Mal pulled out a mug of their own from the shoebox. It was plain white, except for a blue-printed silhouette of a cat in mid-jump and text that readCATFINATEDin all caps. Maddie had gotten it for them last Christmas, and it had been Mal’s favorite gift in years.
Mal put it on the desk, then opened their to-go cup and poured its contents inside. Whatever didn’t fit, they’d add later.
“Oh, Iloveit!” trilled Emerson.
“Yeah,” Mal agreed, filling with a sense of pride that felt silly but still important. “I think it’s pretty cool.”
“I thinkyou’repretty cool,” Emerson said, and waggled her eyebrows.
That feeling swelled, making Mal both flustered and warm but not in an unpleasant way. They blinked at Emerson, then looked back at their mug. “We’re definitely going to need to get cat-finated to get through all the work we have to do today.”
Sitting down in her chair, her own cat mug overflowing with too-sweet coffee, Emerson nodded. “Did you see Kodi sent in her stuff? And she also sent thisreallycool art piece with it—I think we should run it.”
Mal frowned. Theyhadn’tseen that, actually. Between their two different e-mails, Mal worried that some things were falling through the cracks. And they still weren’t sure how they felt about running art. AtCollage, it had been strictly against the rules.
Mal took a sip of their coffee, their favorite mug warming their hand, and glanced at the calendar on the wall. They could just see through the scribbled-out markings that Friday would have been the pitch deadline for the fall issue.
Grabbing a pen, Mal circled the last day of the month in red: the new date by which they and Emerson would need to have the zine finalized, printed, and put together before it went on sale on September 30. Mal considered.
“You know? I think we have plenty of time to make that work.”
Subject:New E-mail—Please Update Contact
Tuesday, September 17 | 7:12 PM
From:The MixxedMedia Editors
To:Stella , Parker , Nylan , James , Kodi
To theMixxedMediastaff:
Please update your point of contact for Emerson and I to this joint e-mail. A joint e-mail will help us better communicate with staffers and within the editorial team.
Best,
Mal and Emerson
The Editors
CHAPTERTENI GUESS WE CO-WORK NOW
“Hey, Mal! Do you have a minute?”
What Mal had was a mouthful of overcooked spaghetti. It was Pasta Day at school, one of the best line lunch days, second only to Square Pizza Day. Something about the soggy noodles reminded them of the kind their dad made when they were little and he was left to watch them and Maddie while their mom attended night classes for medical coding. He hadn’t been a very good cook then, but he hadn’t been store manager of Glen’s then, either—only assistant. It had felt like there was more of him to go around then, without the extra work and with their mom out most evenings.
Mal looked up and said, “Hmmpf?”
Beside them, Maddie giggled, quieting her conversation with her teammate to listen in.
Hovering above them at the round cafeteria table was Parker, her hair in zigzaggy braids with bright pastels plaited in, perfectly matching her heart-print sweater. Parker giggled too. “Finish your bite, it’s okay. I’ll wait.”
Mal’s cheeks flushed red, but they chewed through their bite and then said, “Sorry. What’s up, Parker?”
“Hey, I was wondering—do you and Emerson have, like, office hours or anything?”
“Well.” Mal blinked. “No?”
Parker’s face fell. “Bummer. I’ve been working on my piece for this month, but it’s just not coming out right. I thought we could co-work some, get some good creative energy going.”
