Read Online Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe by Shelley Coriell - Free Book Online
Authors: Shelley Coriell
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was needed, and I needed someone to need me. So I fought back with Dos Hermanas’ salsa. I explained to the KDRS staff that last year nine customers got sick after eating salsa at Dos Hermanas. FDA investigators eventually discovered salmonella-tainted tomatoes distributed by a local commercial grower and ordered a massive tomato recall. Dos Hermanas was not at fault, but they got tons ofbad publicity. The weird thing? Two months after the salsa fiasco, sales at Dos Hermanas skyrocketed.
“In the end, people forgot about rotten salsa but remembered Dos Hermanas,” I’d told the staff. “Publicity, even bad publicity, can be a good thing. The fact that Brie Sonderby is spreading juicy lies about me can help boost our number of listeners. People know about me. They’re curious about me. They’ll tune in to hear me. Duncan’s right. You need me.”
Rotten tomatoes won out. Clementine was the lone “no” vote. The other KDRS staffers hadn’t been totally enthusiastic, but I think with the radio station scheduled to shut down, they were willing to try anything. Kind of a let’s-throw-her-against-the-wall-and-see-if-she-sticks attitude.
Mr. Martinez, the radio club adviser, who teaches English and pops in and out of the station throughout the week to make sure the KDRS clan isn’t doing anything illegal or offensive, also approved my proposal. But he wasn’t optimistic. “The school is financially strapped, and nonacademic programs are the first to go, especially programs that appeal to so few students,” Mr. Martinez said. “I’m afraid, Chloe, you’ve hitched your wagon to a dead horse.”
Only Duncan seemed to think the idea of a talk show featuring me could save the station. Once again, he was the lone body standing in my corner. Maybe he liked girls with good taste in shoes, or maybe he was simply a nice guy.
I looked around the newsroom and didn’t see him or his tool belt. He’d been absent again in econ this morning. I wassurprised at how often I checked that empty seat behind me and how cold class was without him and one of his nubby scarves.
“Anyone seen Duncan?” I asked.
Next to me Clementine stiffened. Taysom, who’d been scribbling on a notepad, looked up, as did Frick and Frack. Haley, who was watching The Wizard of Oz , hit the Pause button, stopping Dorothy and Toto in mid-skip on the yellow brick road. Their collective gaze settled on Clementine, who pressed her lips together. “Duncan won’t be in today.”
“Everything okay?” Frick asked.
Clementine nodded.
Taysom pulled out his earbuds. “Does he need a ride?”
The GM shook her head. “He said he has it covered.”
“What about homework?” Frick asked.
“I got it for him.” Clementine.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Is Duncan in some kind of trouble?”
Around me long gazes locked over my head. Bodies shifted. It all meant something to everyone but me. At last Clementine turned to me and aimed a pointed finger at my tiara. “Are you going to sit there all day and admire your idiotic crown, or are you going to get to work on saving the universe?”
I picked up my crown and watched the flickering light glint off the stones. “This, Clementine, is not an idiotic crown but a masterful marketing tool. Do you know how many people asked me about it?” No one in the newsroom looked at me. “Twenty-eight, and I told them all about my show this Friday. Not bad, huh?”
Okay, some of it had been bad, like the message someone left in frosty pink lipstick on my locker after lunch.
Chloe, Queen of the Losers!
I squeezed my hand tight and rubbed away those words until the slick writing was an oily smear of pink. Forget all that crap about sticks and stones. Words, especially those written in your best friend’s curly handwriting with her favorite shade of lipstick, hurt.
But Brie’s lies and taunts would soon be old news, like rotten tomatoes. And eventually the demons possessing my best friends and the rest
“In the end, people forgot about rotten salsa but remembered Dos Hermanas,” I’d told the staff. “Publicity, even bad publicity, can be a good thing. The fact that Brie Sonderby is spreading juicy lies about me can help boost our number of listeners. People know about me. They’re curious about me. They’ll tune in to hear me. Duncan’s right. You need me.”
Rotten tomatoes won out. Clementine was the lone “no” vote. The other KDRS staffers hadn’t been totally enthusiastic, but I think with the radio station scheduled to shut down, they were willing to try anything. Kind of a let’s-throw-her-against-the-wall-and-see-if-she-sticks attitude.
Mr. Martinez, the radio club adviser, who teaches English and pops in and out of the station throughout the week to make sure the KDRS clan isn’t doing anything illegal or offensive, also approved my proposal. But he wasn’t optimistic. “The school is financially strapped, and nonacademic programs are the first to go, especially programs that appeal to so few students,” Mr. Martinez said. “I’m afraid, Chloe, you’ve hitched your wagon to a dead horse.”
Only Duncan seemed to think the idea of a talk show featuring me could save the station. Once again, he was the lone body standing in my corner. Maybe he liked girls with good taste in shoes, or maybe he was simply a nice guy.
I looked around the newsroom and didn’t see him or his tool belt. He’d been absent again in econ this morning. I wassurprised at how often I checked that empty seat behind me and how cold class was without him and one of his nubby scarves.
“Anyone seen Duncan?” I asked.
Next to me Clementine stiffened. Taysom, who’d been scribbling on a notepad, looked up, as did Frick and Frack. Haley, who was watching The Wizard of Oz , hit the Pause button, stopping Dorothy and Toto in mid-skip on the yellow brick road. Their collective gaze settled on Clementine, who pressed her lips together. “Duncan won’t be in today.”
“Everything okay?” Frick asked.
Clementine nodded.
Taysom pulled out his earbuds. “Does he need a ride?”
The GM shook her head. “He said he has it covered.”
“What about homework?” Frick asked.
“I got it for him.” Clementine.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Is Duncan in some kind of trouble?”
Around me long gazes locked over my head. Bodies shifted. It all meant something to everyone but me. At last Clementine turned to me and aimed a pointed finger at my tiara. “Are you going to sit there all day and admire your idiotic crown, or are you going to get to work on saving the universe?”
I picked up my crown and watched the flickering light glint off the stones. “This, Clementine, is not an idiotic crown but a masterful marketing tool. Do you know how many people asked me about it?” No one in the newsroom looked at me. “Twenty-eight, and I told them all about my show this Friday. Not bad, huh?”
Okay, some of it had been bad, like the message someone left in frosty pink lipstick on my locker after lunch.
Chloe, Queen of the Losers!
I squeezed my hand tight and rubbed away those words until the slick writing was an oily smear of pink. Forget all that crap about sticks and stones. Words, especially those written in your best friend’s curly handwriting with her favorite shade of lipstick, hurt.
But Brie’s lies and taunts would soon be old news, like rotten tomatoes. And eventually the demons possessing my best friends and the rest
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