Chapter 55
Quill
The Wanted Author
First Day At School
Carlos Rafael Rivera
Finnias22: Guys. You won't believe what I found out.
Bookishfllame: ?
Booksss: ?????
Finnias22: In an old catalogue from an agency, I found a pitch from an author whose summary sounds exactly like the plot of Batteries of Ink. I contacted the agent and he said that the author wanted to meet at Maplecrest University before he turned down the agent and found someone better.
Pia1983: Oh my God...
Booksss: Wait... the agent revealed that just like that?
JasonSchmidt7: If that's true...
Luckycharm12: Wow... Does that mean Atrianima is from Maplecrest?
Jenny211: Imagine, the author lives here!
Finnias22: The agent didn't want to reveal any more information, just said that they met on campus.
Bookishfllame: Oh my, what if that person studied here?
Maxtonbliss: What if she's still at Maplecrest?
RoryGilly128X4: Damn...
HannahSmith: I'm part of the newspaper. The team and I will find out.
Booksss: That would be one hell of a plot twist. Imagine if the author is sitting among us, laughing up her sleeve.
Pia1983: We have to find out who the author is. I absolutely need an autograph.
Dizzy Lizzy: Me too!!!
Playing Townes
Carlos Rafael Rivera
Still in disbelief about last night's discussion in the Maplecrest Forum, I watched the crowds of reporters who had traveled from D.C. to interview students.
Ten minutes ago, they had been following Arnold, but the old curmudgeon had given them the cold shoulder until my father had joined him and the two had disappeared into the main building, where one of Arnold's errand boys had slammed the door in the reporters' faces.
Now the press was swarming around campus, lying in wait for students carrying copies of Atrianima.
Instinctively, I shoved mine deeper into my pocket, because it wasn't yet time to engage in social interactions beyond those with Lara and Thomas.
“How genius it would be if Atrianima is actually studying here,” Thomas laughed, shoving his comic back into his backpack. “I bet that person is indeed laughing up their sleeve right now and walking among us without us noticing.”
His gaze lingered on me.
“What?” I grinned. “No. Do you know how old I was when that book came out? I would never have written something like that back then. And certainly not with such eloquence. What do you think?” Shaking my head, I leaned against the tree, trying to process the fact that Atrianima could be walking around somewhere on this campus.
“Besides... Why would I have met with an agent at Maplecrest? Here, where my father works.”
“Admit it. You wrote a book and just wanted more people to read it. That's why you never stopped talking about it and ultimately suggested it in the forum.”
“I wish,” I said with a grin.
As always, I realized that I was subconsciously looking for Davian, who usually showed up here with Tony after their morning jog. However, I found myself pondering, as I did since last night.
“Do you think if we tried hard enough, we could find out who it is?”
“That would be an invasion of the author's privacy,” Lara remarked with a tense undertone.
She was so strangely quiet today, and I wondered if she had broken up with her secret boyfriend. In any case, she avoided my gaze the whole time.
“Lara's right. Still, I don't think that'll stop anyone here. I'm telling you, it won't take a month before they find the author.”
“We should find Atrianima before the press does. I can't imagine she'll like this kind of attention,” I remarked lost in thought.
Of course, I wanted to know who was behind the pen name. Especially now. I doubted it was a law student, but what if the person was actually playing games with us here on campus?
“What's that?”
Lara tugged at the navy-blue fur ear peeking out of my leather bag.
Sneaky Sneaky
Gold-Tiger
The lump in my throat made a telltale jump.
Instinctively, I wanted to push the stuffed animal back, but Lara was quicker and pulled the bunny completely out of the bag.
“Aww. He's so cute.”
“You still sleep with stuffed animals?” Thomas said with a smirk.
“Me too, Thomas,” Lara protested, stroking my bunny's head. “So if you have something to say, say it now.”
Thomas raised his hands defensively.
“I thought so.” Lara turned back to me. “Where did you get it?”
Overwhelmed, I glanced between her and the stuffed animal I cuddled with every night since Davian had given it to me.
Don’t hesitate.
“This is Ink. An author gave it to me.”
I bit my tongue.
Perhaps I should have hesitated and better come up with a lie.
Lara just stared at me as if she had to process my information.
“You know other authors?”
Thomas looked at me in surprise.
Great, Quill. Look where you've gotten yourself into now.
“Um... casually?”
He just nodded and leaned back.
“I wish my casual comic book friends would give me action figures just like that too.”
There was something in his gaze. Something I knew from high school.
He didn't believe me.
Caught out, I looked away, trying to focus on something in the distance.
Davian.
Dressed in one of his gray three-piece suits and a matte dark blue felt coat over it, he walked along one of the paths, engrossed in conversation with Anthony, staring at the reporters as if he weren't really mentally present yet.
“As long as that author isn't Atrianima, I'm not jealous.”
Frustrated, I looked back at Thomas.
“I only know authors who haven't published anything yet. If someone who has published a bestseller comes along, you guys would be the first to know.”
With a smirk on my lips, I turned to Lara, but the corners of my mouth dropped back down when she looked back at me from the same direction I had just been looking.
She Might Be Scared of You
Luke Richards
For a second, she just stared at me.
I was about to ask her if everything was okay when she pressed Ink into my hands and got up.
“I have something to do.”
She grabbed her bag frantically, rushed off without even saying goodbye to us, dodged reporters and groups of students, disappeared down one of the paths, and ultimately behind one of the buildings.
“Something's off with her...”
“You should talk to her. I don't want to get involved in girls' problems that I can't solve anyway.”
I nodded absentmindedly, searching for Davian, but he had already disappeared with my brother.
“And you should stay away from Lara's dad.”
The lump in my chest skipped a beat.
My head spun around.
“I don't know what you're talking...”
“You stare at him every time. We both know that he also writes and that he's the only author you know personally.”
Thomas was too good. And he made my guilty heart race.
“We're friends.”
Not even my voice sounded steady enough to sound convincing.
Thomas raised both eyebrows.
“Does Lara know you're friends?”
“She would misunderstand. Just like everyone else.”
“Maybe everyone else understands correctly and you're the only one fooling yourself.”
Frustrated and overwhelmed, I stared at him as he got to his feet and pulled his green and blue plaid jacket tighter around himself.
“I don't judge you for your taste in older men. But Lara's dad? Come on... You don't want to lose her as a friend.”
Unable to respond to him, I began digging my nails into the sides of my thumbs until the pleasant pain haunted me.
Thomas nodded at me. Then he disappeared too.
Had I given myself away so obviously? What else was my body language revealing? Did people just need to pay attention to me when I was around Davian, and they would notice, just like I had always known weeks and months in advance who would get together with whom back in high school?
That's the problem with my ink.
Even when I don't want it to, it flows.
– Blue