Chapter Five
Chapter
five
NOW THAT I’D MADE THE podcast team, instead of the normal broadcasting class I’d been taking the first part of the school year, I got to switch over to the mentorship program with the podcast seniors for the rest of the year. I walked the hall now, heading toward the library conference room where that program would be held. Had things happened differently, I would’ve been practically skipping down the corridor in happy anticipation, but as it was, I was trying my best to keep my head down.
It wasn’t working. People were calling out things like Let’s hear that terrible voice or Charm is overrated or Think fast. All in reference to the things Jensen had announced to the entire school about my subpar abilities. I was not looking forward to seeing Jensen for the first time since Friday.
Jensen. What class was he going to have to drop to slide into this hour? He hadn’t taken a single broadcasting class in his life.
“Now I understand the bathroom ad,” Theo said, falling into step beside me.
“What?” I had been so in my head that I hadn’t seen him approach. Had he approached? Or had we just both been walking in the same direction?
He tucked his earbud into his pocket. “Next time I visit that particular bathroom, I’ll add a line or two.”
“What?” Was that the only word I knew how to say now? My brain wasn’t quite understanding what he was implying with this conversation. Was he just making fun of me about the bathroom graffiti again?
“Theo!” someone called from across the way. “The rally Friday was epic.”
He raised his hand like he was a celebrity who couldn’t be bothered to respond with words.
“So epic,” I said sarcastically. “You stood off to the side and watched your teammates table surf.”
“You know exactly where I was standing?” he asked, that mocking glint in his eyes.
I was mad at myself that, yes, I had noted where he was standing. “You too good to participate in school-sponsored activities to unite the student body?”
“We all are, Finley.”
“Most of us aren’t asked to,” I said. Only the elite.
“The bathroom ad,” he said, bringing us back to his initial topic, apparently the only reason he was talking to me, and the one thing I didn’t want to discuss. “I heard the story of why you broke up. Brutal.”
Of course he had. This was even more embarrassing than being caught in the bathroom with a Sharpie. “Yeah, it’s no big deal.”
“No big deal?” Theo asked, confused or appalled, I couldn’t decide. “The guy publicly skewered you to the whole school. Spelled out all your weaknesses. That’s no big deal?”
I stopped and whirled on him. Somebody walking behind me nearly ran me over but avoided me just in time, adding a “Good thing I’m a quick thinker, Finley” to his sidestep.
My face burned red, but I tried to ignore it. Theo had stopped as well and stood there with an innocent expression.
“Those aren’t my weaknesses. I would’ve killed it as the podcast host. He has zero experience,” I tried to say with confidence, but I sounded like I felt, defeated.
“He hasn’t even started, and he already has the whole school talking about the podcast. Maybe experience doesn’t matter.”
“Obviously,” I said, and continued walking, so over this conversation with a person who I thought would’ve been on my side about this. Maybe Theo didn’t hate Jensen as much as Jensen had claimed. Or maybe Theo was just trying to irritate me. It was working.
The late bell rang overhead, and I glanced around to see the once-busy halls were now empty. I would have to walk into my first day of mentorship late. Great first impression.
“Good luck!” he yelled.
I flipped him off even though it really wasn’t Theo I was mad at. I was frustrated at the entire situation Jensen had created for me. Theo, I could ignore.
He just laughed as he walked away.
“Nice of you to join us, Finley,” Nolen said when I slipped into the conference room in the library. Headphones and microphones not plugged into anything sat on the table in front of him like we were going to do a mock podcast today.
There was an open chair by Ava on the end of the long table closest to me, so I took it. “Sorry. Got held up.”
“We missed you at the end-of-day announcement Friday too,” Susie said.
“Yeah, I didn’t know we were supposed to be there. Sorry.” My eyes drifted to Jensen with a cold stare.
Surprisingly he was staring straight back and his eyes seemed soft, apologetic even. That confused me more than if I’d been met with an equally cold stare. His actions to this point hadn’t indicated any form of remorse. Maybe he’d analyzed things. I quickly averted my gaze and pulled out a notebook. I turned back the front cover, only to see my revenge list. I shut it and looked around to see if anyone noticed. Everyone was focused up front.
Nolen smiled. “Since we have some new people in the group, for the next week we’re going to cover some basics of podcasting, to help get everyone up to speed.”
“Basics?” I asked, unable to keep my irritation inside. For the one new person in the room?
Nolen stopped and looked at me. “Everyone benefits from a review session.”
This time I did keep my words in my mouth.
“We’ll make it fun,” Susie said. “Please partner up, and we’ll hand out a review sheet.”
No joke, Jensen met my eyes again. That was not happening.
I turned to Ava. “You want to partner?”
“Absolutely,” she said.
“Actually,” Nolen said to Ava, “I want you and Jensen partnering for most projects. You need a jump start on some chemistry with each other and more practice interacting since Jensen hasn’t been part of our group for the last several years. I promise you’ll thank me when it helps you interact more naturally on air.”
“Sorry,” Ava whispered to me.
“It’s fine.” It wasn’t her fault Jensen was a ruiner of all things.
“We’ll walk around and give you tips and tricks for some of the concepts on the sheet.”
Susie passed out the review, and Ava stood and tentatively made her way over to Jensen at the other end of the long table.
I hadn’t noticed before, with the seniors filling in seats, but there was an odd number of juniors today, which left me partnerless.
I leaned back in my chair and opened my notebook again. I was still working through exactly how I was going to accomplish the goal of taking football from Jensen. But in the meantime, I’d been adding smaller ideas for revenge to the list as they came to me or when Deja, Maxwell, or Lee suggested something good in our Petty Queens group chat. Even though the list was decent, I’d yet to actually do anything on it aside from the bathroom thing, which had been more of a whim. It was time to change that.
“OUR REVENGE CHOICES TODAY, FRIENDS,” I said. “Are the following…” Deja, Maxwell, Lee, and I were sitting in my car in the parking lot after school. “We can sell all his things that he’s left at my house for a couple dollars online and then send him the receipt of what we sold.”
“That was my idea,” Deja said proudly. “I still like it a lot.”
“Could I get arrested for that?” I asked, curious.
“I don’t think so,” Maxwell said. “He left them at your house. Assumed property?”
I wasn’t sure if that was true at all, but I continued to read, “Make an online post about his wrongdoing and hope it goes viral.”
“We’d kind of just have to pray to the social media gods for that one,” Lee said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Plus, the whole story makes me feel stupid. I really don’t need everyone knowing. It’s bad enough the entire school does. Theo even heard the story today and approached me about it.”
“Speaking of gods, what did he have to say?” Maxwell asked.
Lee smacked his arm, and Max laughed.
“He just wanted to point out that since the whole school was talking about it, Nolen and Susie made the right choice putting Jensen as the host.”
“Ew,” Deja said, her dark eyes flashing irritation. “Stay away from him.”
“What about Jensen?” Lee asked. “You never said how the first time seeing him again went.”
“He gave me puppy-dog eyes like he was actually sorry.”
“He should actually be sorry,” Lee said.
“But if he was actually sorry,” Deja pointed out, “he would’ve quit the podcast once he realized what he’d done. He’s not actually sorry. He wants his cake, and he doesn’t want you to be mad at him for eating it too.”
“That made zero sense,” Lee said.
“I understood,” Maxwell said.
“What else is on the list?” Lee asked.
I scanned the page and settled on “Call his work and pretend he gave me bad service?” He worked at a tire repair place in town.
“ You can’t call,” Deja said. “They’ll recognize your voice.”
“I’ll call,” Maxwell said. “I am happy to assist in his downfall.” He pulled out his phone and dialed.