“In my skull and functional,” she answered with a curious smile.

“Oh?” he teased. “But Jewel’s back, right? Must be a big day for you.”

“The biggest,” she said. “She isn’t going to pick me, though. She probably doesn’t even know I exist.”

“Uhhh, don’t you have over a hundred thousand voyeurs? I’m sure she knows you,” Alex said.

Jewel had decreed that since videos were diary entries, it made the most sense for followers to be called voyeurs. Luna loved that—those tiny touches of Jewel’s creativity and personality.

“I seriously doubt it. Everyone who’s ever been invited to Golden Weekend is exceptional in some way.”

“You’re exceptional,” Alex said, sounding offended. “No one on that app can hold a candle to you.”

“You don’t understand,” she said, shaking her head. “You don’t use the app, so you don’t get it. I’m not putting myself down or anything like that. Promise.”

Jewel had clear favorites on Golden Rule—the users she replied to almost always had their videos promoted to the front page. She’d never done that for Luna. Not even once.

But Luna refused to let herself dwell on that. Mostly. Besides, it all played into the Goldspiracy, so in a way, she was a part of Jewel’s plan too. Sort of. Kind of.

Anyway.

Objectively speaking, the users Jewel singled out had a natural camera-ready radiance about them. She had chosen to amplify their platform because of it, often using their videos in ads to promote the app. And then one by one, they all received invitations.

Luna thought back to Jewel’s announcement video: One more time. One more group. One more Golden Weekend. I will follow four users for three very different reasons. It was the same story, the same challenge, but with different players. She continued, “Want to hear my theory for the GWX Follows? I haven’t posted it yet.”

“You know I love being first. Lay it on me,” he said, and then quickly added, “I still think you’re exceptional, by the way.”

“Okay, so, JadeTheBabe was an obvious choice. During Jewel’s sabbatical, Nicole, that’s her real name, became the most followed person on the app, second only to Jewel herself in less than six months. Her rise to the top without being promoted by the Golden Rule staff in any way blew everyone else out of the water. No one can figure out how she did it, but on the other hand no one really cares because she’s an absolute superstar in the making. If I were Jewel, I’d be dying to meet Nicole too.