“NICKIE!” Megan roared before the door into Nicole’s office burst open, slamming into the wall and rattling. Nicole jolted, scrambling out of her sleeping bag, snapped wide awake now. She slapped a hand onto the top of her desk and pulled herself up enough to peer over it—

“Nickie!” Megan snapped, hands gripping the same desk as she leaned on it and glared down at the other author.

“AH!” Nicole yelped, flinching back and falling into the chair. The seat dropped her, unwilling to be involved, and rolled back in a rush resulting in Nicole’s back hitting the rough carpet floor.

“You ruined everything! Do you realize that?! ‘Cause I am going to make sure you do now! You ruined everything!”

“What are you talking about?!” Nicole cried out, pushing herself up, her hands pressing into the floor the only thing keeping her from falling back again.

“You know what I’m talking about! Your last chapter!”

Oh. She read that part. Nicole laughed, shoulders tensing close. “What chapter?” her voice squeaked under the gaze of the author looming above.

“Seriously? YOU KNOW WHAT CHAPTER!”

“Well, I know which chapters it could be. There’s twelve possibilities—”

A screaming wail went through the halls, nearing and nearing until Kaitlin attempted to kick in the door. The door that Megan had long ago broken open. Kaitlin yelped and stumbled as her foot hit the air and stomped onto the floor, sending her forward for a moment. She froze, arms out to keep steady, one hand with white knuckles as it held a file.

“You good?” Nicole asked as she stood up, peeking around Megan.

“NO!” Kaitlin snarled, eyes narrowing. “You ruined my day, my week, and the entire book!”

“Not you too,” Nicole groaned.

“I was just telling her the same thing,” Megan explained, slipping her hands away from the desk and crossing her arms. “She’s playing dumb now.”
“Nu-uh! I’m not playing dumb, I am dumb in this situation. You really could be upset about any chapter,” Nicole shrugged. “So—”

“THE LAST CHAPTER! THE ONE YOU JUST GAVE US!” Megan cut off the act before it even had a chance to continue its show. Nicole cringed and stepped back, putting her hands up.

“Okay, okay, okay! But I didn’t ruin anything, okay?! That ending was needed!”

“No it wasn’t! You could’ve ended it with the perfectly happy scene I’ve been waiting the entire novel for and saved the ruining for book two!” Kaitlin sobbed, hugging close the bulky file she’d brought in with her.

“It still happened! There was still a happy moment! Cryus didn’t ruin anything! The scene was almost over anyways!”
“YOU SHOULD’VE LET IT BE!” Megan insisted, jabbing a nail into the desk with each word.

“Yeah!” Kaitlin agreed.

Nicole glanced between the two, she could already sense the pitchforks and torches being prepared. “Well I needed to end the book on a cliff hanger—”

“No you didn’t!” Megan cut off the idea.

“How do you know?!”

“Because you didn’t need a cliff hanger.”

“That’s not an explanation. Or a reason.”

“There isn’t one, because you didn’t need to add it!”

“I did!”

“No.”

“YES!”

“NO!” Kaitlin and Megan retorted at the same time.

Nicole dropped her arms and frowned, huffing out her nose. “Look, it didn’t ruin anything. The good things still happened, there was still a happy scene!”

“I was going to cry happy tears, but you made me cry angry tears instead!” Kaitlin accused.

“Okay, well— Gil read it too and he didn’t complain!”

“Mhph,” Megan huffed before walking to the wall and pressing the intercom button. “Gilbert Ryan Kissling,” she deadpanned into the speaker. “Nickie is saying she didn’t ruin anything.” Megan let go of the button and waited, eyes fixed on Nicole who sighed and dragged her chair back over to her desk.

Static rumbled through the speaker. “In her last chapter?” Gil’s voice responded, muffled by the technology.

Megan nodded though her brother couldn’t see it. “Yes.”

Nicole rolled her eyes as she plopped back into the chair.

“Well, Cryus did ruin the start of an actually happy scene,” Gil replied.
“THE SCENE WAS ALMOST OVER!” Nicole snapped— only to be met by an uproar of voices from the other three denying her words.

“It could’ve been over there!” Kaitlin cried.

“You ruined everything!” Megan roared.

“It was an interruption, it took away from the improvement," Gil pointed out from the intercom.

Nicole pressed herself against the back of her chair and went silent, blinking at the group. “Okay,” she breathed slowly, dragging open a drawer and digging through it semi-blindly. She slipped out two stacks of stapled together papers and set them onto the desk. “Would short stories help?” she asked with a smile, pushing the papers towards the others.

Nicole Soto "Do it for the Fame!" A Contemporary/Semi-Dystopian novel touching on revenge and Corruption. Following Emeric through his fight with the Game Show Empire of Fame! Written Californian Author, Nicole Soto, we all are sad because it is... NOT YET RELEASED! Click ​HERE​ to read more about Nicole!

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