Against the Tide
Page 17
Suddenly the crowd erupted in cheers. Simon jumped and almost screeched out loud in fright. He immediately felt his palms become sweaty; the moment had arrived. Simon did not even look up to the stage but ran to the sound deck and checked that all of the microphones were responding; even though the sound technician was there, he had to check everything for himself, just to be doubly sure. He looked over at the other newspaper staff members and everyone was in position, doing what they were supposed to be doing. He assured himself that everything was going according to plan, and finally turned his gaze up to the stage.
Mr. Baleka was there, smiling and waving at the crowd. Even though he was approaching sixty-five-years-old and he was mostly bald, he was still very good-looking and he had a remarkable presence that was almost intimidating. Simon looked on in awe as Mr. Baleka walked towards the microphone at the center of the stage and began to make his speech. His voice boomed over the crowd, deep and heavy but with a quality of kindness that made him seem like a favorite uncle to everyone who met him. He spoke about what he had done over the course of his political career to strengthen the country’s economy and improve the ailing education system. He laid out a clear, strategic plan for how he could move his previous successes even further if he were elected president. But mostly, his talk brought across how much of a role the students could have if they worked to help others who were less fortunate - a fitting message for the mostly very privileged students at Ridgemont. Simon was amazed and inspired. He looked over at Ian and saw the same wonder and fire in his expression. Mr. Baleka was someone to watch, for sure, and Simon just tried to remind himself that he needed to be objective in the story he would eventually write about the event - helping to organize this rally was already toeing the line as an unbiased journalist.
Simon noticed Ian scuttling towards him through the crowd as soon as the speech had ended, seeming flustered and excited.
“Simon, I know this is short notice and that you weren’t originally assigned to do it, but I want you to do a follow-up interview with Mr. Baleka. I know how much you admire him, and the work you did on the story about the student housing problem last month was some of the best journalism we’ve had in a long time, so if you can go and ask him the right questions I think that you could write more than just one piece about the event. Get inside of the man for me, tell me who he really is.”
The excitement in Ian’s words made Simon’s thoughts run at a thousand miles a minute. He was flustered; everything had been planned so perfectly and now Ian was throwing this at him as well. He didn’t have any questions prepared. But it would be an incredible honor to interview Mr. Baleka, there was no doubt about that.
“I… I’m not sure Ian. I’d love to do it but I’m not prepared. This isn’t how I usually operate.”
Ian frowned and Simon was worried that he was a bit annoyed: “Listen, Simon, he’s about to leave any minute now and it would be a big missed opportunity for the paper. I’d do it myself but I thought that you could use… I just wanted to make sure that you are ready…”
Simon knew what Ian was talking about: Ian wanted to give him an opportunity to prove that he could take charge under pressure. He felt his stomach sink. He didn’t want to disappoint Ian, and he knew that it would help his chances to be elected editor. Ian’s large brown eyes seemed to pierce into Simon with an expression that seemed to be a mixture of hopefulness and pity.
Ian quickly changed his expression into a smile, “Never mind, Northbrook. If you don’t feel ready for it…”
Ian was cut off in the middle of his sentence by a sudden flash of red running between him and Simon. It was the wild red hair of Margeaux Chamberlain, the senior news reporter at the Weekly. Margeaux turned back to Ian quickly after darting past them, saying, “Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered!” She rushed over to Mr. Baleka and shook his hand. Margeaux was one of the most confident journalists on their team, but also had a flair for drama and her ambition was usually extremely annoying. Simon had watched her devour other journalists before who were trying to report on stories she wanted to cover. Her work was always top-notch, and other staffers had even suggested that she might be editor someday. She had even said as much to Simon before, obviously taunting him to try and intimidate him. She made his blood boil.
Ian looked over at Margaux and Mr. Baleka, and said, “I guess she beat you to it. Don’t worry about it. You did a great job today organizing this event and you’ll write a great story about student political culture.”
Simon couldn’t help but feel extremely hurt by those words. He could hear Ian’s disappointment through the compliments. But he knew that if he had gone for the interview he might have made a fool of himself. Better to be prepared, he reasoned with himself, than to mess up such an important interview. Margeaux would probably do it well, and he could always proofread her story first to make sure it was all up to scratch.
Margeaux finished her interview and shook Mr. Baleka’s hand, walking back over to Simon and Ian. She had a large smile on her face, making her look almost comical with her bright red lipstick and red hair, but her confidence and attractiveness counteracted the excessive makeup she wore. Her top button was always undone to show just enough cleavage.
Simon watched as Ian put his hand on Margeaux’s shoulder, feeling his insides contract in annoyance. “Great job, Margeaux! Great initiative. You’ll have to tell me all about the interview at the staff party tonight.”
Margeaux seemed star struck, her eyes pointed slightly above Ian’s head and her expression dreamy and vague: “That was incredible! He’s such an amazing man. And I got some great questions in. I think this story will be on the front page for sure!”
She giggled and stared at Simon for a bit longer than natural, with a slightly menacing look, and walked away. Ian walked off as well to attend to his duties, leaving Simon with his thoughts. He’d have to pretend to be happy for her at the staff party later that night. And Ian seemed to genuinely like her too, in a way that made Simon very uncomfortable. Maybe there was some way he could show Ian just how manipulative she was.