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“Sorry, Hannah. I didn’t see you there.”
I stare at her trying to figure out what she’s doing outside Mr Porter’s office on a Friday afternoon when school’s already over. I have a feeling I’m not going to like the answer, so I wrap my arms around my waist.
“What are you doing here, Tiana?”
She glances around, as if making sure no one will see her talking to me. “I was just talking to Mr Porter about the school magazine.”
I swallow the lump in my throat.This is supposed to be my safe space.“What about the magazine?”
Tiana stares at her shoes. “Art is kinda my thing.” Her voice is so quiet I can barely hear her. “I was talking to him about designing the front cover of the school magazine and helping out with the photography for articles.”
No, no, no, no, no. Has Sarah put her up to this?
“Are you serious?” I can’t stop my voice from squeaking.Please let this be a joke.
Mr Porter comes through the door.
“Hannah.” He smiles at me. “Has Tiana told you her news?”
This cannot be happening.
“Uh, yeah. She did.”
“Great. She’s a very talented artist with some amazing ideas for the cover. Of course, as editor you get the final say with the design, but I have every confidence that you two will be able to come up with something incredible together.”
“I… uh… what?”
He cannot be serious! I can’t work with her.
Mr Porter raises his eyebrows. “Is there a problem?” He looks back and forth between the two of us.
Apart from the fact that Tiana’s best friend has been making my life hell for the past six months?
“No,” I choke out.
Tiana shakes her head.
“Good. Well, as I said to Tiana, I look forward to meeting with you both next week and seeing what you’ve come up with for our first edition in eight weeks. Have a great weekend, girls.”
As he walks off down the hallway, I shove my folder into my bag.
“This isn’t happening,” I mutter under my breath, squeezing my eyes shut; I hope that when I open them Tiana will have disappeared, and this will all have been just a bad dream.
“Hannah?”
I groan, opening my eyes. “What’s the real reason you’re doing this?”
She tilts her head at me. “What do you mean?”
“Did Sarah put you up to this?”
Tiana blushes. “Sarah doesn’t know about this. She’d think it was lame, being on the school magazine.”
I open my mouth, then close it again. Rubbing my temples, I realise there’s no way out of this. We’re going to be stuck working together, so I have to stay alert. I have to make sure she doesn’t do anything to ruin all my hard work.
“This is really important to me,” I finally admit, hoping she won’t go back to Sarah with more leverage for her to use against me. All I need right now is Sarah finding a way to mess this up.
“I get that.” She offers me a small smile. When I don’t return it, she sighs. “Look, I need this, too. It’s the only opportunity I have to work on my photography skills outside of class. I need to build my portfolio. I know you and Sarah have issues, but there is no hidden agenda here. I promise.”
