Marlene nervously watched her unsuspecting target, no, the soon-to-be savior of her grades from a distance. Said girl was humming a tune as she slid her drumsticks into her bag. Like a dangerous predator lurking in the dark, waiting for a perfect moment to attack the innocent, unsuspecting prey. Marlene quickly shook that comparison out of her mind.

Taking a deep breath, Marlene approached the girl with pink highlights, hoping that she was looking as casual as she could be.

It was October fifth, and Professor Cooper, an easygoing woman who thinks strongly against overwhelming loads of homework had assigned them a year-long project to complete. No, it wasn't one of those paper and book projects, for they were, in her words, too dry and lifeless. The goal of this course was public appearances and interactions, so actually doing things like interviews or helping out others was better than writing an essay on the success of, say, a book series and the publicists behind it.

This project calls for the students to start, or partake in the making of, their own YouTube channel. Their goal was one thousand subscribers by the end of the year, a sign of good public broadcasting, interesting events, and most importantly- the media(what would they want to see? What are the ulterior motives of the media? How to handle the media properly? How to keep a good image in front of the media..).

Media, the most important aspect for a publicist.

Marlene knew ever since she was young that people lie. It's the kind of lie that differs. Her mother liked to divide it into colors as she explained. The black lies were the bad kind, the kind that hurts people. White lies were the kind of lies that helped others, made them feel better rather than the cold, hard truth.

And then came the grey lies. Those in-between lies that wasn't harmful nor benefit anyone in anyway. Those were the kind of lies publicists told. They say it's called 'spinning the story to fit the reader's interest' or 'stretching the truth', but that wasn't different from lying. The public wouldn't be sad or bothered in anyway if you told them the truth. The lies doesn't make them anymore particularly happy or make them want to rejoice. It just appeals more to the public and make the subject looks good.

But all of that doesn't matter, because the project was worth 50% of their grades and was what's most important to Marlene right now.

"Hey, Kat!" She called out, trying to sound upbeat and not like the nervous wreck she was inside.

The girl looked up at the sound of her name. "Marlene, what's up?"

Marlene was tempted to reply with 'the sky' but decided that wasn't exactly appropriate. No point beating around the bush, previous observations has told her enough about Kat, who was if anything straight to the point. "Nothing much. I...need your help." The words came out faster than intended due to nerves. Marlene waited patiently as Kat slowly processed the words.

"With what?" She sounded intrigued, which Marley took as a good sign.

No backing out now. Marlene explained her project to Kat who listened and tapped her feet the whole time, keeping a steady beat. Must be a drummer thing.

After she was done, Marlene waited for her inevitable rejection. Giving Kat plenty of time to think, she took in her surroundings and did her most favorite activity- people watching.

Finally Kat spoke up. "Actually I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this channel thing. Like take a temporary break or something, with music contest coming up...I'm going to be quite busy. No time to film, let alone edit and post video."

Marlene's eyes widened. Perfect, she thought. "It's okay, I can edit and post for you. I have took a video producing class in high school before, it'll be a piece of cake. We can figure out the details if you agree to this...partnership?" She trailed off, unable to find a better word.

"Really? Awesome!" Kat pumped a fist into the air. Marlene's smiled widened drastically, stretching ear to ear.

"Great! So are you free this afternoon? Let's meet in the library. Oh, this is going to be so much fun!"

"Wait, what do you mean I'm in?" Lily asked for the third time, still unable to process such a simple message. Reyna had cornered her after class and sprung the shocking news on her.

"It means that you're in STUGO." Reyna shrugged as if it's not a big deal.

"But...but I messed it up! I never got the interview!" Lily exclaimed, stammering due to surprise and disbelief.

"Welllll, actually you did." Reyna looked slightly sheepish, dragging out the first word. "You see, I'm a STUGO member and it was my job to interview you, which I did, that day in front of the fountain."

"You weren't sitting with the rest of the members." Lily recalled vaguely seeing Reyna in a seat behind her.

"I like to see things from the student body's point of view. Hear what they think without their pretentious mask. People change their attitude when trying to impress a superior. In reality, it's just fake." As she said this, Reyna glared at some passing students as if they were were they cause of all evil. Lily could clearly hear her dislike of those suck ups. She found herself looking up to the older girl.

"I'll enjoy working with you. You'll get to meet other new members in the meeting on Monday. We've gone over your schedule, the weekly meetings won't conflict. I'll see you then." With a casual wave, Reyna walked away.

Lily admire her confidence and carefreeness in her steps. She stood there dumbfounded until the older girl disappeared out of sight before squealing and doing a quick victory dance, earning a couple weirded out looks. But she didn't care. She had achieved the impossible (at least that's what she thought) and was one step closer to her dreams.

Reyna's POV

I walked for about twenty feet before hearing a loud squeal. Somebody seemed happy.

When we had voted on the new members, I choose Lily because of her strong will and willingness to help. She wasn't doing it for power or glory, she actually wanted to help and do what's right. That 'pureness' of the heart wasn't common these days.

I wasn't sure why Lucius voted for her, but from what I heard, Black had once dump a bowl of spaghetti on his head during a business meeting between their families once. Well I guess as the saying goes 'the enemy of your enemy is your friend'.

Boys and their infallible logic.

Kat's POV

I sat in one of those cosy armchairs in the library as Marlene typed furiously into the computer next to me.

"So have you posted anything yet?" Marley asked as she opened a bunch of tabs.

"Nein." I replied, unintentionally slipping into German. Marlene shot me a look. "Nope! But I have two videos. Partially edited." I added the last sentence as an afterthought.

"So a clean slate then." There was a hint of excitement in Marlene's voice as she typed a whole bunch of words into what look like a google docs. How is writing an essay going to help me?

"Please get it from the printer for me."

I complied and made my way over to the printer where another girl was organizing her paper. After she was done, I picked up the paper and walked back, skimming it as I walked.

List of things needed to do

Ways of more Publicity

Ideas for videos

Equipment needed

First video requirements

It sounded very complicated. I thought you just film something and post. I stopped reading before I could get a headache. Or crash into a bookshelf.

"This looks complicated." I stated what was on my mind as I handed the paper to her.

"Supposed to be that way. Let's get started." She handed me the equipment list and told me to check off the things I have.

Hard drive. Check.

Camera. Check.

Tripod. Check.

Labtop. Check.

Gum. Che-wait. What was that doing here?

I looked up at Marlene who was staring at me expectantly. And then she bursted out laughing. "Sorry, I just needed to see if you're paying attention." She said between laughs. I went back to my list.

Lighting. The lights in my room were pretty good.

Sound. Nope. "You don't have to worry about that until you hit it big." Marlene reassured me as she made more notes to her notes.

Background.

"Does my dorm work?" I asked her hesitantly, not able to think of a better answer.

"Sure! It helps with your college persona." I didn't know what she was talking about but I nodded along, a trait I picked up with Percy.

I gave her the list which she looked over satisfied. "Are we done?" I asked hopefully. I was really hungry.

She gave me a long look. "Not even close."

Cue my internal groaning.

So I went and read this fic all over and cringed at the beginning. Okay so this was something a twelve year old cooked up so hopefully a soon to be thirteen year old can make it less cringy. If that's a word.

Anyways I just realized how ooc Sirius was when he first met Kat but that's because I forgot to add a line.

It was supposed to be 'he said in a high, chirpy voice, trying to imitate the girl in front of him.'

Anyways, the reason I write is to improve and have fun in my writing so there no point beating myself up for that. Although I would really love to edit that chapter but couldn't figure out how without deleting everything. A little help?