Page 38 of Make No Mistake

Eleven

I was sittingin the newspaper lab with a few others when Mr. Jowett burst in, announcing he had breaking news.

Everyone fell silent, waiting for him to continue.

“The suspect has been arrested!”

I’d officially lost my mind. Or maybe it was my humanity. Something was definitely wrong with me. While everyone else was cheering, I felt deflated. They’d already found him?

My project. I was back to having nothing.

I stared at my screen, pretending to be too preoccupied to join in the celebration. Obviously, I was happy the suspect had been arrested so no one else got hurt, but I really felt like I had an upper hand. Part of me thought I would be the one to solve it.

It definitely wouldn’t be the first time a journalist solved the crime before the authorities. How perfect would that be as my senior project? I would have offers from huge agencies.

My hope disappeared as fast as it had come. They’d caught him.

I felt someone standing next to me but didn’t bother looking up.

“I’m sorry, Mac. This means you’ll have to come up with something else, and soon. You’re running out of time. It isn’t like you to push something off like this.”

I finally met Mr. Jowett’s eyes. He wasn’t the enemy. He’d been my mentor for the past four years. I couldn’t stay mad at him for being reasonable and realistic.

I nodded. “I’ll submit a new proposal soon.”

“By the end of the week.”

His stern expression made it apparent that wasn’t a request. I agreed and let out a sigh when he walked away. I had two days to come up with a new project. Perfect.

I opened up a new document and started listing ideas. Carter’s suggestion about ocean pollution wasn’t terrible. I’d been working with organizations since I was twelve. I was passionate about it and knew I could come up with a passable project, but it didn’t pack the punch I’d been hoping for. It was safe.

There wasn’t a topic on campus that hadn’t been done before, so an exposé on drug use among the student athletes or the GMO infused food they serve in the dorm cafeterias wouldn’t be original.

I gave up and decided I would go with the safe option. I could put together the entire project in my sleep, but it was better than not having anything to turn in. I wasn’t quite ready to admit defeat, so I decided I’d submit it tomorrow.

When I got back to the apartment, Aubrey was on the floor in the living room stretching. I set my bag down and joined her, on the couch.

“What are you doing?” While it wasn’t that uncommon to see her stretching, dancing, or doing yoga in the living room, it was unusual for the middle of the day.

“I have another run through, and I knew if I went there I would get pulled into different things and wouldn’t have time to stretch.”

“Oh.” Sometimes I found it was easier to nod and smile rather than understand her world.

“It happened earlier this week, and I almost pulled something, so I can’t let it happen again.”

“Got it.”

That made more sense. The last thing she needed was to injure herself right now. Her senior performance and the show she was producing were only two weeks away. She’d been working on them since last summer, and even one tiny thing going wrong would devastate her.

“How was class?” She was contorted into another pretzel position. How she looked relaxed like that was beyond me.

“Fine. I stopped by the lab to work on some things and guess what I found out.”

She spread her legs wider than I’d ever been able to and dropped her head to the floor in front of her. “What?”

“They arrested their suspect for the attacks.”

Her head popped up. “Really? That’s fantastic!”