“Nope,” she said. “Just walking in with Mal.”
“Okay then, just remember, you’re not seeinganything,” said Parker. “Come on, Mal, give us the goods.”
“I only have half of them,” Mal said, slinging their backpack off their shoulder and rubbing the sore spot it left behind. “Emerson has the other.”
“You’ve been holding out on us?” Nylan sounded incredulous.
Emerson just wiggled, all fluid arms and legs, in response.
“Nah, it’s cool,” said Kodi. “We couldn’t have started without Mal.”
“Yeah, it wouldn’t have been right,” James agreed.
“Suck-ups,” said Stella.
“You don’t even have tobehere,” Parker said under her breath.
Mal and Emerson started to divvy up the zines as the staffers swirled around them, laughing, chatting, and making bets on who would sell out first. Though Mal had tried to Manage Expectations when they shared the sales plan with everyone the day before—another capital-letter coping mechanism from their old therapist—they had to admit that they felt excited, too. Emerson had something to do with that, they were sure: her giggle, her grin, the way her green sweatshirt made her big red hair look even redder than the leaves drifting down from the poplar tree above her.
“Okay, weird confession,” Kodi said, her voice deeper as it dropped to a whisper. “I’m a little nervous?”
“Oh no, me too, for sure,” Nylan said. “This is all very… clandestine.”
“You meanpunk rock,” chirped Emerson. “But, full honesty—same.”
“Me too,” said Parker, “but that could be because I’m still sleepy?”
“Because you and Nylan were up all night livebloggingYuri!!! on ICEto each other,” James said, eyebrows raising.
“I’mnot,” said Stella. “Nervous, that is.”
Mal rolled their eyes; Stella was the only staffer they hadn’t handed copies to because it was (her words) “not worth the risk to go down for some zine.”“Well, I think we’re all going to kill it,” said Emerson. “Nervous or not.”
“And remember, it’s not a competition,” Mal said.
“Forsomeof us,” Emerson added conspiratorially.
Mal gave her The Look. “For any of us. Just do what you can today. We have time. If we can be mostly sold through by the end of the week, I think we’ll be right on target.” That was the time frame, at least, that they’d used forCollage. Mal tried not to think about what it would mean if they didn’t meet it.
“We can do that,” said Kodi, sounding more confident.
“Totally,” said Nylan.
“I’m selling out today,” James said matter-of-factly. “When we meet back here after school, I’ll be done.”
“Oh, he’s on a mission today, y’all,” Kodi joked.
“We should head to class,” said Parker, eyeing the entrance.
“Regrettably,” added Emerson.
“Okay, if you need more, remember you can check in with me or Emerson,” Mal said. “I’ll have extras in my locker.”
They all turned to head in, Mal following a few steps behind everyone as they tucked the rest of the zines in their backpack.
It was only when they’d made it about halfway to the entrance that Mal remembered, turning around quickly.
Maddie still stood there. She smiled.
