I watched as Olivia moved to the front of the room, everyone hushed as we waited for the meeting to start.

“Alrighty guys,” she said with a bright smile. “Let’s get this meeting started.”

One of her friends at the front handed her the Big Blue Binder, where all the ideas and meeting notes and everything the editor needed went. I eyed it with envy. Ever since I joined the paper in my freshman year, I wanted to get my hands on that binder. I wanted to be the one planning the issues and assigning articles, deciding what was good enough to represent our school and what wasn’t.

“So, last issue was awesome,” Olivia said with a bright smile at all of us. I puffed up my chest, thinking of the pep rally I covered, but she turned that smile away from me. “Great job on the beach piece, Megan, and Josh, the surfing pictures were a hit!”

Oh, I thought, trying not to feel disappointed at not being acknowledged…again. Well, this week, I’ve got some killer ideas!

“We need to follow that up with another killer issue,” Olivia continued, looking at us expectantly. “So I’m hoping you guys have some good ideas.”

Clutching my list, I raised a hand, but someone shouted out, “I heard the district is changing our lunch provider—that could be something!”

Olivia’s face lit up. “Excellent, see what else you can dig up. Maybe it can be a whole exposé thing. What else?”

With a grimace, I crossed Lunchtime Exposé: Changes We Need to Know off my list.

It was disappointing, but that wasn’t my only idea. “What if we—” I started quietly, but I wasn’t loud enough.

“Mr. Simmons, the gym teacher, is retiring soon,” someone else yelled over me. “I could do a feature on him; I’ve got him fourth period.”

Olivia scribbled it in the binder without hesitation. I guess she didn’t notice I was talking. I tried not to take it personally as I crossed off Farewell Mr. Simmons.

By the end of the brainstorm, I was the only one who hadn’t said anything. Hopefully Olivia wouldn’t realize it. I shrunk down in my seat, praying that she—

“What about you, Luna?” she asked, her eyes fixing on me like a laser. “Any ideas for the next issue?”

I glanced down at my useless list, each idea crossed off one by one as someone else said it. And now, I had absolutely nothing. Heart racing, I racked my brain for even one of my throwaway ideas, but I was drawing a huge blank.

Olivia gave me a quick smile. “No worries, I’ll mark you down as line editor if anyone needs extra hands on their stories. But maybe try to come a little more prepared next time, hm?” she said kindly.

No matter how she said it, I still felt awful. At the start of the meeting, all I’d wanted was to be noticed, and now I just wanted to melt through the floor.

The end of the meeting couldn’t come soon enough. As far as my mess-ups went, this hadn’t been that bad, but I hadn’t made a good impression on Olivia at all.

We finally adjourned, and as I dragged my still-damp bag down the hall, I heard, “Luna!” I looked up to see my favorite teacher smiling warmly at me.

“I was just heading home to start grading your papers. I’m excited to get to yours; I know it’s going to be wonderful!”

Any other teacher telling me that would’ve sent me into a tailspin of panic and pressure, but from Mrs. Houston, the best English teacher I’d ever had, it made me glow.

“Thanks, I hope you enjoy it,” I said.

She headed toward the parking lot with a wave. “I’m sure I will!”

Feeling a tiny bit better about my day, I headed outside to the football field to wait for my brother. The glow in my chest intensified as the players came into view.

This was the best part of my day. I took a spot on the bleachers, my eyes scanning the sea of blue and white jerseys until I found him: Demitri.

Star quarterback and the most gorgeous guy at school. Every girl had a crush on him at some point or another, but mine was serious and had never faded. Probably because I saw him so much more—he was my brother Kamari’s best friend and was at our house all the time. You’d think that would help my case, but no. Demitri would never notice me in a thousand years.

That didn’t stop me from noticing him, though. I could swear the heaven’s sent down a shaft of sunlight just for him as he took off his helmet and flashed that gorgeous smile that made me weak in the knees and stopped me dead in my tracks.