Junior Year Box Set полностью

“Frank,” I said without preamble, “get with Fritz to get all the footage we took, and the driver’s license copies I made. Then have your people get started on what preliminary magic they can. After that, call Ms. Dixon and Mr. Morris and let them know what’s going on. Ms. Dixon may want to chew me out for not canceling the interview in the first place, and for not calling her right away, and she may be right. But right now, I’m tired, and I’m not in shape to deal with her.

“One of the two women at the interview, the videographer, was the woman who gave Hollywood Central that edited clip. You remember, the one where she came onto our property last year and tried to yank my friend Rachel away from me. From what I saw, I would bet they plan to selectively edit the footage they took today to make me look as bad as possible. I won’t be at all surprised if they edit the video so my ‘yesses’ turn into ‘nos.’”

Frank agreed and had some news for me as well.

“I did some more extensive background checks on the reporter who claimed to be from Elle as soon as Fritz called me. It turns out she’s a freelance video-journalist who’d had Elle publish exactly one of her works in the past decade. She makes her living doing documentaries for the more militant feminist magazines and organizations.”

“We’re going to be changing our process here,” Frank continued. “Unless an interviewer is personally known to me, we’re not going to allow any sit-down interviews until a full background check has been done.”

I agreed. After I hung up with Frank, I took another shower, and I scrubbed hard. I felt unclean.

I stayed up thinking a bit longer than usual before sleep overtook me. There are people in the world who have evil intent. There are people in the world who relish dragging other people down. These were lessons I had to remember. They were lessons I also didn’t want to remember.

◊◊◊ Monday May 2

Mom was subdued when I entered the kitchen. I just walked up to her and held her. I didn’t say anything; nothing seemed right. She finally pulled back, still in my arms, and looked up at me.

“David, you can’t know how proud of you I am. You account for far more of my gray hairs than you should, and there are times you act like the goofy kid I still want you to be. But you’re growing up.

“Your dad and I talked a lot last night, and I understand why you handled those women the way you did. I hope it turns out okay. I even understand why you didn’t tell me in advance. Just please try not to put me in that position again, okay?”

All I could do was nod. My voice seemed to have gone somewhere else. I pulled Mom gently back into a hug.

“What I hate most is that you have to do something like that. When did it become okay for them to try to set you up like that?” Mom asked.

I shook my head. I only wished I knew.

In the back of my mind, I wondered why I even allowed the interview to go forward when I knew the one gal wasn’t on the up-and-up. In the future, I wouldn’t do that again.

◊◊◊

Last evening’s events left me moody most of the morning. It bothered me that people could be so deliberately uncaring of other people’s lives and that they had no problem at all sacrificing others to their agendas.

Dad told me Ms. Dixon had called him last night, and they’d talked about what happened. She was going to get my brain trust of her, Frank, Fritz, and Mr. Morris together and review the footage we had, and someone would talk to me tonight. Ms. Dixon told him she’d have advised me to cancel the interview then and there. But she also understood it had come up fast, and she appreciated my thinking on the fly. Ms. Dixon complimented me on the way I’d set it up so we’d have an accurate record of what had transpired.

She wasn’t the only one who wondered if it could’ve been handled differently. I kept replaying last night over and over again and wondered how it would have played out if I’d just done this, or if I’d done that. I’d almost canceled the interview myself, but the thought that they just would’ve figured out some other way to ambush me was the reason I hadn’t. Still, I absolutely hated that I’d put my mom through that.

Finally, I remembered what Pam had taught me, and what Zoe was teaching me. I’d done the best I could, and the interview was over, for better or worse. I had people, professionals I relied on, getting us as ready as they could for the likely next steps. There was nothing more I could do at the moment, so it was time to put it behind me and move on.

Easier said than done, but I kept close to my friends. They could see something was bothering me, but when I told them I couldn’t talk about it, they honored that. And then they tried to cheer me up, mainly by telling ‘stupid boy’ stories to each other. I never thought I’d appreciate people so much for making fun of me. Especially my best friends!

◊◊◊

Chapter 39 – Banned from Walmart Monday May 2