A FEW DAYS LATER I found myself walking into Brody’s house. Following him through the hall toward his father’s office. Now that I was back in business to go to Comicpalooza, I needed to finalize my writing project. I still wanted to enter the short story contest, after all, and I needed any help I could get.
“Hailey, this is my dad. Dad, this is Hailey.”
I stepped hesitantly into the room. Brody’s father rose from his seat, giving me a smile and reaching out to shake my hand, as if I were an actual adult. I looked around the room, a little in awe to see the tall bookcases filled with copies of his books. In addition to the American ones, it appeared there were translated copies from around the world. I tried to imagine my own office someday, with translated books. How cool would that be?
“Nice to meet you, Hailey. Brody has told me a lot about you.”
I felt my face heat at this. “Um, he’s told me a lot about you, too,” I blurted.
“Why don’t you have a seat? And Brody? Can you go get us some lemonade?”
“Sure.” Brody dashed out of the room. Once he was gone, his father turned to me.
“So,” he said. “I read your story. Both of them, actually.”
My heart beat wildly in my chest. “I am so sorry about that!” I cried. “The other one is just some silly thing I write with my friend. I didn’t mean to send it to you. I got the addresses mixed up and—”
“It was great.”
“Wait, what? You mean the other story.”
“That was a good story, too,” he said. “I could tell you spent a long time on it. Really trying to make it good.”
“Um, yes. I—”
“But the one you wrote with your friend? That one was great.”
I stared at him, uncomprehending. “I don’t understand. That’s just . . . fan fiction. It’s not anything important or even—”
He held up a hand. “It’s fun. It’s compulsively readable. I couldn’t put it down.”
I sank back in my chair, utterly confused at this point. “But . . .”
“Look, when I read your short story, I could tell that you wanted very badly for people to love it,” he said. “But when I read your Collin Prince story? I could tell how much you loved it. There was this energy, this enthusiasm. The words seemed to just jump off the page.” He shrugged. “Honestly, I think that’s the one you ought to submit to the contest.”
“Are you serious?” I couldn’t believe it. After all the agonizing I’d done over the serious story, he was suggesting I submit the fan fiction? Sarah was going to completely flip out! “Can I even do that?”
“You’d have to do a little work on it,” he admitted. “Change the names to protect the innocent and all that. But in the end, this story isn’t actually about Collin Prince, the YouTube star, is it? It’s about a fictional character you created that you then named Collin Prince.”
“I suppose that’s true,” I mused. After all, while Collin had definitely been my inspiration from the start, the character in the actual story had long ago taken on a life of his own. I doubted Collin himself would recognize it if I changed the name. “So you really think I should submit this story to Comicpalooza?”
“Well, I have a few ideas and notes if you’re open to suggestion,” Brody’s father said. “Things that could make the story stronger. But yes, between the two stories, this is the one you should submit. It’s extremely engaging. And your true voice really comes out in the dialogue. That’s what editors are looking for. What people want to read.”
I nodded slowly, allowing his words to sink in. He was right, I realized. I loved the Collin Prince—or whatever it was we would call the character now—story. Way more than the story I wrote for the contest. So why did I think other people wouldn’t like it too?
“Thank you,” I said, rising to my feet. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
He handed me a stack of computer printouts, which he had marked up in red pen. “I worked on both stories,” he told me. “I didn’t want to force your hand. At the end of the day, you’re the author, Hailey. It’s up to you to decide which you’d like to submit.”
I took them from him, sucking in a breath. “Thank you,” I said, turning to leave, my knees still feeling a little wobbly as I headed toward the door. “I really appreciate this. More than you know.”
“You’re a good writer, Hailey Smith,” Brody’s father called out to me as I left. “Keep it up and I’m sure I’ll be seeing your books on store shelves someday.”
I grinned. Now that would be a dream come true.