[Brain-storming session; three people in conference call. It has just been discovered that no one, not even the lead character, has a surname on record.]
EDITOR: So what about Derek?
MEG: Smalls.
EDITOR: What? Why?
MEG: I don’t know. It just popped in there.
[In the background, critique partner bursts out laughing, expelling air at an alarming rate, until left breathless and wheezing.]
MEG: What? What’s funny?
CRITIQUE PARTNER: (gasping) Google. Google Derek Smalls, once.
[Conference call is interrupted by soft staccato of resentful typing, followed by pause for search results. All groan.]
Okay, yeah. Josh and Steph’s surnames are already known. (Taylor and Watson, respectively)