“Obviously,” said Emerson, like it really was obvious. “We’vebeenfamous.”
“No shit,” said Alex, looking up from the screen and beckoning James over.
Mal raised an eyebrow.
“I can’t believe it,” Stella said, looking up at Sam and stepping aside to make room. Her eyes found Mal’s. “We’re going viral.”
“We’re—what?” Mal asked, but the rest of the room was already moving, gathering around Sam’s phone, and then around the others who were pulling up whatever it was on their own.
“I mean, it’s not like,viralviral,” Sam corrected gently. “It’s got about ten thousand likes, which is not nothing. But some local media accounts have also picked it up, and the University of Cincinnati writing club reposted it to their account, which is pretty cool.”
“Oh my god!” said Parker. “Sai just reposted it on the Haus’s stories, look!”
She held out her phone to Nylan, who grinned.
“Let me see,” said Emerson, walking her fingers up Mal’s side as she stepped up. Alex held out his screen, and Emerson’s eyes went wide.
“You did this?” she asked Sam, and they nodded. “Oh my god, we’re going, like—Cincinnati viral!”
“What onearth?” Mal asked, taking a curious step forward.
“Like, notviralviral but Cincinnati viral,” Emerson clarified.
“Maybe Northern Kentucky viral,” said Sam, laughing. “But yeah. You are.”
But that was not what Mal meant, really. They wanted to know what everyone was looking at, what was making their voices so high and excitable. Coming to rest at Emerson’s side, Mal squinted down at her phone.
It was an Instagram post for an article on the NorthernKentucky University website, with the bylineSam Russeland the titleLocal Students Build Community and Break Barriers with Teen-Led Zine Lab. Mal clicked through to the article and read.
“You wrote this?” they asked Sam when they had finished.
“Yep.”
“About us?”
“Yep.”
“Sam, this is…” Mal trailed off, trying to find the right words, which escaped them. The only ones they could find—really cool—were not at all big enough to encompass the tangle of complicated emotions in their chest.
But theMixxedMediastaff was there with suggested substitutions.
“So flattering,” said Nylan.
“Epic,” said Parker.
“Groovy,” said Alex.
“Hugely deserved,” said Stella.
“Monumental,” said James.
“Tight,” said Kodi.
But it was Emerson, of course, who echoed Mal’s thoughts exactly. “This is really cool, Sam. Thanks for writing this.”
Sam waved a hand, dismissive. “I just really love what y’all do here,” they said. “So. Keep doing it.”
They turned and left, and at first Mal thought they might start the meeting again, but chatting about the article and watching the likes slowly tick up was just too exciting.
