The Youngest Barksdale - Part 6

 “I just wanted to make sure your visit to Lawndale High has been everything you hoped it would be,” the Principal said.

 

“This place rocks!”

 

“Also, I was wondering... what's Garth Brooks really like?”

 

“Don't know him -- but check out Skeet's underwear spread in my next issue.” Val said. “We're talking hot. How do you want yours signed?”

 

“Oh, any old way. ‘To Angela Li. To my friend, Angela Li. To a good friend and a great educator, Angela Li.’”

 

“Cool,” Val responded. “Andrea, you’re taking notes, right?”

 

“Yes, Andrea, this is an educational opportunity for you.”

 

“Oh, I’m definitely learning!” Andrea said in a sarcastic tone.

 

Val’s phone then rang. “Excuse me.”

 

“Go ahead, you got Val. Oh, hey, Nonie, honey. What? What? He what? With Gwynnie? That slut! Are you sure? No, of course you had to tell me.”

 

Andrea didn’t care, although it seemed the Principal did. “Everything all right?”

 

“I am Val, as in Val. I am Val, as in Val. Fine... fine.”

 

She certainly didn’t seem it, but Andrea remained silent. She was close to her limit of tolerance. She was certainly going to write something that night. Something the Principal didn’t expect.

 

“Now, you'll note the school spirit evidenced by the blue and yellow outfits. Where does that school spirit come from, you say? In my years as an educator...”

 

 

Li was interrupted by the publisher saying her mantra again, louder than before.

 

“Can I get you some water?” she asked.

 

“Go ahead, I’m fine,” Val responded, although her voice was still shaking.

 

“In my years as an educator, I...” Angela began before Val said…

 

“I'll just be a sec. I need to make a phone call,” before dashing out of the office.

 

“It's going very well, wouldn't you say?” Angela asked, trying to salvage the situation.

 

“Definitely not!” Andrea grumbled. “She has been talking about herself and her magazine all day! She won’t listen to me. Nor did she to my family last night.”

 

“Well, that happens,” the principal dissembled. “She is a little high strung…”

 

 

“What do you mean she wants to have your baby?!” Val exclaimed.

 

“As I was saying… Andrea, the creative temperament can be a roller…” Angela said before being interrupted again.

 

“You don't know how it happened? How do you think it happened, you ungrateful teen heartthrob cheese ball? A pitcherful of fuzzy navels and sunset on your freaking deck in Malibu! The same way it happened with me!”

 

“You were saying?” Andrea asked.

 

“Yes, I, uh…”

 

“You used me to get into Val magazine! I made you, and I can unmake you! You are neither hot nor a hunk, you soon-to-be has-been!”

 

“That should be it,” Andrea said.

 

But Angela had had enough. “She should have had her phone off!”

 

 

Andrea entered the faculty office, where she saw that Val was close to a meltdown.

 

“I’m Val as in Val. I’m Val as in Val. I’m Val as in Val. I’m Val as in Val. I’m Val as…”

 

“Val?” she said.

 

Val jumped. “Drey?” she asked after a few seconds. “I’m fine,” she said with a tone of annoyance. But she started the mantra again, but quieter.

 

“What was the purpose of today?” Andrea asked her voice low.

 

“What do you mean?” Val asked. “It was for, for us to spend time together.”

 

“No!” Andrea said. “I have been hearing you talk about yourself not only all day, but also last night You ignored my mother. You ignored Jodie’s question about having a multi-ethnic point of view. You let Sandi Griffin walk over you, just because you perceive her to be popular! And now you take a personal call in the middle of a conversation with the Principal!”

 

“It could have been important! And it was!” Val objected, fighting back tears. “And who are you, Andrea Hecuba-Croft? You’re just an unpopular emo girl who’s writing happened to pique the interest of one of my staff.”

 

“Emo! I’m not emo! I’m Goth! But I’m more than that. Who are you, Val? Other than the editor of your eponymous magazine.”

 

“Yes! I am Val,” Val said weakly. But then she raised her voice. “AS IN VAL! People listen to me! Val’s readership numbers have tripled in the past year!”

 

“But what does Val talk about other than frivolous and ephemeral styles, which as far as I can tell are changed on a whim?”

“You just don’t UNDERSTAND.”

 

“I Understand a lot,” Andrea fired back. “You think you’re all that? I think you’re trying to live vicariously through your fans. Whatever happened in your past, you’re still trying to get past it. Either that, or you’re trying to drag others down with you.”

 

“You! You!” Val stuttered. “You know what! I’ll go back to New York and write something that will make you regret what you just said.”

 

“You think I care what Val magazine says?” Andrea asked rhetorically. “And a slander suit would be a waste of your time.” With that off her chest she stalked out of the room and let the Principal, who had heard everything, in.

 

 

“I will back everything Ms. Hecuba-Thorne said,” Li said whilst brandishing a microcassette, which she had just ejected from the recorder.

 

“You wouldn’t?” Val asked.

 

“I would. Now, I want a favorable impression of this school, or I will release it to the media. Do I make myself clear.”

 

“I’m Val as in Val. I’m Val as in Val. I’m Val as in Val. I’m Val as…”

 

“Do I make myself clear?” Angela said as she passed the publisher a glass of water.

 

Val breathed deeply and wiped some tears away. “Crystal!”

 

“Excellent.”

 

Val then smiled a humorless smile. “The School itself yes. But Andrea herself, not so much.”

 

“As long as she remains anonymous!”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Done! Now please leave school property immediately!”