A Risk I'm Willing to Take

Two

I sipped my smoothie as I walked across campus. I was supposed to be meeting with the Dean, apparently the President had made her decision. Just as I was stopping to put some music on I heard a scream.

My head whipped up as I scanned for the source. I saw a girl running up to me.

"Oh my god I thought they were lying! I can't believe Gemma Emery goes to my school!"

I slipped my earbuds out and waved to the girl.

Just as my earbuds made it to my pocket she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. She shook with excitement.

After a moment she released and I could breathe again.

"It's nice to meet you, what's your name?"

"Savannah. And the biggest fan of your music."

"Well you know Savannah, you might be getting some new music from me soon." I winked at her.

"No way!!!" Her hands trembled as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket.

"Ooo, I like your case."

She flipped the phone over and ran her nails over the lavender glitter case. "Thanks. Can I get a picture with you?"

"Oh of course!"

We stood on the brick sidewalk and posed for several selfies.

"Thank you so much!" Savannah put her phone away and started to turn to leave, a smile still on her face.

"Be sure to tag me if you post any of them and I'll be sure to like it!" I flashed her a thumbs up.

Savannah nodded and started walking away.

I slipped my earbuds back in and started my favorite playlist. I hummed along to the punk rock as I walked towards the Dean's office.

I was scrolling through my Twitter feed trying to catch up on the current news. The tweet I had posted before class was getting a lot of attention. I'd have to go through the comments and reply to some after I was done talking to the Dean.

Suddenly my eyes caught on two pairs of feet standing in front of me, blocking the sidewalk. I paused my music and sighed.

"What is it now Madison, Olivia?"

"We saw you with your little groupie back there." Madison snarled.

"And? I enjoy interacting with my fans." I rolled my eyes and sipped my smoothie.

Olivia glared at me. "You think you're better than us?"

"No I just happen to have a gold selling single. I'm a college student just like y'all."

"A college student that gets special treatment." Madison looked me up and down with a smirk.

"Yeah, we know they just handed you your position on the newspaper because you have some followers on Instagram." Olivia flipped her long blonde hair. "Too bad you couldn't use special treatment to get some looks."

"I work very hard for everything I get." I screwed the lid on my smoothie bottle and tossed into the trash can behind Madison and Olivia. "Now if you don't mind I have a meeting to get to."

"You are nothing, Gemma." Olivia spat.

I pushed past them. "You're just jealous because I'm doing something with my time in college."

"We are members of the largest sorority on campus, Gemma!" They yelled at my back as I walked away.

-------------------------------------------

"I am so sorry I am a few minutes late, Dean. Not to make excuses but I had to deal with Madison and Olivia again." I sat down in the stiff arm chair in front of the Dean's desk.

"Those girls really don't like you." He chuckled. "Regardless of their hate, you should be proud of yourself." He smiled.

"What are you telling me Dr. Williams?" My voice jumped an octave. "Am I gonna get to cover the story?"

He nodded.

I screamed in excitement and jumped out of my chair. I wrapped my arms around him. I squeezed once as hard as I could and then let go.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone this excited and I just bought my sixteen year old daughter a car."

He chuckled and picked a piece of paper up from his desk. He handed it to me.

"These are the rest of the details, per the school."

I scanned over them. I was to fly out on the 19th and get as much rest as I could so I could cover the story the next morning. I was going to be going alone. I was going to be flying back the 23rd. My story was due the day after on the 24th.

I looked up from the page. "Do I have to wait until the 24th to present my story?"

The Dean glanced at me from behind his computer. "Do you have other plans?" He continued scrolling through his emails.

"I was hoping to publish my story as soon after the actual event as possible. You know so the topic's relevant and I'm getting the news out as soon as it's happening."

The Dean loosened his tie. "Gemma, you're a college freshman, not a working journalist. You're not on any major news outlets writer panel."

I slumped my shoulders. "Ok, but..."

"Gemma, have fun, write a good story. Don't pressure yourself." He waved his hand for me to leave his office.

I walked down the hall thinking about the situation I had just landed myself in. I was going to be flying out to the Nevada desert in less than a week to cover the storming of a government property.

I know that this event was set up through social media and so it had an element of uncertainty, but social media is ever prominent in our lives. We depend on it to communicate. Why couldn't it be used to orchestrate a major political event?

I believed in my generation. The Millennials are tired of the older generations controlling the media and policy. We're tired of constantly being told we're dumb children who can't make a change.

I was so ready for all of that to change.