Smoke and Mirrors (Smoke #1)

[ 33 ]

"Shit." I angrily muttered as I threw the pile of paperwork I was currently holding. It had already been a week since the boys played their match against North Melbourne and whilst it was an absolutely amazing one, there was quite a few several deadlines that were freaking me out. An article that I had done about the boys of Hawthron was apparently meant to be out last week even though by my schedule I had plenty of time to post it.

Derrick seemed to be rather difficult lately with that article, but was even more moody when I suggested that there was no point to post this article now seeing as their winning streak was obvious and that there was more important points to get across but unfortunately, my boss decided that today was the day he went full blown psychopathic at me which only resulted in me to sigh and walk out of the room feeling frustrated.

Another person who was making my frustrations go through the roof was Michael. I thought I had heard the last of him after his outburst at Caleb and myself the other day but by the looks of the text message I had received earlier on, I guess our battle was only just beginning.

Michael: The fact that you've brainwashed Caleb seriously gives me the shits. What's next, you gonna brainwash another one of the guys or even the coach?

Right now, I sat at the table as my music was playing in the background whilst I was correcting the Hawthorn article that Derrick almost killed me for. I began correcting up any mistakes and fixing up the words on the page, tapping my fingers along to the beat of Coldplay's Hymn For The Weekend when suddenly my phone began buzzing. I curled my fingers along the cold phone case and looked at the screen when I noticed that I had an incoming Skype call. I bit my lip anxiously as I began to wonder if Michael found out a new way to annoy me with his big mouth but reluctantly I pressed the answer and was surprised to see a familiar face on the screen.

"Daniel?" I exclaimed excitedly as a youthful male's face pouted on the screen.

"It's the one and only cuz." He said with a wink as I just laughed and took a moment to study the face of the Skype call. Daniel Rivers was a rather close family member of mine, a cousin to be exact who was a year older than me. The last time I had seen him in person was when it was a relatives' wedding back a couple of years ago in Perth. Daniel was one of my favourite relatives' ever seeing as we did everything together. It was hard seeing him leave at 18 when he left to Sydney to begin a law degree which was confusing seeing as there was a ton of amazing universites in Melbourne but of course I respected his decision because I knew how passionate he was when it came to law.

"I haven't spoken with you in ages, how's life been living in Sydney?" I asked as he just chuckled and looked up at the sky.

"Sydney's alright, I mean it isn't Melbourne but it's good enough." He said, chuckling.

"So you won any court cases yet?"

"A couple but my work life isn't that interesting. I mean, when a post officer puts mail in the letterbox, do you see them celebrating for doing their jobs?" He said with a smug look on his face. That was the thing I admired about Daniel, he was committed but humble about his work. He didn't care about the rewards or perks that came with the job, all he wanted to do was help people get their lives back on track.

"Anyway Scarlett, what's been happening in your life? I mean being a sports journalist must have some exciting stories being encountered in your life."

"Actually, there's nothing really exciting happening in my life. You know the usual, wake up, plan articles, interview people, proofread and repeat." I said just shrugging my shoulders like it wasn't any big deal.

"Oh I read your first big article a couple of months ago, congratulations with it. You must be really happy with your achievement?"

"Yeah, I guess I pretty much am happy with it." I added with a smile, pausing before asking him a rather important question.