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“Oh, we hear you, now.” Professor Wright lets out a laugh.
I am visibly shaking. I’ve never seen him laugh before. I’ve only been in his office three times since I was a freshman. Last time was to ask for a press pass to the game.
“Lenny, your articles have always been well written, but somewhat boring. Up until this year, I was never sure what would really motivate you. Whatever is motivating you to write like this,” He motions to my article sitting on his desk. “Keep it up. This plus those other two you wrote this year, they’re the best I’ve read.”
I’m taken aback by his compliment. Does this mean I’m not being kicked off the newsletter?
“You didn’t use Dustin’s name, and I can’t prove that it’s him. So, I can’t take away his senior editing position, just yet. However, I can and will have to mix up the assignments. You’ll get your shot at whatever sport or story you want to cover. We’ll have to give everyone a fair chance from here on out with me making the assignments.” Professor Wright leans forward. “I need you to report anyone that’s treating someone on our team unfairly. I don’t want to be last to hear about it in someone else’s article. I’m about to have the entire female student body protesting for equality. And I would fully support it.”
He’s tapping his finger on his desk at each point to make himself clear. At this he stops and laces his hands together.
“Being a gay man and former hockey player, I know everyone deserves their chance.” He shakes his head before continuing his own story. “I led a protest here just to allow men to perform as singles on the Ice Dance team back in my day. They wouldn’t let my boyfriend on it. Did you know it was strictly females back then? Men were partners only. It was bullshit.”
This is a whole new side of this man I never would’ve guessed. He always seemed so strict in his classroom, but now he’s at ease and appears laid back.
“That’s why I got into journalism. I wrote out a long article about equality and the injustice being done. It rallied the entire student body to support him. I fully support this article, Lenny. You did good.” He finishes with a wide grin.
Shit.
The article was mostly about the hockey game. It wasn’t meant to be about inequality or women's rights. I made one or two jabs at Dustin without naming him. That was it.
Am I happy Professor Wright planned on rotating assignments now? Of course!
That pig, Dustin, always took the good assignments for himself or his buddies. If we stumbled on a good story it would usually be taken away and given to himself. It was cruel and unfair, but I didn’t mean to start a revolution or a protest like the professor is talking about.
I don’t even know what to say. I awkwardly thanked him and ran out of the room.
After a long shower, I hole myself in my room to keep my mind off the article and focus on anything else.
Alex got home good. I ignored my mom’s call. She wanted to know more about his weekend here, obviously not trusting Alex’s own words. I can call her later.
My phone has been blowing up with messages from any acquaintance or friend I’ve made over the years here. They’re all asking about the article or just telling me what they think about it.
Throwing my phone in my desk drawer, I need a break. I can’t even go online to study. I keep getting messages from the school’s DM site with the same shit.
It’s getting dark out when Bridget knocks on my door, disrupting my reading. She opens it without waiting for an answer.
“Good. Glad to see you’re absolutely fine.” She crosses her arms over her chest leaning against my door jam.
“Shouldn’t you be in class? Or the library? What if I had a guy in here, barging in like that?” I’m not angry at her, but I am frustrated and irritated at how my day’s been going so far. She just happened to walk in at the wrong time.
“I’ve been calling you for hours! So yeah, I should be at the library instead of checking on you. I can barge in here whenever I like. It’s a best friend's rite of passage. Plus, Nick is away with the team, and if you were getting some I’d be able to hear your loud mouth down the hall.” She picks up my jacket I left by my door and throws it at me. “Get up! We’re going to get dinner away from campus.”
She walks down without closing my door, so I’d have no choice but to get up. I can hear Layla and her talking from downstairs.
“Let’s go! We’re celebrating.” Layla calls up as I poke my head out.
Although I’m not in much of a mood to celebrate, I am hungry. I hid out all day not eating, and my stomach is growling at the mere thought of food. I follow them to Layla’s car and hop in the back.
“Did you talk to Nick? Apparently, he was calling you all day too.” Bridget tells me as we drive off campus and into town.
“No. My phone has been blowing up like crazy. I haven’t looked at it since this morning.”
Nick is the least of my problems today. Why does he care so much anyway? He didn’t care to talk to me at all yesterday? It’s not like we’re friends or anything. He made that crystal clear.
“I don’t want to deal with him tonight,” I admit solemnly.
“Good! Let’s celebrate! Your article is the talk of school. This is a great thing. It needs to be celebrated.” Layla chimes in, driving passed the Ale House where we’d normally go and into a smaller bar I haven’t been to.
