“A Christian medical billing school,” Marianne said again. “You can’t tell me our students won’t see through an organization like that. You can’t tell me they won’t smell a rat.” She didn’t want someone like Janine to think—to realize—that she was a scam artist, but neither did she want to fire her teachers, who’d made and canceled various complex plans just to come here. “They want to train you and Tom and Lorraine to teach people how to write YA best sellers.”

Eric truly laughed at that one, doubling over in his chair: “Ha-ha-ha-ha! Best sellers! The nerve!” he said. “That doesn’t sound like knowledge that’s going to hurt anyone. In fact, maybe it could help all of us. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll take a meeting with them, okay? I’ll listen—I’ll listen critically—to their whole spiel. Okay?”

“Maybe,” Marianne said.

He nodded, satisfied. “That’s what Mark and I thought. I’ve got a meeting scheduled Saturday night. With Regina and Davonte.” He patted Marianne on the wrist. “Sound good?”

“Okay,” she said, though she wondered why and how he’d already scheduled a meeting. “Why are you taking Davonte?”

“He’s our most high-profile student,” Eric said. “Mark looked it up, and his first album went platinum—”

“I told you.”

“Well, you were right. You were right, Marianne, and the GWGW folks think his comeback story could be big. Apparently Regina is also a fan of his.”

“A Davonte Gold fan? Really?”

“She thinks that getting the student perspective, from someone with market potential but limited writing experience, someone like Davonte, will help us understand something about where the school needs to grow.”

“Okay,” said Marianne. She was glad, at least, that Eric wasn’t going to dinner alone with Regina.

“Listen to that,” he said, cocking his head toward the unlockable door. From across campus came the sound of applause, beginning as a faint patter, then growing stronger, like a rainstorm.

The next afternoon, while the students took an “inspiration-gathering” field trip to the Ringling Museum (the tall, air-conditioned bus was hastily chartered by their friends at GWGW), Marianne met with Tom, Eric, and Lorraine to go over some of the charts and graphs Regina sent her. Marianne hoped that Tom and Lorraine might express their concerns to Eric, but they were less resistant than she had imagined, dutifully reading the numbers and charts projected onto the wall. Tom even whistled appreciatively at some of the sales figures.

“I didn’t know anyone was selling that much these days,” he said. “What did you say that book was about?”

“It’s a young adult choose-your-own-adventure series,” Marianne said.

“Young adult choose-your-own-adventure,” Tom repeated slowly.

“It was in the news a lot?” Eric suggested. “You really never heard of it?”

“I hate the news,” Tom said vehemently. Lorraine shrugged.