a guide for what kind of features they typically had. The website had so many possibilities that I wasn’t sure how far to go with it.

Just as I was heading to bed, Darby knocked lightly on my door and stepped inside.

She grinned. “I didn’t want to say it in front of everyone until I talked to you. The studio has been fielding phone calls
from agents and publishers all day. They want us to write a book.”

“Us?”

“Well, I know you didn’t want to do the interview, but your story, well, it’s a part of my story now. I couldn’t do it without sharing your part of the story.”

“Share away.”

“You still don’t want to be involved?”

I shook my head. “No. But I’ll help you in any way I can. Maybe I could design your logo and website.”

“My logo and website?”

“Yeah. You need a name for what you’re doing. Like that Barbara chick who came to my school. If you’re gonna write books and go around and speak and all of that, you’ll need a really cool website and brochures and stuff.”

Darby sat on my bed. “I didn’t even think about that, but you’re right.”

“Things with Brian look good, too.”

“Things with Brian are wonderful. It’s still awful about…”—her voice caught in her throat—“…the baby thing, but the doctors didn’t say it was impossible. Brian says he’s thrilled as long as he has me. Isn’t that sweet?”

“Pretty sweet.”

“And you and Liam?”

“It’s good. Undefined. But good.”

Darby fell back on the bed, her hands on her head. “It’s all happening so fast.”

“But you can do it, right?” I thought she could.

“With God, all things are possible,” she said.

I had a feeling that Darby and God would make a pretty good team. Me, I was just glad to have my sister back.

At school I ignored all the jeering. It was sad that this had become the norm.

I enlisted Tess and Liam to help me take an informal poll about the school newspaper. At lunch we sat together and tallied our results.

“I asked thirty-eight guys today. Twenty of them didn’t read it, fifteen didn’t even know we had a school newspaper, and three were confused by the question,” Liam said. He was eating fried chicken again. He held out a leg. “You’ll try it one of these days.”

“Ew, slacker,” Tess said. “I talked to sixty-three people.”

“How is that even possible?” Liam asked.

“I’m incredibly efficient. Twelve said they read it but only the front page. The rest either didn’t read it or didn’t know about it. And two art students confessed to stealing the stacks for projects.”

“Same here,” I said. “Of course, I could only ask the people who would actually talk to me.”

“It’ll stop eventually,” Tess said. “Everything does. When are you going to talk to Samantha?”

I held up my thumb drive. “After school.”