Twenty-Four
They say I’m all about the
Drama!
So good at acting this part
I might just get an
Oscar!
‘Drama!’ from The In-Between
Today’s Take: Haters gonna hate
My last article caused quite a stir, so let me address that here.
Unlike your social media posts, I don’t need everyone to like me.
I’m not your god, your therapist, your mother.
I am here, telling my story and sharing my thoughts.
You’re your own person, you can think for yourself.
And if you’re going to be a group of snivelling lambs following a wolf – well, that’s your own prerogative.
‘What is this?’ says Kira, putting down The Common Room in front of me.
‘Looks like a copy of The Common Room,’ I say.
‘“I don’t need everyone to like me”,’ reads out Kira. She looks at me. ‘Selena, you care deeply about being liked. It’s why you won’t put your name against this.’
‘But it’s not my words, it’s the Secret Sender.’
‘You are the Secret Sender,’ hisses Kira.
‘Shhh,’ I say. ‘I know, but nobody else does.’
‘So what, you’re going Jekyll and Hyde and this is a new identity for you?’
‘No, it’s not that.’ I stop. ‘I want people to not take me too seriously, so I was sending a message. And yeah it may be a bit extreme, but at least that way people will listen.’
Kira shakes her head. ‘You’ve got to be careful, girl. People are dying to work out who you are. In Economics I overheard some wild theories flying around about the Secret Sender.’
‘I’m an anonymous writer, not Batman,’ I say. ‘I’ve got to get to English, I’ll see you later.’
Class actually starts in ten minutes, but I want to shake off Kira’s words first. She doesn’t get it. Kira’s so confident, she doesn’t need anything to boost her.
When I get to the classroom, Tori and the newspaper staff are all in there. Ms Harkness is there too. They must be wrapping up a newspaper staff meeting. I stand outside, listening to Tori’s booming voice.
She’s boasting about something new. ‘The Croydon Post only takes three work experience students every year from across the boroughs, and I’m definitely going to get it. This is my stepping stone to the real news. Then TV, maybe.’
I roll my eyes and start scrolling on my phone. I don’t want to go in early.
‘I wonder what her next article is going to be,’ I hear Farah say a few moments later. My ears prick – are they talking about me?
‘Yeah, this one is pretty biting,’ says Mia. They are, so I decide to slink into the back of the classroom.
‘She really has a way with words,’ agrees Connie, the sports editor. ‘“I am not your god.” Wow.’
Once again, I feel a bump of delight at that. People enjoy my work!
‘I think we need to get her out there,’ says Farah. ‘School exclusive. It’ll be big news.’
‘What will be big news?’ says Ms Harkness, looking up from her desk.
‘If we unmask the Secret Sender, Ms,’ says Farah. ‘What do you think?’
‘Do we know who the Secret Sender is?’
‘Tori does!’ says Mia. She looks at Tori excitedly. ‘Do you think you can get her to reveal her name?’
‘Er—’ stutters Tori, who has been silent for this whole conversation, very unlike her. Probably because she’s backed herself into a corner. ‘I can’t reveal it publicly,’ she says.
I raise my eyebrows. Tori admitting to not being able to do something?
And then she says, ‘Because I am the Secret Sender.’
I smack my hand on the desk.
Luckily the noise is drowned out because all of the newspaper staff are in uproar. Everyone is yelling at each other, at Tori, or are making noise.
‘Stop!’ yells Tori, drawing focus to herself again.
I am raging in silence. I can’t believe Tori has taken the credit for being the Secret Sender. For my words. How dare she?
But what am I going to do? I can’t reveal myself. So I watch and wait.
‘Why didn’t you post under your own name?’ says Mia.
I cross my arms. I’m interested to hear Tori’s take. Part of me wonders if she planned to do this, or she panicked. Either way, she hasn’t planned for the questioning, she looks like she’s making up the answers on the fly.
‘I was doing an editorial experiment,’ says Tori. ‘I wanted to see how readership is affected by writing anonymously. It’s for my university interview discussion.’
I’ll hand it to her, Tori can bullshit.
‘So that’s why we can’t reveal it’s me,’ continues Tori. ‘Because I haven’t concluded the experiment yet. I want to see how far I can take it with my articles. But as you’re my writers, I thought now is a good time to let you know.’
‘So what you wrote about betrayal—’
‘I’m not ready to talk about my Secret Sender posts just yet,’ says Tori, overtly theatrically. ‘All shall be revealed in due course.’
The bell goes, and as the rest of the class filters in, some of the newspaper staff filter out, muttering secretly to each other. No doubt they think they have something juicy.
Never mind the secret they’ve uncovered is actually a lie.
Ms Harkness starts handing out essays she’s marked. She puts mine down on the desk. A shiny red A* marked on it.
‘Well done, Selena. Top marks in the class,’ she says, looking at me. I see Tori turn her head around at that, looking at me with surprise. I feel smug. ‘I saw you listening in on our newspaper meeting,’ Ms Harkness continues.
I shrug. ‘I got here early.’
‘Did you ever contribute anything?’
‘No,’ I lie.
‘Interesting,’ she says. ‘I could have sworn I’ve read something in there that sounds like your writing voice.’
And with that, she walks away to hand out more papers. I touch my forehead. I’m sweating.