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“It has over a thousand listens now, and we have talked very little about his painting life,” I insisted. I still couldn’t believe a thousand people had listened. I’d only recorded and posted the latest episode two days ago.

“Wow, that’s impressive,” Nolen said. “Good job. That’s hard to do as an indie podcast.”

“Thanks,” I said.

Jensen mumbled something under his breath.

“What?” I asked.

“I shared it on my Insta last week.”

“What?” I asked again.

“Your podcast. I told people to listen to it.”Hewas the one who had shared it?

Nolen let out a surprised hum. “That was good of you. Hopefully your support of our podcast will drive some numbers our way as well.”

We were approaching the cafeteria, and Nolen, who had fallen to the middle of the pack while talking to us, seemed to realize he was the leader here. He gave us a nod before rushing to the front.

“You’re something else,” I said. Jensen shouldn’t have been able to surprise me with his actions anymore, but he still managed to.

He seemed to think that was a compliment instead of the sarcastic insult it obviously was because he said, “You’re welcome.” And not in a snarky way.

“Ugh,” I groaned. “Don’t talk to me.” With those words, I really left to find Ava.

“What are we doing here?” she asked as we walked through the doors of the cafeteria.

It had been a while since I’d eaten in the cafeteria, but I suddenly remembered a time last year when it was raining out and nearly everyone had piled into the building from where they normally sat in the courtyard or front lawn. It was packed, and there were no seats as I looked for Jensen or my friends. I wasn’t watching where I was going in my search and nearly ran into Theo. He’d prevented the crash with a quick hand to my elbow, and then hekept walking. That memory immediately washed out the bad taste in my mouth left by the conversation with Jensen.

It wasn’t raining now, and the cafeteria was empty. It was Thursday and I hadn’t seen Theo much this week. Just a couple times while passing in the halls. His earbuds in, his hands in his pockets. He’d give me a nod and a smile, but didn’t try to catch up with me or walk me to first period like he’d been doing the week before. After seeing him so much last weekend, it felt a bit like withdrawal. I wondered if I’d hurt him more than I realized on Sunday when I said I didn’t trust him. The acidic taste was back in my mouth.

“I’m not sure why we’re here,” I said to Ava.

“Okay!” Nolen called as we stopped in front of a table with two cafeteria trays. “Features are short side stories that can be told in regular reports as part of the bigger podcast. For example, Jensen thought a fun feature could be a weekly review of the cafeteria food. He also thought this would be a way for more people to have a voice on the podcast.”

“Jensen?” I said with a scoff, not able to keep it in. “Features were literally something I wrote in my topics notebook that he looked at.”

“I didn’t know whatfeaturesmeant when I saw it in your notebook,” he said.

I pursed my lips together, forcing myself to shut up because the look on Nolen’s face said that he thought I was acting immature.

He continued as if I hadn’t interrupted. “I would like you each to put in a bid. As to why you’d be good for the job as feature reporter. I’d also like to hear a few other ideas for features. It will begreat on-mic practice and could lead to a bigger role on the podcast if they’re well received.” His gaze fell on me with those words.

Maybe I was being ungrateful, but this felt like a consolation prize. A pat on the head. Or maybe Nolen was looking at me because he wished he’d picked me instead of Jensen, who knew next to nothing about podcasting.

“Thanks, once again, Jensen,” Nolen said. “For this great idea. This is what happens, people, when you bring in an outsider. It might seem threatening at first, but there is something to be said about fresh blood.”

I almost rolled my eyes but held back. He talked a little bit more about features, and when he was done people asked if they could actually try the food on the table. That’s how class ended. I held back as everyone quickly left the cafeteria, then approached Nolen and Susie, who were cleaning up the trays from the table.

“Hey, guys, can I…?” How did I even start this? I really didn’t want them to think I was a sore loser, but Jensen taking credit for my ideas again today was simmering in my chest. “I had that feature idea written in the notebook he looked at.”

Nolen nodded. “You have good ideas. We’re glad to have you on the team.”

Susie just gave me a sympathetic look.

Right. They didn’t care. I turned toward the door.

“Finley,” Nolen said.