Stel stared at the email that had popped into her inbox. Or rather, tio stare at it, because it had popped into her inbox an hour and fifty minutes earlier.

  “RE: RISING SHARDS APPLICATION”

  It took a good twenty mio work up the o open it. Then, once she decided she would open it, she decided to order food so she’d have something to either celebrate her victory with or something to wallow in the despair of.

  “gratutions! You have beeed to schedule an interview for the LIBRARIAN position at RISING SHARDS — i Focused High School. Please follow the link a a time…”

  Stel had a gut feeling in the days prior that she’d just get rejected ht and have to find another job in Sky Cy so she could move out of the city to be closer to Zeta, so it took a few more moments to process.

  OK, this is really happening. Provided I don’t screw up the interview.

  This was a major step for her. She had done a bit of looking for neartments in the much more affordable suburb of Litus Empirica but hadn’t found anything crete yet.

  Oh my god, if I get this, I could be w with—

  Her ph, interruptihoughts. It was Zeta. Stel answered right away.

  “Hi Zeta,” Stel said. “How are things?”

  Zeta paused before responding, which after her i with Ovie put an instant knot in Stel’s stomach.

  “Hey, Stel…” Zeta said, sounding gloomy.

  “What’s up? You OK?” Stel asked.

  “I’m not down, just—”

  “Are you in trouble? Not anht, right?”

  “No.”

  “Did you get expelled or something?”

  “No!” Zeta said. “I just…I have some news…”

  More knots iomach. Stel tried to ground herself and not let her trains of thought take her to an anxious pnecessarily.

  “Oh god, you’re nnant or something are you?”

  Keyword: tried.

  “What? No!” Zeta said.

  Seriously, ground yourself. Don’t make her more worried. Stel took a deep breath.

  “Alright, now that I’ve covered the really out-there sarios, whatever you have to tell me won’t be that bad. Right?”

  Another pause. Stel decided that saying any more might make things worse, and to just let Zeta talk. When she finally spoke again, she blurted it all out so quickly it took Stel a few seds to process it.

  “I asked Oka out! And…she said yes! And we’re dating now!”

  Ohat info was successfully processed, Stel resisted the urge to let a joyful yelp out, because she was still Zeta’s big sister and she o maintain a bit of authority.

  “About freaking time.” Stel said. “gratutions!”

  “Thank you,” Zeta sighed. “I don’t know why I was worried you’d be mad or something.”

  “Mad? Hell no!” Stel said. “I’m so gd, Oka’s so much better than Jeans. Now that you’ve been safely away from her for a while, I gotta say I always hated her. Something about her just grinded my gears. And then it turned out she was a huge jerk to you so. Big sister sense was right. And I’ve never had that vibe about Oka.”

  “Thanks, Stel.” Zeta said.

  “And Oka’s ier so I like her even more!” Stel said. "Oh my god, we should all go to a py together."

  "Only if you promise not to shush me too much like you usually do," Zeta said.

  "That's because you talk during the best parts!" Stel said. The fast food in front of her reminded her of something. “Oh, we have to have the dihen, too.”

  “Huh?” Zeta asked.

  “Family tradition!” Stel said. "Us Faleurs always meet with a family member’s new romantic partner for a big dio celebrate.”

  “That’s really a family tradition?”

  “Well, a family tradition I skipped for Jeans because I hated that vile turd.”

  “You really didn’t like her that much?” Zeta giggled.

  “One of the first days she came over, you left the room for a sed, and she just kinda turned her nose up to me and talked about how bad the food I was cooking smelled. Well, guess who didn’t get anything I ever cooked?”

  “Is that why you always ordered takeout when Jeans was over?”

  “Yup. But I still would for Oka if she likes takeout, from the good pot the cheap pces like I did for Jeans.”

  “She liked the Big Boy from Ultra Taco. I think.” Zeta said. “But you were there for that, so…”

  “Right, this time I won’t be spying at least.” Stel said. “Oh, Zeta…”

  “What? Are you suddenly mad about me and Oka? Did something g just now?"

  “No, not that…” Stel said. She winced. She had thought about not tellia at all about the interview, but if she got the job without telli’d probably make her more upset than any potential w her little sister would surely do about all the big life ges. “I have some news for you too…”

  “You didn’t get expelled, did you?” Zeta asked. “Like, from work? Or…the college? Which I guess would be work.”

  “No, just.” Stel decided that if Zeta could tell her about her new girlfriend, Stel could talk about her news. “I applied for a job. At Rising Shards.”

  “Oh,” Zeta said. Not sounding upset or even worried. Just kinda ral, which was a win for Stel. “Really? At the library? That one old librarian did just retire…”

  “Yeah, I just heard today that I have an interview.”

  “That’s great! gratutions to you, too!” Zeta said. “If you get it, don’t embarrass me all the time though.”

  There ause as Zeta hmmm’d for a few seds, which she always did when she had to ponder something over the phone.

  “So are you…gonna stay in LE and ute?” She asked.

  ge was always scary for Stel’s little sister, and she could hear it a bit in her voice. Their apartment was about the only home Zeta had ever known. So this news might go worse than the job news.

  “I was thinking of moving to Sky Cy.” Stel said.

  “Oh, OK,” Zeta said. She was still somewhat ral sounding, which was already more receptive than Stel expected. “Hmmm…hey, then if I get homesid miss you or something, I could like walk over and see you. Then you wouldn’t have to drive an hour or whatever.”

  “Yes!” Stel said. “And we always visit LE whenever.”

  “True, true.” Zeta said. “I think you’ll like little city life. It’s a lot less busy here.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Stel said.

  "I haven't been in Sky Cy much away from the school but it's just kinda cozier, you know?" Zeta said. “Oh, make sure it’s within walking distance from the school.”

  "It would be o not have to drive to work." Stel said.

  "That and then you don't o pick me up if I want to e home!"

  Stel ughed. "Well, I'll keep you posted on that."

  “OK, I'm gonna go get dihen," Zeta said.

  "Alright, talk to you sooa," Stel said.

  "Bye Stel, I’ll let Oka know about the other dihing too," Zeta said. "Good lu the job!"

  "Thanks," Stel said. "grats on Oka! Tell her I'm very pleased."

  "I will," Zeta said.

  Stel sighed. That all went a lot better than she'd worried it would. And now Zeta finally had a girlfriend that wasn't an abusive freak, too. Feeling a lot less burdened, Stel clicked into the email and scheduled the soo interview time she could.