That night, Anxiety and Envy were discussing what to do next.
"This is going great. Jeremy has accepted us" said Anxiety. "But if we don't go pro, none of that matters."
"Our first days at Central are everything" said Envy.
"We'll need more help" said Anxiety. "Ennui, are you paying attention?"
"No" said Ennui dryly.
"Embarrassment?" said Anxiety.
Embarrassment wasn't paying attention either. He was watching the memory of Maya dissing her Meemaw.
Then he heard a noise and went to find it.
He found Sadness reading the manuals in the back.
Sadness silently begged him not to tell Anxiety she was there.
At first, it seemed like he would tell, but Embarrassment stacked up more manuals to block Anxiety's view.
Sadness smiled to thank Embarrassment and he blushed and tightened his hood.
"Okay. It's gonna be a long night. Let's get the team ready" said Anxiety.
She then proceeded to chug five energy drinks all at once.
Meanwhile, the rest of us had just gotten to Imagination Land.
"You guys are gonna love it!" I said.
But then I noticed how empty and lackluster Imagination Land had become.
"This place has changed" I said.
I noticed a big rock with guys' heads carved on it, including Paul McCartney.
"Mount Crushmore?" I said.
"Those are her top four?" said Fear.
"The only one that matters is Paul" Disgust swooned.
"Well, at least they got his good side" I said.
"Every side is his good side" said Disgust.
Then a couple mind workers handed us gossip papers from "the Rumor Mill."
"The teachers' lounge has a hot tub?" said Anger.
"Lucy at Central is psychic?" said Fear.
I looked back and finally saw a familiar place. A huge fort of pillows.
"Fort Pillowton's still here! And it even got bigger" I said.
We went inside and saw an orange glow.
As soon as we got deep enough into the pillow fort, we saw a huge screen with Anxiety's face on it.
"We need to help Maya prepared. Send up every possible thing that could go wrong" she said.
Other screens showed images of Maya falling onstage, not impressing the headmistress, and becoming homeless.
"Oh no. They're using Maya's imagination against her" said Disgust.
I couldn't let Anxiety do this, so I went into an empty cubicle and did a drawing for projection.
"Maya gets a starring role and everyone hugs her?" said Anxiety. "That is not helping."
Disgust did one too. "Maya paints her nails and everyone loves them and copies her."
"Maya keeps a safety gear with her" said Fear.
"We buy flowers for the ones who didn't get a part!" said Anger. "What? I can't always be the rage guy."
We projected all those drawings so Anxiety could see them.
"Nail polish? Safety gear? I'm starting to think you guys don't understand the assignment" said Anxiety.
Embarrassment distracted her and sent another positive drawing.
"Who sent that projection to Maya?" said Anxiety.
"How should I know?" said Ennui.
"Not me" said Envy.
Embarrassment shrugged.
"What is going on? Who is sending all of this positive..." Anxiety panicked.
Then she frowned like she knew something. "Joy... I know you're in there."
The rest of the workers looked at me with smiles.
"Don't listen to Anxiety!" I said to them. "She's using these horrible projections to change Maya!"
"Joy, I'm doing this for you" said Anxiety. "This is all so Maya can be happier."
"If you wanted Maya to be happy, then you'd stop hurting her!" I shouted.
The rest of the workers started to draw and project more positive drawings.
"What if Maya is a better actor than Jeremy and he hates her?" said Anxiety.
"What if Maya is better than Jeremy and he respects her?" I rephrased.
"What if Maya's so bad, she has to give up forever?" said Anxiety.
"What if she does so well, the headmistress cries? And the academy awards call and she wins every one of them!" I said.
"Anxiety has got you all chained to desks drawing nightmares!" said Anger. "But you don't have to take it anymore!"
The workers turned off their projections and had a pillow fight.
One threw a chair at Anxiety's screen as she protested.
We escaped just in time and hurried to the parade of future careers.
That's where mind workers displayed balloons of Maya in different professions.
We hopped onto the balloon of her as an actress and floated away.
