Page 97 of Crew Princess
We’d put together a small plan after talking to Channing, then Heather, and I was incorporating phase one. The rest of the camera team were getting ready. Monica was due to walk through the door any second, but I wanted her on pause.
I said it again. “I want to be interviewed.”
“You?” Her eyebrows were up. “We were told you would not be a part of this documentary. In fact, your principal told us not to even entertain asking you or that gorgeous guy I’ve seen you snuggling up with.” She sounded wistful. “Though, I can tell you the camera would love him. It would beamazingexposure for him.”
“Him too.”
“Excuse me? What?”
“Him too. And Jordan. And Zellman. And I’m fairly certain I can get a few others to redo their interviews.”
Her head lowered. She clasped her laptop to her chest and peered at me. “Why would people have to redo their interviews?”
“Because of me.”
“What do you mean?”
“They weren’t as honest as they could’ve been, and that’s because of me.”
“I don’t get it. Why because of you?”
“DidKennethreally not tell you guys?”
“Tell us what?”
“That I’m in a crew.”
“You’re what?” She staggered back a step, almost dropping her laptop. “No. He didn’t say a word. Though…” She shook her head, sighing. “Part of that was because of us. We were asked to come in and do a somewhat more personal piece on the history of Roussou—how it is now versus where it came from.”
I was lost.
“We’re not the only team working in Roussou. There are two others. We’re just the ones assigned to interviewing current students.”
I gulped. A large boulder had wedged its way into my throat. It was painful as fuck. “Excuse me?”
“The other team isn’t totally based here. They’re interviewing older students, and one’s in prison now. Another team is doing sweeps around the towns. It’s a more in-depth piece about Fallen Crest and Roussou. Frisco as well. We wanted to get here in time for District Weekend, but we were unable to.”
“You…” I couldn’t talk. That boulder was expanding, squashing my entire throat. “Why? I mean, what’s so important about this area?”
“Well, I mean, there’s a few factors. One, Mason Kade is still a big story. He’s won two Super Bowls, and he’s only been playing professional football for two years. Mix that with who he’s married to, and that’s news. The first piece on Mason Kade just whetted their appetite, to be honest. The audience wants more about him, and if we weren’t here, others would be coming in. There’s a personal stake for the executive producers too. They have—I shouldn’t be telling you this—but they have their own motivation for making sure the piece about Fallen Crest and Roussou comes out well, that old dirt isn’t being stirred up. Believe it or not, that’s not our focus.”
“I thought you were here for the crews? Your project is titledCrewGangWorld.”
“Oh!” She started laughing. “That’s just for Kenneth’s sake. His agenda is pretty obvious, so we’re playing along. We’re asking the questions we want to, but still others for him, and who knows, maybe we will focus on the crews. It’s not been fully decided.”
I mulled this over. “You said a few factors. Those are two.”
“Yeah. The third is that Roussou has their own famous person, and no one here talks about him.”
“Who?”
“Brett Broudou.”
“The guy in prison?”
“No, the brother—who also knows Mason and Sam, and who realized he’s really fucking good at football in college. He has his own story, but no one is talking about him. That’s really weird.”
Oh.
