“It looks like what you got marked down for is the fact that it’s a user-driven app, but you didn’t actually have any user data to present yet,” Ms. Taylor is saying, looking through the score sheets, then passing them around for us all to see. “So—” she’s still talking “—we have three weeks until Christmas break. Let’s get our app on as many students’ phones between now and then as we can. Then, after break, we can begin to track that data.”
* * *
We leave after a short meeting, and Jane is offering to drive Sam home as we all walk out and I’m watching the two of them, so I almost walk right into Ben. He’s standing in the hallway, just outside the door, waiting for Robert. It’s the first time I’ve seen him in person, but he looks almost exactly like he did in his yearbook photo.
“Hey,” he says to Robert, touching him lightly on the arm. “How’d you guys do?”
“Second place,” Robert says. “Not bad, right?” He looks to me for confirmation.
“Well...we did...fine.” I can’t keep the edge of disappointment from my tone.
“We did great,” George interjects, managing to sound more positive than I do, though I would guess deep down he’s disappointed, too. “But, we still have a lot of work to do before states.”
Ben smiles at Robert, revealing slightly crooked front teeth that weren’t visible in his yearbook photo, but it makes his smile kind of more endearing in person. “I thought you might need a ride home,” Ben says to Robert.
Robert nods, and waves goodbye to us, and the two of them walk off together toward the parking lot.
“Okay,” Jane says, turning to me. “You know I was skeptical of this whole app at first. I mean, I’m a cynic who doesn’t really believe in love. I have to admit, though, it’s kinda cool now to see that we’re making people happy.”
And I know I should be thrilled that Jane is pretty much apologizing, but instead I’m distracted by Hannah, who is laughing as George whispers something in her ear, and I hate the feeling that they are sharing some private joke, without me. So all I feel instead is this weird twisting feeling in my stomach.
“Love is still the worst,” I say quietly to Jane.
“Oh, yeah,” she quickly agrees. “The worst.”
Chapter 21
The week before school is out on Christmas break, Izzy flies home from California on the red-eye. She walks through the front door of our house while I’m eating breakfast before school, as if she’d never even left.
“Em!” she squeals, and runs into the kitchen to grab me in a hug. I hug her back, hold on to her tightly. She feels like a stranger and a memory all at once. She pulls out of the hug first. “Look at you!” She tugs on the end of my ponytail, frowns, puts her hands on the sleeves of my sweatshirt. “This is what you’re wearing to school today?”
“I’ve survived the last 122 days without your fashion advice,” I say pointedly. “Yes, this is exactly what I’m wearing to school.”
“Oh my goodness, Iz.” Dad walks in, lugging her giant suitcase behind him. He wipes sweat from his brow. “You’re only home for three weeks. And you still have half a closet full of clothes upstairs. How much could you possibly need?”
Izzy goes and kisses him on the cheek. “I told you I could carry that in, Dad. Aren’t you supposed to be taking it easy?”
“I’m supposed to be getting in shape,” Dad says, doing a half-hearted bicep curl. Then he hugs Izzy to him, kisses the top of her head and closes his eyes a little, so I know how happy he is to have her home and how much he’s missed her. I’ve missed her, too, but if I don’t leave now I’ll be late to pick up George. “I have to leave for school,” I say, to both Izzy or Dad or neither.
Izzy pulls out of her hug with Dad, grabs on to my arm. “I got no sleep on the plane. I need to take a nap. But, Em, after school we’ll hang out, okay?”
I’m staying after for coding club. We’ve planned to meet every day this week to get as much done as possible before the break. But I tell Izzy I’ll be home for dinner and we’ll talk more then.
* * *
“The prodigal son has returned,” George says to me, rolling his eyes when he gets into my car. Right. John is home, too. Of course they took the same flight. George’s sarcasm surprises me, though.
“I thought you and John get along?” I say.
He nods. “We do. It’s just...in my parents’ eyes, John is the sun, and I’m just some shadow cast behind him.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I say. “You’re way better than he is.” George chuckles, and I realize how that came out. “I mean, I like John...enough. But he’s not you.”
“And that’s a good thing?” George says, tilting his head to the side, looking vaguely amused.
“Yes. For one thing, John couldn’t code his way out of a cardboard box. For that matter, neither could Izzy.”
“But they could probably both make it look really beautiful and then not even care that they were inside a cardboard box because they’d just pretend it was a mansion,” George says.
Now it’s my turn to laugh, because George is so spot-on. “The first thing Izzy said to me was, This is what you’re wearing to school today?” I mimic her, making my tone squealier.
George laughs again, reaches his hand out and touches the sleeve of my sweatshirt. “It’s your navy blue. You always wear this one on Wednesdays.”
I pull into my parking spot and turn off my car. His hand lingers on my sweatshirt, and I turn and look at him. “How do you even know that?” He’s right, though. I am partial to my navy blue hoodie on Wednesdays. It’s my halfway through the week is the hardest day to face I might as well wear my most comfortable sweatshirt look.
“You’ve driven me to school almost every day this year.” He shrugs, pulls his hand away and gets out of the car, like it’s no big deal. But if he were to ask me what he was wearing on any particular day, or if there is a rhyme or reason to it, the truth is, I would have absolutely no idea.
* * *
At lunch, there’s a line of people wrapped around our little table, waiting for us to help them load our app onto their phones. Mara spearheaded the campaign during our lunch; Liz and also George and Jane did it during their lunch, and this has been going on all week. So far, we’ve gotten our app on about seventy-five other students’ phones. Jane will be able to track who requests matches, what the results are, and after break, we plan to follow up.