The Valdez Affair

3. Perfect Excuses

I lived through Calculus the next day. Sebastian wasn't talking much. All he did was say 'hi' to me when I entered class and later confirmed our meeting at Richie's to complete the assignment.

It didn't come as a complete surprise, though. I had spent a total of fifteen minutes with him in his office yesterday and it was a direct attack at my nerves. I barely spoke to him, only finding him copies of older interviews I had conducted which had been saved onto the computer. I told him a bit about my procedure for conducting the interviews before he told me that I could leave. He probably got the negative vibes coming from me and for that, I was thankful.

Marketing was not a problem at all, to my relief. Mr. D'Silva had formed eight groups of the class with four members each. I was quite happy with mine. It included one of the girls from the cheer-leading squad, Maira. There was also Adnan and Devin. I knew Adnan since we were in the same class last year for English while Devin and I had been friends for a while.

Chelsea had told me that they were still working on the final list for the cheer-leading squad and that she would inform me about it later on. I was having a pretty good day, in fact, when I walked into the news room.

Mrs. Curtis came up to me as soon as I put my bag down on the table that had been assigned to me.

"What have you come up with Ariel?" She asked me. "The website opens on Monday and your opening article has to be good enough to attract the readers."

"I think I should start with the students as usual," I answered. "But instead of the clubs, I'm thinking of focusing on individual aspirations. Not just the seniors, but the freshmen as well."

"And what do you suggest we work on with the freshmen?" She questioned, appearing curious. Mrs. Curtis could be intimidating and she had chosen this moment to become just that.

I focused on my voice as I spoke. It always betrayed me at crucial moments. "Their hopes for high school mainly. It's a big change and I thought I could talk to them about what they expect in the coming year. A lot of kids would love to talk about that kind of stuff."

Mrs. Curtis gave a stiff nod, but a small smile made it's way onto her lips. I had known her long enough to read her expresions. She approved. "Okay. You can work on that but I want it to be ready by Friday. Get one of the newcomers to help you. I need to supervise the interviews now." She gave me a tired sigh. "I'll come by later."

Once she was gone, I settled down in my seat next to Sasha.

"She's so nice," Sasha muttered sarcastically.

"What did she do to you?" I asked, amused.

Sasha was generally a happy person. Sarcasm wasn't her thing and she looked the part with her baby-doll face, brown curled hair and piercing green eyes that was always made up with kohl, making them stand out compared to the rest of her features. Mrs. Curtis would had done something pretty big to spark her bad side.

"She's not letting me do my photography work." Sasha turned in her revolving chair to face me. "She wants me to write about the student council elections and you know how much I hate anything even remotely related to politics."

Sasha's dad was an important member of the town council, where her mother worked as well. She had grown up around ministers and important government officials. The lifestyle didn't grow on her, though. She hated all the sophisticated parties she had to attend and the lack of interesting people she didn't get to meet since her parents usually insisted on taking her along at such events. Her parents gave her enough freedom, but the girl didn't enjoy them quite as often as she liked.

"Why does she want you to do it?" I asked.

"I don't know." Sasha groaned. "She said something about how important the topic was and that she can't trust anyone else with it."