Shades of Limelight

10: Artist

There were a ton of disgusting, horrible stories out in the world. Some of them were bad situations outside of anyone's control, some were terrible accidents, some of them were due to people who couldn't control their feelings, and others were from people who had some kind of evil lurking in them. And as horrible as it sounded, all of those stories had a purpose when they were told. Knowledge was power, and if more people heard the story, the less likely it would happen again.

But now that Courtney specifically asked me not to tell her story about what happened at the sorority Christmas party, what was I supposed to do with the information I had collected and the warning I had already begun to concoct for everyone about the dangers of the real world? I knew life sucked by this point in my life, but there were still plenty of people who hadn't been kicked in the ass quite yet. They still had wide eyes and hope for humanity.

As I explained to Ryan what Courtney had said to me, he let his shoulders slump. "Oh. Well, I guess that's it then. We can't ask her to relive that."

I nodded. "Unfortunately, I do think we've hit a bit of a dead end at the moment. But I promised Isabel a good story that was going to get us clicks, and now that I don't have one anymore, can you guess which one she's going to want to use?"

"Layla, there's a huge difference in the trauma of being violated and almost dying versus getting embarrassed at a football game."

"I know that. I just—" I hesitated. "There's also a huge difference in the importance of the two situations. One means something. The other is just worthless entertainment."

He nodded. "That's also true, but sometimes people want to hear stories like yours. Worthless entertainment sells for a reason."

"Are you defending Isabel? Don't you remember how she cropped you out of the headline picture?"

He shook his head vigorously. "Of course not. I'm still very mad about that. But, like, mostly for you. My secondary reason is petty."

I didn't really care why he chose to be on my side as long as he picked the right one.

"So what do we do? We have to come up with some other way to get Courtney's story across without actually telling it or making it seem like she was involved with it in any way," I said.

"Or we just wait and find a new story. Look, Layla, I can tell that this story is important to you. But Courtney went out of her way to tell you that she doesn't want to relive it, and I don't think it's right for you to ask her to."

I knew that. I knew in my heart that I couldn't drag her along with me in the Badger Times just so I could warn everyone that it could happen to them. But why did I have to have the perfect story just ripped from my fingers like that? It had to sound selfish, but I had a job to do.

"Well, Ryan, we need to find a new story to distract me then. You're one for one on getting us into places where we stumble upon a really important story. So tell me, where are we going to get our next article?"

"I don't know if you knew this, but our school is actually in the top four football teams in the country, and they're going to have the chance to play in the national championship game—"

"Nope. I can't do that one, you know, with Corey and all."

He smiled. "I know. So what kind of trouble are you looking to get into today?"

It was the same up-to-something smile he gave me when we had our first conversation in the school news room.

When I met Ryan, he and I were in our second year of college at the University of Wisconsin, but it was his first year as a Badger. He had told me that he was from Arizona, and when I asked him why on earth he would ever want to leave that for the frigid, snowy winters of the northern Midwest, he just laughed and said that the heat in Arizona wasn't any better just because it was dry.