Temptation, Greed, and Loyalty: How The Collegiate Journal Tried to Get Me to Leave The Fly

I have some bad news about Collegiate’s second most popular literary publication (sorry Dutch Report) – The Collegiate Journal are corrupt. 

It was the afternoon of Thursday, November 10th, the day that Collegiate Fly launched, and there was envy in the air. I am almost too scared to reveal that it was Dr. Aguirre, the faculty advisor of the Journal, who was behind the incident, but he cannot suppress my story or the truth. He sent two of his Journal minions to track me down. They found me in the back of the library, and all they did was slip an envelope into my lap. The contents of said envelope contained the following:

1. The title of Editor-in-Chief of The Collegiate Journal

2. Freedom to write whatever I wanted

3. All A’s on my transcript

4. $500,000

Money, power, and freedom – the most powerful forces in existence – there is a reason they are aphrodisiacs. They were offering anything I could ever want, and it was becoming increasingly hard to say no. I found myself lacking the power and strength to remain loyal to the Collegiate Fly, but then I hesitated. I remembered my loving writing partner, Willie, who would be lost without me. I am his guide, his muse, and his inspiration. How could I leave him lost without a sense of direction at the reins of the Collegiate Fly? I mustered up the courage to tear up the envelope and its contents, and I left the pieces on Dr. Aguirre’s desk in the English office. This was a mistake.

…

I was walking from Chemistry down to Spanish when one of the Journal writers grabbed me by the collar in the back staircase somewhere between the fifth and sixth floor. In gangster movie-like fashion, he pushed me against the wall of the staircase and told me to watch my back. “Dr. Aguirre sent me,” he told me. I was scared, terrified, even, to think that the man who had taught me Hamlet had turned into Claudius, the man who had taught me Antigone had turned into Creon, the man who had taught me Paradise Lost had turned into Satan, himself.

I have since watched my back and avoided Dr. Aguirre at all costs. I have found threatening letters inside of the pockets of my jacket, inside of my pillowcase, and taped onto my bathroom mirror. “You made a big mistake,” they told me. “You should never have messed with The Journal,” they warned me. “I will squash the bug that is The Collegiate Fly.” I strongly suspect that this came from Dr. Aguirre himself.

Although fear is powerful, nothing is more powerful than my loyalty. I knew that I could never betray the school in leaving The Collegiate Fly. The Fly needs me. The school needs me. I am the hero in this odyssey. 

Collegiate Journal, The Fly will always prevail.

Pablo Barrera