Page 14 of Drop Pass

“Thanks.” I quickly opened the locker and stored my things inside. “I didn’t bring a change of clothes today, but is it okay to leave one here?”

She nodded. “Yeah, you can either hang it from your locker or there.” She pointed to the other end of the room where a rolling rack was pushed against the wall. There looked to be a couple of garment bags hanging there already.

“Great, thanks.” I paused and realized she still hadn’t introduced herself. “What’s your name?”

She laughed. “Sorry! I skipped that. I’m Jas. I’m the assistant weather producer.”

I smiled. “Great. I’m excited to work with you.”

Her jaw dropped. “Me? Are you kidding? When Dean told us, you were coming here I lost my mind. You’re one of my favorite meteorologists. I’m not even kidding. Top three at least.”

I laughed. “You’re kind.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not. I’m one hundred percent serious.”

I smiled, unsure what to say to that.

“Now come on. I’ll introduce you to Wesley. He’s the producer. He’s a little traditional but I think you’ll like working with him.”

I kept my smile in place even though I was panicking inside. Traditional usually meant sexist from my experience. He better not expect me to wear tiny, tight dresses and giggle as I talk about how sunny it will be for the three hundredth day in a row.

I followed her through another door that lead past the newsroom and to the main set. It was another surreal moment seeing how different it was from my set in LA. The anchors sat in front of a window on street level and the weather screen was just to the right. In LA we were in a sound stage at the back of the network lot. It was almost entirely green screen behind the anchors desks.

This was real. Live.

I loved it.

Jas led me past the green screen I would soon call home to a set of three desks. She pointed to the one that had been cleared of everything but a laptop. “That one’s yours.”

At the sound of her voice, an older man with thick white hair sat up and stared at me. “You’re here.”

“Duh, Wes. I told you that. Where did you think I ran off to?”

Wesley shook his head. “I never know what you’re doing.” He returned his attention to me, extending his hand. “Nice to meet you. I’m Wesley Fields.”

“Elena. Nice to meet you too.”

He seemed pleased. “I’ve got the reports for today prepped. I usually have them done by three-fifty each morning so you have a few minutes to review and ask questions.”

I generally liked more time to prepare, but it was enough time to go through his notes.

“And I prepare the graphics for the day. The slides will be available for you at the same time.”

I nodded. “Thank you both.”

They seemed to have a good system down, but I was used to doing more of the work. “What would you guys like me to prepare?”

They stared at each other before looking back to me. Wesley was the first to speak. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I usually did the forecasting…” I trailed off when his eyes widened.

“I told you she was the real thing, Wes. She’s one of the best. She’s not just a pretty face they had reading a script.”

He shot her a glare then turned to me. “We would appreciate any help. I know you are more than capable of doing all of our jobs, but we’re here to work together and make sure nothing slips between the cracks. Our station has the reputation of being the most accurate in the west. We work hard to live up to that. If you would like to be involved in the forecasts that’s fine.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

“Jas is in charge of managing the radio spots so she’ll make sure you record them throughout the morning when you’re not on. We will film promo and previews during commercial breaks.”