Page 82 of Home of the Brave

“There’s been a series of pranks, and we just found the biggest one yet.” I was practically shaking with how excited I was.

“A prank?”

“Yes, I don't know who’s behind it yet, but––”

“No.”

I froze. “What?”

“No, Victoria. We don’t care about pranks or other nonsense. You’re there to cover the hockey games. You just need to get your little interviews.”

“But it’s––”

“We’re a serious source. We don’t report on practical jokes.”

He was completely missing the point. This might not be a part of the official tournament, but it was the spirit of it. The essence of hockey players.

“You have four more due by the end of the day.” He must have looked up what my assignment was while we were talking.

“Right, I’ll get those sent in as soon as––”

“Good.”

He hung up.

I blinked at the screen in slight shock until Cambrie nudged me. “No go?”

I shook my head. “No.”

She huffed. “That’s ridiculous. This is the most exciting thing to happen all week.”

“The games did start––”

“Besides those,” she waved me off as she paced. “This is a thousand times more entertaining than any of our interviews.”

Well, that wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear from my creative partner.

“Victoria, we cannot let this go to waste.” She looked around the rink again. “Right now, we’re the only ones who know.”

“Besides, Taz.”

“He didn’t even take a picture. We have a very short window of time before more people show up.” She dropped into a seat. “I need your phone.”

“Why?”

“Just,” she made a grabbing motion, and I handed it over.

“What are you doing?”

“Editing.” She looked between her camera and phone. Silent minutes passed as she worked faster than I’d ever seen before. Finally, she dropped her phone and picked up mine. “Passcode.”

I typed it, and she went back to work.

“You need more followers,” she said as if I had a magic wand to wave and make that happen.

“I have ten thousand,” I defended, “and why are you on my socials?”

She ignored me, tapping away. Finally, she stopped and slowly looked up with a small smirk. “We’ll see how this goes.”