Revenge of the Geek by Piper Banks Read Free Book Online Page B

my self-control not to roll my eyes.
    “I think that’s everyone,”Candace said, putting down her notepad. “Let me know if you’d like to bounce any ideas off me. You can also talk to Mrs. Gordon. She’s agreed to be our faculty adviser again this year. Her phone number is written on the whiteboard. She said to feel free to call her at home if you need any help or advice.”
    Wait , I thought. Wait! What about me? I hadn’t been assigned a piece.
    I looked around, trying to see whether anyone else had been left out—or noticed that my name hadn’t been called—but the rest of the staff was now chatting excitedly, all eager to get to work on their articles. Apparently, I had been the only one left out. Self-doubt suddenly cratered inside of me. What if there had been some sort of a mistake when I got the letter welcoming me to The Ampersand staff?
    Feeling like my legs had turned into wood, I made my way up to the front of the room, where Candace stood talking to Peter Rossi. I waited while Peter went on and on about his plan to enroll in an SAT prep course—even though he’d taken the test the year before—in order to get the inside scoop on what promises were being made to students.
    Candace nodded a few times as he spoke, and when it became clear that he wasn’t planning on winding down anytime soon, she finally broke in. “The problem is that I need the article in two weeks, so there probably isn’t time for you to take the course. Instead, why don’t you start by interviewing students who signed up for it last year?”
    Peter looked let down—clearly he’d been relishing the idea of going undercover—but he finally agreed that considering the time limitation, this was probably the best course of action, and then he rejoined Coleen at their table. Candace turned to look at me.
    “Hi,”I said. “I, um, didn’t get an assignment.”
    “You didn’t?”Candace picked up her notepad and frowned down at it. “You’re Miranda Bloom, right?”
    “That’s right,”I said, feeling a combination of nerves over what was going to happen with my assignment and relief that at least Candace hadn’t immediately told me that there must have been a mistake, because I wasn’t on The Ampersand staff.
    “Oh, right, here you are,”Candace said, tapping the list with one finger. “I assigned you the piece on student athletes.”
    “Student athletes?”I repeated.
    “Sure. You can pick the direction you want to go in. It can be an interview, or, if you want to stay on theme, a look at the problems facing student athletes. Whichever you want.”
    My first reaction was confusion. What sort of problems did student athletes face? Limited hot water in the showers? Too many pretty cheerleaders distracting them? And Geek High didn’t even have student athletes. Not really. The only sports teams we had were golf and tennis, and neither was very good.
    “The main thing is, I need you to keep it short. I need only five hundred words, maximum. It’s basically going to be a filler item,”Candace continued.
    “Right,”I said, absorbing this newest blow. Tabitha Stone got the fiction feature. Marc and Padma were assigned the second-most-important feature article. I got five hundred words to be used as filler. It would probably be stuck somewhere in the back of the magazine, on the same page as an advertisement for car insurance.
    “Are you all set? You know what you’re doing?”Candace asked.
    I nodded, wondering whether I looked as disappointed as I felt.
    “Great,”Candace said, and she turned to talk to Padma, who had lined up behind me, eagerly waiting to discuss her new story assignment with the editor in chief.
     

    “You’re upset,”Charlie said.
    I nodded and stared gloomily down at my coffee mug. I’d called Charlie after the disastrous Ampersand meeting, and we’d arranged to meet at our favorite coffee shop, Grounded.
    “I got the worst assignment,”I said. “And meanwhile, everyone