“You wouldn’t get it.” I shake my head. “No one listens to me. You’re all a clique on the newspaper.”

“We’re not a clique. You just don’t try hard enough to get along.”

“I don’t try hard enough?” I put my hand up. “What can I talk about when bonding time equals talking about lavish vacations, brand-new cars for birthday gifts, all things Starbucks? And music? Have we ever tried to listen to a Black radio station? Don’t even get me started on television references to reruns of Friends and Gossip Girl.”

What I don’t say is it’s the talk about the weekends that shuts me out. Mine are filled with prison visits, church, and me babysitting Corinne while Mama and Jamal work.

Angela’s face softens, but she says, “And that has what to do with Jamal’s interview?”

“I work just as hard as everyone does.”

“I never said you don’t work hard,” Angela says. “I said adjust your approach.”

“That’s why I came to talk to you.” I’m tired of explaining to her, so I switch subjects. “I want to be editor next year so I can change things. Make it more inclusive. There’s nobody of color who works on the paper except me and Rosa. That’s a problem.”

“What can I do about you getting the editor role?”

“I’ve worked hard for this. It hasn’t been easy. I’m trying to make the paper something that matters, make an impact. Be real journalists. If Natalie gets the position as editor, we’ll go backward, and I’ll lose ‘Tracy’s Corner.’ Stuck writing about graffiti behind the school or cafeteria exposés. I want to write about real stuff.”

I play up the fact that Angela takes her work seriously. She has always pushed Mr. Kaine to have our stories be meaningful. When “Tracy’s Corner” was up for debate, I wanted to solidify it as a social justice corner, and Angela gave me a vote. Even said my articles about my dad’s case were important. That she learned about her rights with police through my write-ups.

Angela sits down, runs her hands through her blond curls, then ties them up and puts on her glasses. She never wears them outside the newsroom.

“I’m not going to block you, Tracy. But Natalie has some truth to what she’s saying. You aren’t a team player.”

“That’s not—”

“I get why you don’t fit in. Everyone’s got their own interests. But you don’t even give people a chance to try it their own way, because you can’t trust them. If you want to be editor, you have to work with everybody—even if you don’t like them.”

“They don’t like me.”

“Not everyone likes me.”

I scowl. Everybody on the paper likes Angela. Hell, she was homecoming queen.