Me & My Invisible Guy (30 page)

It bothered me how nervous I was as I walked to the newspaper office. If they didn’t want to do it, so what? But at some point, while sitting in front of my computer imagining the possibilities last night, it had started to matter a lot.

Samantha looked up from a desk when I stepped into the doorway.

“Hey, Mallory.”

“Can I show you something? It won’t take long. I promise.”

She nodded, and I went back to one of the Macs and turned it on. I popped in the thumb drive and pulled up the web pages I had designed. Samantha put on her glasses and watched over my shoulder, leaning in as I ran the slideshow of pages.

She began asking questions, and after an hour of explaining how it worked and what they could do, she sat down and frowned.

She still seemed skeptical, so I decided to push harder and tell her about the poll. “A lot of the students we talked to don’t read the paper. But they should, and this is just a different way to deliver it to them. What’s more important: having it in paper form or having students read it?”

She kept frowning, and I couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. Then she suddenly stood up and called the staff over to the computer. My stomach churned as she scrolled through the pages for everyone in the room to see.

“She said they’re going to talk about it as a team and decide.” I climbed into Liam’s car.

“So you’re offering to run the whole web portion for them?”

I paused. “I guess I am.”

Liam pulled out of the parking lot. “What about cheerleading?”

“I don’t know. Tara said I can go back next week.”

“If you do both I’ll never see you.”

“Well, I don’t even know yet if Samantha will agree to it.”

Liam shrugged. “Why wouldn’t she? Newspapers are archaic. They should have done it years ago. But we’re both going to be busy because—I joined Ben’s band. I’m going to have rehearsals and who knows what else.”

“You did? Liam, that’s awesome, but… what about your dad?”

Liam shook his head. “I didn’t even tell him. But my mom’s excited for me. I’m not sure where my dad’s head is at right now. He hasn’t talked to me at all since I moved in with Brian.”

“Maybe he’ll come around.”

“So you’re okay with having a boyfriend in a band?”

“Did you just define our relationship?”

Liam looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“You said
boyfriend
.”

He crinkled up his eyebrows. “What else would I be?”

“I just wasn’t sure.”

He seemed to get it finally. “Mallory, would you be my girlfriend, and will you go to homecoming with me?”

I laughed out loud and leaned over and kissed him. “Yes and yes. I thought you’d never ask.”

I noticed the news van as soon as Liam turned onto our street. Darby had said something about the local news, and I spotted Christi Rea on the porch with her crew hauling lights inside.

I promised to call Liam later and climbed out of the car. Christi held out her hand when I got to the porch.

“Good to see you again. Your sister said she didn’t think you’d be joining us today. It’s just a quick follow-up to everything that’s happened since her New York trip.”

“I think Darby can handle it. But I do have a favor to ask. My friend Tess is having a toy drive in November for the local domestic violence shelter. Do you think you could let people know about it? If you mentioned it on air, it would really help.” I pulled out a flyer from my bag and handed it to her.

“Sure. We could probably do that. And I’ll make sure it goes on our website, too.”

“Really? Thank you, that would be so great.”

“Always willing to help a good cause,” Christi said. “I’d better make sure we’re all ready in here.” She shook my hand again. I reached for my phone to call Tess, then stopped.

I’d let the news coverage be a surprise.

CHAPTER 24

Within the first hour of school the next day, Samantha had said yes to the redesign, and Tara asked me to come back and cheer for the game on Friday. Tess told me it was because Pia sprained her ankle and couldn’t stunt.

Liam laughed. Which was completely unhelpful.

“So now I either have no life or I have to choose?”

“Were you cheerleading because you love it or because it’s fun to do?” Liam put his arm around my shoulder. It distracted me from his question.

Here I was, walking down the hallway at school with a guy. A real boyfriend. Such a strange thing. I still couldn’t believe it.

Maybe I don’t have to choose.
The fall cheering season was only a few more weeks. So, with the redesign, cheering, and the fund-raiser, it would be an intense few weeks, but it was possible. Wasn’t it?

Liam stopped me and led me over to an empty doorway.

“I need to tell you something,” he said, a nervous look on his face.

I couldn’t help it—my heart sank. It was bad news whatever it was.

“I was talking to Ben last night at rehearsal about the stuff they already have booked, and I… well, I messed up the dates.”

“What dates?”

“That concert I told you about? I thought it was the week before homecoming, but it’s… the same night.”

“So…”

“So I can’t take you to homecoming. I feel awful, but it’s too late to change it and…” He sighed heavily.

I was quiet. I knew how important the band was to him. And really, it was just a silly dance. But it was my first homecoming with a real boyfriend, and now I was going to miss it.

As disappointed as I felt, though, I knew what I needed to do.

“Well, you have to do the concert,” I said.

“I feel terrible.”

“Don’t. It’s not your fault. And it’s just a dance.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” Liam said.

I smiled. “Oh, I know you will. And I already have an idea.”

He grinned and kissed me. “Lay it on me.”

At lunch we sat with Tess, who was completely distracted. She had thrown herself into prepping for the fund-raiser, a not-so-veiled attempt to avoid her life at home, which was both better and more difficult at the same time. With social services involved, Tess was getting frustrated with having to deal with so many other people.

I hated that it was still a bit of a wedge between us.

But I also thought that if I could just get her through the fund-raiser, we could deal with it afterward.

“So,” I started. “I was thinking Liam’s band could
play at the fund-raiser. Christmas music would add a nice atmosphere and—”

“They’d do that?” Tess interrupted.

Liam said, “We wanted to see what you thought before I asked them.”

“Yes. Go call. Now. That would make the event so much more epic.”

Liam took out his cell phone and walked away.

“You okay?” I asked.

Tess poked at her food. “What am I going to do with myself when this is all over?”

“Probably find some other crazy project,” I said.

“They want us to do family counseling with my mom.”

“Maybe that will be a good thing.”

“I’m just so mad at her. And I don’t want to sit around talking about it.” Tess sat up and gestured with her chin, signaling that Liam was back.

“Ben’s checking with everyone else, but he sounds stoked about it. He wants to know if we can advertise the event.”

“Advertise away.” Tess launched back into planning mode. “Okay, so I drew a layout of what I’m thinking we’re going to do with the space. They won’t let us move in until Saturday morning, so we’ll only have a few hours to get ready. We need more help.”

Tess unfolded a piece of paper and took charge.

Later I walked down to the newspaper office to let Samantha know that I’d do the redesign but that I’d have to work from home until cheerleading ended. She was fine with it. I was relieved to hear that she wanted to launch in January, because that gave me more time.

“Before you leave I wanted to run something else by you.”

“Sure.” I glanced at the clock; I could spare five minutes if I sprinted to practice.

Samantha walked to her desk, and I followed.

“You said we’re going to have a lot more space to fill, so I wanted to see if you would do a weekly column—starting in January, of course.”

“A column? I’m not really a writer.”

“I think you could manage this. Your story made me think about how everyone has their own secrets, and it’s the secrets that make us think we’re all alone, that no one else in the whole world could understand how we feel. What if you did a ‘High School Confessional’ column and let people anonymously share their secrets?”

“So it would be other people’s stories?”

Samantha nodded and adjusted her glasses. “I think it could be really eye-opening. And if you rewrite their stories in your own writing voice, then it would protect their privacy while at the same time letting others know they aren’t alone.”

“How am I supposed to get people to share their secrets?”

“You don’t have to convince them. Look.” Samantha handed me a stack of papers. “We’ve been getting these ever since that article ran about you. And always in hard copy—I’m assuming it’s because no one wants their e-mail traced.”

I took the papers and began reading:

I’ve been stealing since I was 6 years old. I know it’s wrong, but I can’t stop. I think I need help, but I’m afraid to ask.