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  Simon had been trying over the past few days to call Zuko, but he had not answered his phone. He must have been furious that Simon had broken his promise to him; Simon had told him that he would not be directly mentioned in the story, that he would not be in trouble for breaking his nondisclosure agreement. That Simon would do whatever he could to protect Zuko. And now who knew what Cornelius and his twisted son would do to him? Simon had left countless messages trying to apologize, and had sent Zuko an email to explain everything, but he felt like he had lost a friend and betrayed his trust in the worst way possible.

  And then there was Ian. Simon knew that he couldn’t have been involved in stealing the story. He knew Ian too well to even suspect that. But he couldn’t help but be angry at him. Ian was the one who didn’t shut down Margeaux’s flirting, who encouraged her sense of entitlement, who built up her ego publically before. He was the one who should have had final oversight before sending the paper to the printers. Ultimately, he should have been held responsible.

  But Simon regretted the fact that he could not have told Ian ages ago how he felt about him. He knew that Ian was ready to open his heart to Simon on that night after Olivia’s party. Simon was too afraid to let himself fall into a messy situation with Ian, to allow the complications of his feelings for Ian to be realized. He wanted to control everything, and he ended up losing it all.

  Despite fighting as hard as he could to keep it together, he felt tears welling up in his eyes and dripping down his cheeks. He immediately tried to hide it from Olivia, but she saw through it. She walked up to him and hugged him. “Don’t cry my sweet love. I don’t know how yet, but I have a feeling everything’s going to be all right. When you’re ready, I’ll go with you to the paper and make sure that they sort this out. And Zee will come around. He’s not one to hold a grudge, especially since it’s not your fault.”

  “I feel like such an idiot, Liv. I feel like I made this huge mess. What’s going to happen to me now? The paper was my whole life, but I can’t go back there and see Margeaux and Ian again. And Ian...” Simon sobbed gently as Olivia hugged him.

  “We’re gonna figure this all out, okay. Listen, I can come and stay at the flat with you for a few more nights if you need me around. What do you say?”

  “No, I think I want to be alone for a while. I just want to figure it all out. Figure out where to go next. I might have messed up my entire career as a journalist if Cornelius comes for me. He knew the research for the story was all mine.”

  “Why don’t you talk to Ian? I’m sure he’s doing everything he can to make sure you get the credit you need. And he might be able to help you and Zuko if Cornelius tries to take revenge, or whatever.”

  “I can’t face him yet. I can’t even think about him without hurting. The worst part is, all I can think about is how much better I would feel if I could talk to him.”

  “Why don’t you just cool off for a while. You need to be studying for exams, anyway. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to just isolate yourself for a bit. I’ll be over with some ice cream later tonight and you can watch my soapies with me. We can laugh at other people for a bit. How does that sound.”

  “Thanks, how about another night? I’m just gonna be alone for a bit. You should celebrate being here with Justin. You’re moving forward with your life. That’s a good thing. I’m being a huge downer and a complete disaster crying on your couch over my drama.”

  He got up from the couch and wiped the tears from his face. Olivia frowned at him, “Just look after yourself, sailor. You’re still my main man. I need you, so don’t go disappearing for too long, okay.”

  “I won’t. You know I need my regular dose of Liv to keep me sane.” Simon finally managed a very teary smile, and hugged Olivia goodbye.

  ***

  The following few days went by quickly for Simon. He took Olivia’s advice and kept to himself, trying to make sense of where his life was. He had tried to play everything by the rules, and it had imploded catastrophically. He needed to rethink things.

  As he sat in his room one afternoon, deep in thought, he realized that it was already the day when the new issue of the Weekly would be released. Despite his reluctance to have anything to do with the paper anymore, he looked up the online version out of a strange curiosity.

  The headline on the front page shocked him. It was a letter entitled A Note from the Editor. Simon read the opening paragraphs:

  It is my unfortunate duty to inform our readers that the article from the front page of the Ridgemont Weekly of 14 April, ‘Assault Allegations against VR’s Son’, was the product of plagiarism by the attributed journalist Margeaux Chamberlain. The editorial staff would like to sincerely apologize to our readers and to the original investigative journalist for allowing this article to be printed. Despite our best efforts to ensure that the content of our final newspaper was the same as what we had sent to our printers, Ms. Chamberlain had managed to access our secure files and had sent a new version, which included her plagiarized article, for publication. We deeply regret that the research was not attributed to the investigative journalist responsible for securing it, and that such actions were allowed to potentially taint the reputation of the Ridgemont Weekly.

  We value the trust of our readers, and for this reason we have terminated Ms. Chamberlain from her position at the Weekly, effective immediately. While we stand by the content of the story, we strongly condemn the actions of Ms. Chamberlain. We will be following up on the story in the coming weeks with any further information.

  Simon scanned the rest of the article, and saw, in the final paragraph:

  Finally, I would be remiss if I did not credit the journalist responsible for the excellent work in exposing the abuse and corruption happening on campus which were discussed in the article, Mr. Simon Northbrook. Mr. Northbrook has been an invaluable part of the weekly for over a year, and I am extremely sorry that he has suffered through the personal and professional injustice of having his work stolen in this fashion. Mr. Northbrook’s full, vastly superior article has been published on our website.

  Simon beamed. His story was getting out there, the way he wanted to tell it. And Ian was standing up for him, even though it would embarrass the Weekly for him to do so. It was a hard knock on the reputation of the paper, but Ian was willing to take it in order to make things right with Simon. He needed to see Ian, soon.

  Chapter 24

  The next day, Simon was walking on campus heading towards his first exam. He had grown his beard a bit in the past few days, and even though the unkempt facial hair was itchy and uncomfortable, it also gave him a sense of freedom. He thought about Ian then, feeling contented that he had stood up for Simon in his editorial. Simon knew that he needed to make things right with Ian, as soon as possible. He felt a new sense of invigorated passion for the paper and for his job as a journalist. His version of the article had received the most hits in the history of the Weekly’s online version, and campus was abuzz with not only the scandal of Cornelius, but also with the great writer who had exposed the story, and who had been treated so unfairly. Simon knew that there was no way that Cornelius and his son could take any action against him or the paper without creating even more scandal, and the only way they could really respond was by giving empty apologies. But the fact that people were aware of what Cornelius had done was a good start at bringing about real change at Ridgemont University.

  As he was walking his message tone sounded, and he saw a text from Olivia. I miss you and I love you. I hope you’re out of your room and doing better. He smiled thinking of how loyal his friend was, and how well she was adjusting to living with her fiancé.

  As Simon walked towards his exam venue, the Humanities building, he heard a familiar voice shouting his name. He looked up to see Zuko, smiling and waving at him. Zuko was dressed in a bright pink shirt and seemed radiant. “You’re looking all handsome with your beard,” Zuko said as he approached Simon.

  “Thanks. I’m trying something
new.”

  “It’s edgy. I like it.”

  “What are you doing here? And what happened after the story came out last week? Why didn’t you respond to any of my calls?”

  “Sorry, Simon, I’ve just been overwhelmed, to be honest. In a good way. Everything’s been working out since the story broke. The university issued a formal apology to me, and they’ve suspended Dawid Cornelius and his cronies pending an investigation. I’ve been on a lot of interviews so far with other papers and a TV news team has picked up on it now as well. But that’s not all…” Zuko said, in a mock-game show host voice. “They’ve given me a full scholarship and invited me back. I’m busy figuring out how to transfer my credits from the college I’ve been at for the past few weeks, but they assured me that it won’t be a problem. Looks like I’ll be back here to make your life a little more colorful!”

  Simon was overjoyed, and hugged Zuko. “I can’t believe it! I thought for sure that you were furious with me that the story got out with your name in it. Didn’t they come after you for breaking the nondisclosure agreement?”

  “Nah, you know it would be a PR nightmare if it ever got out that they were trying to silence me about what had happened. They pretended like it never even happened. Even Prof. Cornelius himself sent me his best wishes. I guess he’s too powerful to face any real consequences, but I’ll be framing that letter from him because it means that, even in a small way, I won.”

  “I think we won in a big way. I think they’ll be changing policies around here for cases of harassment. You were brave to speak up, Zuko.” Simon hugged him again, not even feeling self-conscious that he was being so affectionate in public. He was just happy to see his friend, and happy to see that everything was working out for him.

  “Oh, here he is,” Zuko said suddenly, looking past Simon, and waved enthusiastically at the approaching figure. Simon turned around to see Jeremy, who came up to them and greeted Zuko with a kiss.

  “Simon! It’s good to see you again,” Jeremy said. He looked much better than the last time Simon had seen him in front of Zuko’s old residence. “I see the two of you have caught up already.”

  Zuko hung onto Jeremy’s arm. “Yes, but I didn’t let him know yet that we’re officially dating.”

  Simon chatted with Zuko and Jeremy, enjoying seeing his friend so happy, and also overjoyed that he was back at Ridgemont where he belonged. They made plans to see each other again for dinner, and Simon thought that after such a good start to his day, there was nothing that could bring him down.

  He was wrong. As he walked into the building he saw a short figure with a bright-red bush of hair and vibrant lipstick marching towards him: Margeaux Chamberlain. Her expression was frightening, and she looked ready - and able - to rip Simon’s head off. His eyes shot around him, trying to find an escape route. There was no telling what she would do.

  “Simon! Siiiimoooooon!” she screeched, loud enough for everyone around her to stop their conversations and look over. Simon felt the fear rising in his belly.

  “Margeaux, let’s just calm down now. There’s no need to do anything you’ll regret.”

  “The only thing I regret was not taking care of you sooner! You’ve cost me everything!” Margeaux was centimeters from Simon’s face, screaming as loudly as she could. “I wrote that story! Those were all my own words! How can you use a word like plagiarism? I might have had a look at your research, but I wrote it all myself.”

  Simon felt his confidence build slightly in the face of the verbal assault. “Margeaux, you broke into my private files, saw drafts of my story which I had been working on for months, looked through my interview notes… that’s stealing! Have you seen the comments online? Everyone agrees. Your plan backfired and you need to move on and not take it out on me.”

  Margeaux’s stared at Simon in shock. “What? What did you say to me? You couldn’t pull the trigger when it counted. You sat on that story for weeks. I was simply doing what you probably never would have done!”

  “You might have been right, before, but not anymore. I’m not the same scared guy who would have let you get away with something like this. I’m not going to be bullied by you. Margeaux.”

  Margeaux’s expression changed suddenly, and Simon’s fear returned. She was smiling! She let out a deep guffaw and seemed to really snap. She turned around and started shouting at the gathering crowd, “Do you all know that he’s in love with someone he’ll never get? He’s in love with Ian Peters! What a Simple Simon! In love with someone who won’t love him back.”

  “You’re right,” Simon said. “I do have feelings for him. But you’re wrong if you think he doesn’t feel the same.”

  Margeaux, sensing that her last card had been played, let her baser instincts take over and lunged at Simon, ready to attack. Simon ran for his life, and campus security, who had been called by one of the students in the crowd, was soon upon her as Simon made his escape. “I won’t stop until you pay for this, Simon Northbrook! You can’t humiliate me like this!”

  Simon giggled as he ran into his exam venue, relieved that he had escaped unscathed. He actually felt bad for Margeaux, whose manipulation backfired on her disastrously. But he was happy that she had been exposed for her lies.

  Chapter 25

  Simon went to the offices of the Weekly after his exam. He wanted to see Ian. He wanted to make sure that Ian knew how much it meant to him that Ian had put the Weekly’s reputation on the line to make things right with Simon, risking one of the most important stories they had written in years. When he arrived, the office was empty. He looked around the room and realized how much he missed being there. He knew then that he was meant to be a writer, and meant to tell the stories that needed to be told.

  But he thought of something that Ian had said to him after Simon was too afraid to do the interview with Harry Baleka. Ian had told him that he needed to let down his guard when he wrote, and that he needed to inject more of himself into his articles. Simon looked across the room at his computer on his desk, and something compelled him to sit down and write. He opened a new document on his word processor and Ian’s words echoed in his mind:

  Do something spontaneous... find your own voice... write something that shows me who Simon Northbrook really is…

  Simon began typing, and immediately felt a sense of release as the words flowed out of him. He allowed the article to write itself, not overthinking every word as he normally did. He started: My name is Simon Northbrook, and I am a gay student at Ridgemont University.

  He wrote about how he had been hiding who he was because he was afraid that he would not be accepted. He wrote about how he was afraid to go after the person he really cared for because he feared rejection, and he thought that being gay meant that they would both be seen differently. He wrote about how he tried so hard to control situations, always being an outsider, merely reporting on the things he saw around him instead of having his own experiences.

  Then he wrote about how he had lost so much because of his fear, and writing the article about abuse in Ridgemont residences gave him a newfound confidence. He could only begin to change by being honest and unafraid. And he was ready to do that.

  The piece felt authentic, like Simon had put himself on the page for the first time in his writing career. He went to the online portal of the Weekly without thinking, and uploaded the article under the opinion section.

  Simon expected to be terrified when he pressed the upload button, but the only feeling he felt was pride that he could do something that he would have once been so frightened of.

  Simon texted Ian as he walked to the exit: Are you free? I’m coming over to your place if you are. I hope we can finally have that talk.

  He looked back at the quiet office one more time, and exhaled.

  ***

  Simon stood at the door to Ian’s flat. He read the message that he had received from Ian again: I’m free. I’ll be waiting for you.

  He felt his heartbeat quicken, but didn’t fe
el afraid this time. Something was different inside of him. Writing the article that he had just written, being so honest about who he was, had awoken something in him that was dormant before. He knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” came the response in Ian’s masculine voice. Simon turned the handle of the door.

  He walked into the room and saw Ian sitting on the couch, with his laptop, and smiled up at Simon. “I’ve just been doing some reading, actually.”

  “Anything good?” Simon asked.

  Ian put down his laptop next to him, stood up and walked towards Simon. “Why yes, in fact. It’s a new article by my favorite writer.”

  Simon lifted his eyebrow slyly. “You’re favorite writer, you say?”

  Ian put his hand on Simon’s shoulder again, but this time he moved it slowly behind Simon’s neck and pulled his face gently closer to his own. “Why don’t I just show you how I feel about that article?”

  A jolt of excitement shot between them. Ian kissed Simon, wrapping him in his arms. Simon put his hands around Ian too, loving the feeling of their bodies pressing together, their lips finally interlocking. Simon’s insides came alive. He felt euphoric finally being able to show Ian how he felt. They had skipped all of the talk which invariably led them in circles around each other, and were finally connecting like Simon had always wanted. It was everything that Simon had hoped it would be.

  Finally, Ian pulled back and looked Simon in his eyes. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that. How long I’ve been holding myself back from doing that.”

  “Me too,” Simon said, and planted another soft kiss on Ian’s supple lips. “Sorry about this beard. I must be scratching your face up.”