When Angeline’s Every Day Becomes Epic
29 DAYS TO THE ELECTION

Angeline stared at the little blue dot at the top of her inbox. A new message. She hadn’t changed the settings on her computer, but she swore the sender’s name was bigger than usual.
She sat up straighter in the nubby tweed chair—the last thing she’d let her sister pick out—behind the desk they shared in their bedroom.

All those hours in front of her laptop studying every YouTube channel from GamerGirlz to Car Builderz DIY to Bette’s Books to Bet On. Every grasshopper-topped sushi roll she ate, every chocolate laxative cleanse, every questionable and disgusting concoction she’d lathered on her body, all came down to this.

Her hand hovered over the mouse, but she couldn’t bring her- self to click. Instead, she kicked off the pointy-toed loafers she’d worn to school that day, wincing as the air hit the raw pink welt on the back of her ankle. She’d said they were comfortable.

They weren’t.

But the endorsement had paid for her new laptop so . . . trade-offs.

She pressed her toes into the white carpet she’d freshly steamed before the school year began and fixed her eyes on her computer screen.

“Ask an Angel” leapt from the subject line, the YouTube chan- nel Angeline had grown into a brand over the past two years. In- fluencer? Please. She was so much more. Part advice giver, part counselor, part confessor, she served her viewers by listening to and answering their daily dilemmas—even if that meant boots- on-the-ground research.

Okay, so truth?

She’d never admit it to Cat, but that elephant dung had nearly made her pass out.

Her sister thought it was easy. But had she ever tried to squeeze herself into the trifecta of compression underwear?

High-waisted capri britches . . .

Tummy cincher . . .

Hip slimmer . . .

After eating two pints of caramel gelato.

Angeline had come this close to dialing 911. But her lack of circulation had surely prevented others from asphyxiation. Turn blue, and the followers would come. She hadn’t read that in any influencer guide. But it had worked.

As had a modest display of cleavage and pink lipstick. Pink, not red. She’d lost ninety followers before she’d realized that mistake.

Now she had more questions than she could answer, and her ad revenue crushed whatever she’d make working round the clock as a barista. But she was determined to take it to the next level.

Evelyn’s Epic Everyday: Make Every Day an Epic Day.

The pinnacle of lifestyle YouTubers, promoting positivity, following one’s dreams, and making each day an extraordinary one. An extraordinarily profitable one. Evelyn had raked in half a million dollars from her YouTube channel alone last year—a pit- tance compared to what she’d snagged from endorsements and book deals. Her second book, Girl, Talk like Everyone’s Listening, hit the bestseller list, joining her first, Girl, Match Your Bra and Underwear and Other Life Secrets, which had never dropped off.

And here she was: Evelyn’s Epic Everyday in Angeline’s inbox. Angeline took a deep breath and clicked.

Her heart stopped.

And jump-started.

“Bring! It!” she screamed, and Tartan, Gramps’s orange-and- white cat, sprang from her lap.
She’d gotten the invite. The, all caps, underlined, circled, high- lighted, invite. When Evelyn’s Epic Everyday had given her video on “5 Ways to Know He’s Interested” a thumbs-up over the summer, Angeline had known what it meant.

Evelyn was watching her. Her.

Ask an Angel.
Which meant she had a shot. At this.

And she got it.

————————-

Hey girl!

Evelyn’s Epic Everyday has her epic eye on you!

As you may have heard (wink, wink), she’s putting together her very first YouTube up-and-comers boot camp. only!***

Those she thinks are ready to break out big will make her annual “Top 10 to Get Behind or Be Left Behind” list. And you know what that means! But still, I’m gonna tell youuu! Because it’s that freaking fantastic: every single previous lister has gone on to be a Star of the Super sort.
Think: a million subscribers, two, three . . . five?

Not yet, but you could be Evelyn’s first!

So welcome, Ask an Angel, to your every day being an epic one. But remember: keep it hush-hush! We’ll be doing a big reveal in the lead-up.

See you in December!

Don’t forget to send in that deposit! (Nonrefundable!)

Kiss kiss!

————

Angeline vaulted out of her chair and pumped her fists in the air.

“Evelyn’s!”

“Epic!”

“Everyday!”

She spun around and snatched her phone off the bed. She had her messages open to her last text with Leo before she remembered.

They were broken up.

He had broken up with her.

Because of all this.

The one person she wanted to share this with was the one person she couldn’t.

Is this what they call irony?