Dirty Journalism

For the next few days, Dina continued to pester Max, much to his annoyance and Jackie’s amusement. At one point, Dina even flirted with Max as he was talking to Jeffrey. This greatly annoyed several people.

“God, I hate her,” Stella said as she, Lexi, and Jackie, did homework in their dorm one night. Lexi and Jackie knew exactly whom she was talking about.

“Jeffrey was sitting right there!” Lexi exclaimed. “Scooter told me that Jeffrey hasn’t really been speaking to anyone since first period. Not even to him or Max.”

“I don’t blame anybody for not speaking to Max,” Jackie said, causing the two other girls to snort with laughter.

“Make up your mind!” Lexi said. “One second you hate Max, the next you’re sitting at your desk talking and laughing with him. Don’t think we haven’t noticed.”

“What’re you talking about? I hate him,” Jackie said, although she wasn’t sure how true this statement was anymore. She and Max had only had two genuine arguments since the campers got back, and neither of them had involved screaming. It was just harder to hate Max so much after getting to know him. But she wouldn’t admit that to anyone… and besides, he was still a jackass. That would probably never change no matter how much she got to know him.

“I’ve got it!” Stella exclaimed suddenly. “Let’s throw a little party for Jeffrey, get his mind off things. Just him, Scooter, Max, and the three of us!”

“That is… if Jackie can handle being in a room with Max, since they’re still worst enemies and will probably end up throwing each other out the window,” Lexi said pointedly.

Jackie rolled her eyes. “That sounds like a great idea,” she said to Stella.

“Let’s do it tomorrow night. How about in the third floor lounge?” Stella asked. Jackie didn’t say anything. The third floor lounge was the location of the party that had involved the espresso vodka, the kissing, the waking-up-in-bed-with-Max thing…

“Awesome!” Lexi said, interrupting Jackie’s memories. “I’ll call Scooter and tell him right now.”

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The six of them gathered in the third floor lounge the following night. When Max walked in the lounge, he caught Jackie’s eye and said, “Did you girls get any booze for this party?”

“No,” Lexi said swiftly. “We don’t want to enforce drinking alcohol as a method of coping.”

Max smirked. “But I know Jackie would just love some!”

Stella and Lexi laughed out loud. Stella said, “Max, you know the only thing Jackie drinks is cranberry juice.”

“There’s this one flavor of vodka that I think could really change her mind,” Max said cheekily. “It’s espresso.”

“Speaking of espresso,” Jackie said, a grin lighting up her face, “have you and Dina had your coffee date yet?”

Max’s smile vanished, and the girls laughed as Scooter and Jeffrey entered the lounge. Lexi excitedly asked, “What do you guys want to do first? We have games and some movies.”

“Let’s save the movie for later,” Scooter suggested. “I want to play Twister!”

Everyone agreed, though Jeffrey simply shrugged in confirmation. Scooter laid out the mat and Stella sat with the arrow. “Okay,” she said from her spot on the couch. “Scooter goes first. Left foot yellow.”

The game continued for some time. Jeffrey was the first to get out, after his knee “accidentally” dropped, though everyone could tell he did it on purpose. The five others gave each other looks indicating that the game would go on to make everything seem more natural.

After Jeffrey was out, Lexi somehow managed to end up with her head between Scooter’s legs, and she ended up falling over in shock. Scooter, Jackie, and Max surprisingly managed to stay in their bizarre positions despite laughing for a good twenty minutes. Scooter later decided to impress Lexi by reaching for a faraway red dot despite there being one next to him, and he ended up in a heap on the floor.

Max and Jackie were the only players left. As Stella, Scooter, Jeffrey, and Lexi could easily have predicted, a small spat arose between the two.

“Max, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Jackie mumbled, moving her right foot to a green dot.

“I think ‘Mating With Max’ would be the most amazing column ever,” Max argued, obeying Stella’s command of left hand blue.

“Would you list all the females you’ve screwed in the past or just the ones you plan on screwing in the future?” Jackie asked, moving her hand to where she was on all fours with her back facing down.

“I would talk about only the potential options of the future,” Max replied with a nonchalant grin.

“Right hand blue,” Stella called out.

As Max debated how best to make the move, Jackie asked, “And who’s on this list of potential options?”

Max reached the blue dot and found himself face-to-face with Jackie. He hadn’t even realized that he had been making a move that ended him up right on top of her. They stared blankly at one another for a moment.

“Um…” Scooter coughed from his place on the couch.

Jackie snapped her gaze to four others, who were giving them confused looks. Max’s eyes, however, hadn’t moved, and Jackie did her best to avoid them. “Who’s on the list?” she repeated, a little bit breathlessly.

“Ms. Magaña,” Max replied, a completely serious expression on his face. Jackie looked at him a moment before bursting into laugher, and Max’s face broke into a grin as he laughed with her.

The four others looked at one another, confused. “Are we missing something?” Lexi asked.

“If you write about your undying love for Ms. Magaña, you can most definitely have a ‘Mating with Max’ column in the paper,” Jackie said to Max, ignoring Lexi’s question.

“I want nothing more than to run away with her and live in a Brazilian hut,” Max sighed dramatically. “And do lots of partner yoga together.”

Jackie scrunched up her nose. “There’s a bizarre mental image.”

“She’s not an uptight and stressed out freak, so I won’t have to crazily knead my hands into her back when we massage each other,” Max joked.

“But she’d be stupid enough to actually touch your back, wouldn’t she?” Jackie retorted.

“Yeah, we’re missing something,” Scooter said matter-of-factly.

It was then that Jackie and Max realized that they hadn’t moved, and had carried on their inside-joke-filled conversation with him practically on top of her. They looked down and blushed deeply.

“So,” Stella said, breaking the awkward silence. “Left hand blue.”

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In the next chapter of Dirty Journalism…

“How many commentaries have you ever written just because you knew the subject would piss me off?”
”Most of them.
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“You seem awfully concerned, Max.”
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“I’m just trying to be a good reporter. Maybe if my editor wasn’t such a self-righteous bitch, I’d be able to.”