The Troublemaker

“Nice to have you in here, Misty Canó,” Professor Eugene Madison calls out when I step into the large meeting room.

“Always a pleasure, Professor.” I shoot him a smile as I take a seat beside Soleil.

She beams me a smile when she looks over at me. We’ve been in most of the same classes since we started here and hit it off rather quickly. Soleil is an international student from France, which I think is the coolest thing ever. I couldn’t imagine leaving the country to study abroad, but now I can’t imagine Soleil going when this semester is over.

“We’re discussing what everyone is going to write about for their final project,” Professor Madison says, filling me in. “This is in conjunction with what you’re already writing for the school paper.”

“How much of the grade will rest on this project?” I ask.

“All of it.”

“All of it?” I blink, looking around at my seven peers, who look as nervous as I feel.

“It gets better,” Professor Madison says, with way too much excitement in his tone. “They will be entered in a contest, and the winner will be published in a sports journal.”

“What?” My jaw drops. I look at Soleil, who’s nodding enthusiastically. “That’s huge.”

“The seven of you have been assigned to a specific magazine, journal, or newspaper. You’ll find the name written inside the envelope set in front of you. We’ll get to those later.”

“Aw, come on,” Ricky says. “You know we’re dying to know.”

“Yes, but first, I think we need to discuss the elephant in the room.” Professor Madison shoots him a look. “We’ve all seen the FBI running around campus. They’re also all over the UNC campus—”

“Who cares?” one of the guys says, making a few people laugh.

“We should all care.” Professor Madison shoots them a look. “We may have a rivalry, but both of our schools are facing serious allegations. That’s why we’re partnering up with the UNC newspaper to highlight each other’s athletes, the ones not involved in these crimes, the ones who will take a fall for something they didn’t commit.”

“What does that mean?” Soleil asks beside me.

“It means we include them in our assignments,” Professor Madison says. “You may open your envelopes now. I want everyone to come up with a subject for their assignments by Friday.”

We all open our envelopes. Ricky Pope fist-bumps the air and shouts, “ESPN!” The rest of us glower at him as we turn our papers over because he already took the one we all wanted. My paper reads Cruz Media. It’s Milly and Roberto Cruz’s company. Is it a coincidence that I was chosen to intern at my parents’ friends’ and my ex-boyfriend’s company, or is this a setup? I don’t want my peers to know the connection, so after class, when everyone else goes back to their workspaces, since we all work for the newspaper, I decide to ask Professor Madison.

“Mildred Cruz requested you,” he says. “Their editor has an idea for you to work on. If you’d like to use it as your assignment for this course, you’re free to do so.”

“Okay. Maybe I will.” I nod slowly as I walk away from him and head to my computer.

I’m grateful for the opportunity. Milly Cruz has always been like an aunt to me. She doesn’t know about my summer fling with her son, so she has no reason to feel any type of way about me. I emailed her, letting her know that I received my assignment, and was told she had something in mind for me to work on. Then, I search some more about the drug scandal in my school and talk to a couple of my peers about it. Before I know it, it’s time for me to go to work at the coffee shop. I pack up my things and check my email one last time before logging off. When I see one from Milly, I click it quickly and read through it.

Misty,

I’m so happy you’ll be interning for us.

We have something in mind for you to work on. Your contact for this assignment will be Valerie, who works out of our Chapel Hill office. I looped her into this email so that you two can figure out when a good time to meet would be, and she can explain the assignment. I’m excited.

Big things ahead for you!

Xo,

Milly

Chapter Two

I’m still smiling when I step into the coffee shop. My coworker, Archer, is mid-conversation when he spots me and raises an eyebrow.

“Don’t quit on me now, Misty.”

I laugh. “Why would you think I’m here to quit?”

“Because you’re smiling. That means you either got enough money for your fancy little shoes, or you got the internship you’ve been waiting for.”

“If you must know, I did get the internship.” I smile wider as I walk behind the counter and clock in on the computer screen. I glance over at him as I finish up. “But I’m not quitting.”