Chapter 1

Jesse

Jesse chewed on the end of her pen and thought for a moment. With a smile and a soft laugh, she restarted the recording, pinching the bridge of her nose as she listened, trying to get the best word for word transcription that she could.

Jesse Clarke was an aspiring journalist, and like every aspiring journalist, she was desperately searching for a story that could propel her to the top tier of the writing community. She dreamed of one day coming across the perfect person, or happen upon the perfect string of events that she could really delve into and uncover a larger part of the whole. That way, she could devote herself to truly writing an incredible story and making a name for herself.

Until such a time as she found her groundbreaking story, though, Jesse had to make enough money to live from. So, she took up every job she could find. She had written articles for all manner of newspapers on a variety of topics from endangered animals to local bands, and even some interviews with minor celebrities. Jesse enjoyed her work, but it was certainly scarce. She was more than grateful when she was offered a job at a magazine called The Edge.

It had taken her over two years out of college to land the job, but she knew it had been well worth it. There had been many a time that she had wanted to call it quits and take up a job in retail. There were times when she had nearly defaulted on her rent and wound up homeless. Instead of quitting, though, she decided to buckle down and keep her nose to the grindstone. Eventually, her accomplishments had all added up, and her writing had finally caught the attention of one of the editors of the company for which she now worked.

Jesse had immediately hit the ground running in the company. She was shocked to find that the other writers at the company valued her opinions, and in turn she valued theirs. Jesse had been working with them for about six months and had finally secured a stable spot writing in the entertainment section. She had a knack for putting interesting spins on the lives of celebrities without spreading outright lies and gossip. She was oriented more around snide humor and definitely sprinkled her own opinion all over her work.

Just now, she was working on a short article about yet another child star who had grown up and gotten into trouble. Allegedly, this young girl had been caught cheating on her boyfriend, who was yet another child star. What had caught Jesse’s attention, though, was the fact that the girl had been drunk at the time, which made the situation even more interesting, if only because she made a very entertaining drunk dial.

Jesse was in the process of transcribing and then dissecting the recording phrase by phrase, going through all the various reasons it was so hilarious. She could easily identify the things herself, but it was even more fun to write them out for other people to enjoy.

Once Jesse was finished with the transcription of the recording, she began to flesh out her comments. This was a rough draft of course, and she didn’t have much time to finish much else for the day. Her days were often filled with meetings on the various other areas of the magazine. Today, there was a meeting between all the various sections of the business department with their boss, a woman named Elaine Beck.

Elaine was eccentric and formidable. She put off an air of happiness and flexibility, but Jesse knew very well that she was not a woman to trifle with. Elaine was exceedingly demanding, and her expectations made her cheery demeanor almost threatening. Jesse couldn’t help experiencing a dark feeling of apprehension every time she had to be in the same room as the older woman.

As Jesse wrapped up her draft, she gathered up her things and moved toward the large meeting room where they held their meetings. It was complete with a large table and a flat screen TV, which allowed them to play over hot topics of the week so that they could all discuss what each of them would cover for that particular edition of the magazine.

Jesse was one of the first to arrive, and she settled down into her usual chair near the middle of the large table. As she got her notebook and computer arranged on the desk in front of her, people began to filter in around her. Jesse kept her eyes on the door, and she smiled as her best friend and coworker, Mark came in.

Jesse had met Mark upon moving into the city, as they lived next door to one another. As soon as Jesse had moved into the apartment, Mark had been there to greet her, along with his boyfriend, Tony. Jesse had immediately taken a liking to the two men, and they easily adopted her as their friend. Jesse knew that she never would have made it this far in her career if it hadn’t been for their constant friendship and support.

It was partly due to Mark that Jesse was able to land her job at The Edge. Mark had read over some of her work and praised it. He insisted that she let him show it to one of the editors, a close friend of his. At first, Jesse had been reluctant, but eventually relented and let him show the work to his friend. After all, it certainly couldn’t hurt.

The next thing Jesse knew, Mark was excitedly telling her that the editor had loved her work and was interested in setting up an interview with her. Jesse had been immediately nervous but also excited. She had gone into the interview with confidence and her sense of humor as her guide, and the editor, a man not much older than Jesse and Mark, insisted that she come to work for them that Monday morning.

And so, largely thanks to Mark, Jesse was now a writer for one of the most popular magazines on the West Coast.

Jesse scooted her chair over to allow Mark to settle into his seat beside her at the table. He sighed heavily as he put his satchel down on the large table, and Jesse frowned slightly as she noticed the bags under his eyes.

“Rough night?” Jesse asked him gently as he sat down beside her. Mark heaved a breath and gave a slight sniff.

“Just another Tuesday evening,” he said, his voice sullen.

“Did you have another fight with Tony?” Jesse gently rubbed her friend’s shoulder, and his face broke a little as he nodded.

Jesse shook her head. Mark and Tony had been together for as long as she had known them. Most of the time, the two were buoyant and full of energy, always positive and bubbling with happiness. It seemed, though, that they always balanced out their normal happy exterior with horrible fights that sometimes lasted for days. It always took an immense toll on both of them. Jesse was more often exposed to Mark’s sadness during fights, but she knew that Tony had a hard time when they fought as well. Jesse knew that it would pass as it always did, but in this particular setting, she focused on consoling Mark for the time being.

“Do you want to come over tonight and watch a movie?” Jesse asked, rubbing his back comfortingly.

“Yeah,” Mark said with a nod.

Jesse gave Mark a friendly kiss on the cheek and turned in her chair to face the front of the table. She spotted Elaine entering the room and heard a hush fall over the assembly of coworkers.

“Great to see you all here,” Elaine said in her usual cheery tone. “Let’s get a few items out of the way.”

And so the meeting proceeded. All the writers jotted notes down and typed a few things into their computers as Elaine spoke about the various goings on involving various celebrity figures. Jesse took note of incidents that sounded like she could make a funny take on and listened as Elaine addressed a few other general areas.

Once the more common issues were covered, Elaine moved on to the more in-depth bits of information. These were the things that she was able to uncover through her connections with other members of the press, and her celebrity status herself. She was close with quite a few famous actors, and she was able to dig up quiet a lot of interesting items that gave their magazine a bit of an edge over some of the others. Jesse listened intently as Elaine shared some of the things she picked up on.

Jesse hoped that one day she would be as keen on finding information as Elaine. As intimidating as she was, Jesse really looked up to her boss. She was a smart, independent and successful woman, and Jesse would do just about anything to get in her position.

“That should be about it for the day,” Elaine finally wrapped up the meeting. “As always, my door is open if, and only if, you find something worth my time.”

With those closing words, Jesse stood up from her chair at the table and began to gather her things. She turned to Mark to say something to him but was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder from behind. She turned and blinked in surprise to see Elaine facing her, a bright smile displayed on her face.

“Jesse,” she said cheerfully in greeting. “I have something to share with you. Do you have a minute?”

“Of course,” Jesse said, knowing very well that the question was more like a command.

“Great!” Elaine smiled ever brighter. “Follow me into my office.”