Page 46 of Something Rad
“Oh my God, yes. Sort of. Partially.” She throws her hands in the air, turning the opposite way and moving around the corner to go down the next aisle of shelves.
I turn the opposite corner, meeting her halfway in the aisle.
“Partially,how?” I ask.
She startles at my presence in front of her, clutching at her heart. When she catches her breath, her eyes narrow on me. “Why do you care, Robbie?” she asks. “Is this fun for you? Is it entertaining? Hearing about my mess of a life?”
“Give yourself some credit, Cooper. It could be much messier.”
“What do you–”
“Partially,how?” I ask again, not letting her derail the conversation.
She heaves a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Oh my God. Okay,fine. I work for the school yearbook and newspaper. I’m sure you haven’t noticed, right?”
I tilt my head at her, a blurry image forming in my mind.
A red head in the corner of the gym at our pep rallies…my basketball games…and sometimes even the school dances, a camera slung around her neck. She snaps away, taking photos while everyone else around her has fun. She sinks into the background…and I never look at her a second time. My brows pinch together, wondering now how I could have never looked a second time.
“I noticed,” I say.
Cooper’s shoulders stiffen at my answer. “Okay, well…” she stammers, clearly not having expected me to say yes. “I’ve worked on them every year of school and, this year, I was hoping…expecting…to be picked as the yearbook editor.”
“The editor?” I question, not sure what that really means.
“It’s basically the person in charge of the entire yearbook. Of what the final product will look like. The yearbook editor…they get to tell the story. The story of our senior year of high school. The story that our entire class will look back on for the rest of our lives,” she shakes her head, and I can see the awe that the idea alone puts her in.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never felt as intensely about anything as she feels about this one tiny thought, and I’m not sure how I feel about that.
“And that means a lot to you.” I don’t phrase it as a question. I don’t have to.
Cooper nods in response. “Yeah. And…I think–I know…” she trails off, shaking her head. “It’s the final piece I really need on my scholarship resume to stand out. It’s the closest leadership position of any sort that I can get at this small school to screenwriting.”
“So, are you going to be the yearbook editor?”
She huffs out another sigh. “It’s not that simple, unfortunately.”
“And why not?” I demand. “Who’s the yearbook teacher? That Hughes guy? Cooper, you need to walk into his office right now and–”
“You really think I haven’t tried that, Robbie?” she asks, exasperated. “Things are different this year.”
“How?”
Her head drops in defeat. “Principal Whileyman… He’s insisting that the yearbook editor is also…the student body president.”
Fucking Whileyman–
Wait.
I stand up straight, something suddenly clicking into place. “That’s why you were looking at the sign-up sheet that day.”
Cooper’s eyes go wide. “Wh..what?”
“You’re free to go, kids!”
Cooper and I both startle at Ms. Rose’s voice, stepping back from each other and reaching out to grip the bookshelf for support at the same time.
“Oh, there you both are,” she says, appearing around the corner. “It’s 5:09. You guys get out of here.”
