Thirty Happens by Elizabeth Butts Read Free Book Online Page B

friends.”
    “It might not kill you , but once your peers found out that you had a cushy gig that might actually result in a legitimate article with your name in the byline?” Jenkins let out a heavy sigh and shook his head.
    “What do you mean ‘legitimate article’?”
    “That’s the thing that I was telling you would motivate you. I’m thinking of having you write an article that may end up getting published by the end of the semester.”
    He looked sort of proud of himself.
    “So, why would that cause problems for me?”
    “You have not experienced the craziness that is true journalistic jealousy, Jay.”
    Hmm. Interesting.
    “Don’t worry, Jenks. I can handle myself. Besides, what’s so different between me and them?”
    “Easy. You’re going to be writing, they’ll be fetching coffee. You’ll be breaking news and they’ll be picking up dry cleaning. You’ll be in line for a legitimate staffer position and they’ll be padding their resume with this ‘experience’ and will move on to a local free paper.”
    Wow.
    “Uh, okay. I don’t know what to say about that. So I’ll just say, ‘see you tomorrow’, and head off to my social networking mixer thingy you didn’t tell me about until a few seconds ago.”
    I tipped an imaginary hat to him before walking away, shaking my head at the odd enigma that was Marv Jenkins.

chapter seven.
     
     
    “ W ait, he said what? ”
    According to his nametag, which we were all forced to wear for this thing, James was an intern in the marketing department at the Beacon.
    “Yeah, I guess I might get a chance to actually write something while I’m here. I’m super excited.”
    James scowled at me a bit.
    “Don’t know who you slept with to get the coveted internship, but good for you.”
    He gave me a slow up and down look, from the top of my head to my toes and back again. I shivered a bit, completely unaccustomed to such blatant physical scrutiny.
    He shook his head as if he couldn’t figure something out, then turned and slunk away from me as I stood in shock. Seriously? People were assuming that I’d slept my way into the internship? I mean, Jensen seemed like a nice enough guy, but, ew. It was getting more than a little annoying, and a hell of a lot of frustrating, when everyone in my life seemed to think I got good grades or great opportunities strictly by opening my legs.
    I was no saint, hardly, I mean, I lost my virginity in the backseat of a car to my high school boyfriend just before he went to college when I was stuck in school for another year. Call it a going away present. Because he totally went away after that. Not kidding. He got what he wanted, what he’d worked for two years to get, and walked the hell away.
    I emailed him, I had called him. I tried for about two months thinking maybe his class load was just so overwhelming that he wasn’t able to respond. I’m not saying I was completely naïve about the situation. I just was holding out hope. Until a breathless female picked up and told me to stop calling; that he’d moved on.
    I took the subtle hint that we were apparently not a couple anymore. I moved on. I perhaps moved on a little too quickly and got myself a senior year reputation. Whatever.
    But never had I even contemplated sleeping my way to success. I preferred earning my perfect grades that I spent many a night studying for.
    “Don’t let him get to you. He wanted the prize and missed it by a mile.” A deep voice broke in on the internal dialogue running through my head. I was surprised by the intrusion into my thoughts, but considering those thoughts were working overtime to convince me that I wasn’t a slut, it was a welcome intrusion.
    I turned around slowly, a questioning look on my face. I was met with kind eyes and a smile that only grew larger when it saw my confusion. I quickly glanced down where a name tag should be, but there was none. Odd.
    I reached out my right hand.
    “Thanks, I think. I’m