Honor Code by Burkhart Kiersi

Author:Burkhart, Kiersi [Burkhart, Kiersi]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: Relationships, Police, sex, Secret, Teenager, Teens, Rape Culture, Teen Issues, social media, Friendship, Fiction-Young Adult, Fiction, Carolrhoda Lab, Courage, Best Friends, Young Adult Fiction, Secrets, Journalism, Honor Code, Crime, High School Relationships, Private School, Kiersi Burkhart, Teenagers, High School, Rape
ISBN: 9781512467376
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Published: 2018-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

HARPER

Harper’s not surprised when she gets into the office and finds a note on her desk from her editor, Mark.

“Sit down, sit down,” he says in his usual too-loud way when she enters his office. He gestures four times at the open chair.

“Good morning to you, too,” says Harper, dropping into the chair.

“I read your pitch.”

“I figured—”

“Michael Chapman’s son, huh.” Mark doesn’t say it like a question, though it is. He spins halfway around so he’s facing his computer.

“Do you know that Mike Chapman is worth $4.5 billion?” Mark asks. Before Harper can answer, he says, “I do. Because I looked him up. Did you look him up?”

Mark’s a good editor: He catches her mistakes; he pushes her to push her sources; he backed her up when the university story got some blowback. But it’s like pressing tiny wood stakes under her fingernails when he starts to talk to her like she’s a small, unintelligent child.

“No,” says Harper. “I thought the article was about Scully, not Mike.”

“Of course it’s about Mike. If you write this, the way you’re framing it—‘Rich Private School Boys Take Whatever They Want, No Apologies’ is what this headline should read—it will definitely be about Mike. It’ll be about every rich daddy who sends his kid to Edwards Academy, and they’ll come out for our blood.”

“So, do you want me to drop it?” she asks, almost hoping he’ll say yes. She could do a hot think piece about her three days using Tinder in Brooklyn instead.

“You have other sources to confirm the girl’s story?” Mark says.

“Working on it.”

“If you can corroborate the big stuff,” he says, “then I think it could be a bombshell story. But.”

The word but stands between them like a brick wall.

“She has to press charges and try justice before we run this,” he says.

Duh. “I know,” Harper starts. “But she doesn’t—”

“I’m just as inclined as any editor to want to jump on a good story,” he says. “But this isn’t just rape; it’s statutory. The DA might press charges. The school will have something to say about this whole hazing allegation.” He waggles a finger at her. “We’ll be right at the center of the crossfire if we push out this story too soon, before the wheels of justice can start moving. You know, CYA.”

Yes, she knows. Cover Your Ass.

Harper simmers while she thinks of what to say next. It’s not that simple. Except Mark doesn’t leave her room even to speak. “Talk to this girl and get her to come forward—to the school or the DA. That trial is the story.”

Harper can see what he’s thinking already—the court theater, a school in uproar. A scandal that they can run with for weeks. It’s a thin shot considering how rarely the DA takes on rape cases, but covering a controversial court case is the kind of thing that wins Pulitzers.

“Court or not, it still revolves around Scully Chapman,” Harper says. “A story doesn’t exist without outing him as the rapist.”

“Is he eighteen?” Mark asks.

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