Lexi's Final Year

Chapter 12

Lexi sat down at an empty table inside The Bean's Knees and got her belongings organized. Just as she finished getting her laptop and notebooks in place at her table, she heard her order being called out by one of the baristas. She grabbed her large oat milk latte and sat back down to scroll through her unread emails.

I'm so glad I was able to get Fridays off from class this semester, she thought while taking the first sip of her latte.

She grinned while reading the last email she had received from her editor, Marcus. After the last round of edits had been taken care of a couple of days ago, her manuscript was now officially done with the professional editing process. She had profusely thanked Marcus for his help and paid what she had owed him for his invaluable services. The process had stung a little as a whole, but it had been a huge learning experience. That being said, the huge sense of relief knowing that it was all done felt great.

With that step of the publishing process done, Lexi had already started to look for a literary agent to represent her. She had spent the first week of November creating a long list of literary agents to pitch herself and her manuscript to. Once she had finished doing that, she emailed them her manuscript and a proposal for representation.

The querying process had officially begun.

But the results of her querying had been lacklustre, to say the least. So far, she had only heard back from three of the literary agents she had emailed— and they were all rejections. One of them wasn't interested in the genre of Lexi's manuscript, and the other two claimed that they were simply too busy to represent her on top of their current clients. Whether the latter agents were lying or telling the truth, Lexi didn't know. But she wasn't about to ask.

It's still early to tell if querying my manuscript will pan out to nothing, she thought with a grim expression. I have a feeling this is gonna be just as gruelling as the professional editing process— if not worse.

Despite such worrying thoughts flying about in her head, Lexi tried her best to brush them off. There wasn't anything she could do but wait and see how her querying would go. Worrying about it would only make things worse for her mental health.

She decided to stop going through her emails so that she wouldn't let them distract her. She had actually come to The Bean's Knees to enjoy her morning coffee and work on a paper in peace. Nikita had invited Felipe over to their apartment that morning to work on a project for one of their classes, so Lexi wanted to give them the space to do exactly that. Given the added fact that they were a couple, it felt like the right thing to do.

Lexi put her earbuds in and turned on one of her favourite indie music playlists before starting on the paper in question. She paid no mind to her rather hectic surroundings. Given that it was just after nine AM, The Bean's Knees was busy with people trying to get their orders before rushing off to school or work. But none of it distracted her as she continued working on her paper.

Suddenly, Lexi felt a hand touch her shoulder. It was firm enough that she felt it clearly, but it wasn't a death grip. She bit her lip to keep a yelp from escaping while yanking her earbuds out of her ears. She looked behind her to see who it was.

"Jesus Christ, Mariana!" she exclaimed, careful not to raise her voice too loud. "You scared the shit out of me."

"I'm so sorry," a remorseful Mariana replied. She twirled a strand of her long, straight red hair anxiously.

"It's fine," Lexi said while catching her breath. "How are you?"

"Okay," Mariana replied. "Listen, may I please talk to you? It's important."

Lexi had a pretty good idea as to what Mariana wanted to talk about, but decided not to mention it in case she was wrong. "Yeah, sure."

Mariana took a seat at her friend's table. "It's about Cassie."