The Big F by Maggie Ann Martin

Author:Maggie Ann Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

FOREBODING:

a strong inner notion of future misfortune.

The next few weeks passed by in a blurry frenzy. Between spending shifts at the bookstore, driving Noah to his movie set, and working twice a week at Green Transitions, I’d become a productivity tornado. My communication with the outside world came only by way of text message, but even I realized that I’d become almost unreachable in the past few weeks. The fact that my best friend and boyfriend hadn’t disowned me was some sort of miracle.

What used to be an intimidating stack of backlogged papers at Green Transitions had finally started to dwindle down. I met all the other interns, who were working either with policy makers or engineers in the office, and I was becoming more familiar with the environmental lingo that they all used without a second thought. And even though Ameera was a woman of few words, we’d managed to bond a little over our mutual love of coffee and Shonda Rhimes’s smash hit How to Get Away with Murder.

That morning I’d made the drive into Cleveland early and picked up two coffees at Ameera’s favorite place, The Morning Brew (we ordered the yin and yang of coffees—her coffee black, mine with so much cream it was white). I was already going through my e-mails for the morning when she stormed in.

“Have you seen this?” Ameera asked, holding out her phone to me.

I glanced down at the screen to see a blaring headline. “Denton Named Least Green City in the State.” I scrolled down a bit to see where other cities ranked and let out a little sigh.

“I hadn’t seen it,” I said, handing the phone back to her. “But that’s pretty bad.”

“An understatement,” she said. “We’re going to need to do some damage control. You’re from Denton. I would love it if you could speak at an upcoming city council meeting about what it means for you, as a lifelong resident of Denton, to be living in the least environmentally conscious city in Ohio. I think they’d be more responsive to you than they would be to me.”

“You want me to talk in front of a bunch of people? On purpose?” I asked.

“You’ll be a natural, Danielle. Plus, I bet you know someone on the council. That could sway some of their decision,” she said.

She did have a point. The city council included one of my old teachers and an overly friendly neighbor. Even with that small amount of clout, I wasn’t sure if I could form coherent sentences in front of a group of people. I barely passed speech class in high school because my words would stick in my throat every time I attempted to give a speech.

“You’re putting a lot of faith in a C-plus-average Speech and Language student,” I said.

She shook her head. “We’ve already established you’re more than your grades. The city council meeting is at the end of the month. Bring me a mock-up of your speech the next time you’re in.”

* * *

The remainder of the week I attempted to channel my inner Porter Kohl.

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