The first issue of 'The Aviary' was a quiet triumph. Jake, fueled by a combination of caffeine and a desire to impress Ruby, had stayed up all night, meticulously arranging Thea's illustrations and the student-submitted poems and stories into a clean, professional layout. He had sent the final file to the school's print shop on a Thursday morning, and by Friday afternoon, a hundred copies of their first issue were sitting in a neat stack in Mr. Harrison's classroom.
The magazine looked incredible. The cover was Thea's raven, stark and beautiful against a simple white background. Inside, her delicate, detailed sketches were woven between the lines of poetry and the paragraphs of prose, giving the entire publication a cohesive, artistic feel.
Their small group stood in Mr. Harrison's empty classroom after school, holding the first copies in their hands.
"Whoa," Jake breathed, running a hand over the smooth, glossy cover. "It… it actually looks like a real magazine."
