I stare at my screen in disbelief, rereading the words over and over again. Then it hits me. I’ve got in.
I got in!
Pure, brilliant triumph surges through me.
‘Holy shit,’ I say to Faye and Kira. We’re in the common room during the one free period we all have at the same time. ‘Look at this,’ I say, throwing my phone at them.
‘Go, Selena!’ says Kira, punching the air. ‘I knew you could do it, girl.’
‘I can’t believe it,’ I say.
‘I can,’ says Faye. ‘You’re so good at writing. Why wouldn’t they take you?’
‘Because I barely have any experience and wrote about how the Selena Says texts morphed into the Secret Sender! I thought they would have wanted something more.’
‘You must have written about it well,’ says Kira. ‘And I’m also proud you put your name to the Secret Sender.’
A slight gnawing sensation appears in my stomach. Somewhere, someone, or even more than one person, knows I’m the Secret Sender. And I don’t know who they are. What if they reveal it to everyone? Have I made the right choice?
I push it aside and focus on the good things. ‘I can’t believe they liked my work,’ I say, excitedly. ‘Someone read what I did and thought it was good.’
Faye grabs my shoulder. ‘That’s because you are good at this. You have to believe it.’
‘You know, for the first time, I do.’ I feel a bit uncertain. ‘Although I’m not sure about telling them I write forThe Common Room. What if it gets back to school somehow?’
‘What’s that aboutThe Common Room?’ says Tori, suddenly appearing. I swear, if anyone talks about something remotely related to her, she appears, like a vampire feeding off her own ego instead of blood.
‘Nothing,’ I say. ‘Just saying how we’re excited to read this week’s issue.’
‘Of course. There’s a great article on the new uniform rules they’re putting in. They’re trying to standardise our skirts, you know. Next it’ll be our socks!’
‘You’re doing theCroydon Postwork experience, right?’ says Kira, leaning forwards.
I shoot her a glare, mentally trying to communicate with her not to tell Tori.
‘Yes! Finally got confirmation of my placement today, but I knew it was going to be a sure thing. I’ve been emailing the guy in charge of placements for the whole summer, sending him updates on my writing.’ She actually tosses her hair over her shoulder. Unbelievable.
Kira nudges me, but I don’t say anything, I don’t want to tell Tori. Not yet.
‘Good for you, Tori. Now if I could only bug someone into getting me Rose Conrad tickets,’ I say, moving the conversation on.
Tori nods. ‘Speaking of which, did you see the latest Secret Sender post, on Rose Conrad?’
‘I think everyone’s read every Secret Sender post,’ says Faye.
Tori scowls. ‘That’s because people have short attention spans. She’s certainly got a knack for grabbing people’s attention. Between us, initially I thought the feature was a great idea, because loads of people were reading copies ofThe Common Room– but it turns out they’re only reading the Secret Sender!’
‘Maybe because people want to read about Rose Conrad and not about the latest cafeteria update or uniform rules,’ says Kira, rolling her eyes.
‘But her latest opinion on Rose Conrad was so aggressive,’ says Tori. ‘She’s definitely got a holier-than-thou attitude.’
‘What do you think, Selena?’ says Kira.
I shrug. ‘I agree with her.’
‘Well, you’re a huge Rose Conrad fan. Look at that pin,’ says Tori, rolling her eyes. ‘You’re not going to be on the side of public opinion on this one. Trust me, how people feel about her is starting to change.’
‘Any idea who it is yet?’ I ask, feeling beads of sweat on my forehead again. Tori and I are doing the work experience together. With the newspaper staff who will know I’m the Secret Sender.
