Look inside your cell phone and you’ll find a complicated circuit board made up of tiny parts and wires. It’s fascinating, but not as fascinating as the world you can’t see . . . the world inside your circuit board.

Textopolis is part of that world. It’s part of a Text app, and it’s where all the Emojis live. Each Emoji does just one thing—and they have to nail it every time.

The Christmas Tree just has to stand there and look festive. The Princesses have to wear their crowns and keep their hair combed. Devil, Thumbs Up, and Poop—they simply have to show up and they’re good to go.

And some—like Fishcake-with-a-Swirl—just have to sit around, because nobody ever uses them.

For some Emojis, doing only one job is tough. Crying always has to cry, even if he’s won the lottery. Laughing has to laugh, even if she’s at the dentist. And then there’s Meh. The Meh has to look totally over it, no matter what’s going on around him.

But for one Meh—Gene Meh—keeping a Meh expression all the time wasn’t easy.

Gene lived in Textopolis inside a phone belonging to a teenage boy named Alex. Gene’s mom and dad, Mel Meh and Mary Meh, were really great at being Meh. Gene wasn’t sure how they did it.

For one thing, Textopolis was an exciting place to live. Emojis filled the busy streets, talking, laughing, and shopping. In the center of the city rose the Company headquarters, a gleaming round building. Every day, one lucky Emoji of each type was chosen to sit in the Company theater. There, they sat and waited to be called up by Alex, the biggest honor any Emoji could hope for.