“Oh, I’m never getting married and having kids,” Jane interrupts me to add. “But...maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing to feel something for another person? Hannah looked so happy when she was leaving with George, didn’t she? I don’t know if I’ve ever really just felt happy like that.” She pauses. “What if you and I are missing out on something?”
“We’re not,” I say quickly. “I’d much rather be hanging out here in my pajamas than out at some party right now, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Jane says, but there’s a note of hesitation in her voice, so for a second I’m not sure what she’s really thinking.
I notice it’s nearly midnight now, so I flip the movie off so we can watch the ball drop in Times Square. Right as it hits the ground, Jane’s phone lights up with a text. She picks it up, looks at it and smiles.
“Who’s that?” I ask, not realizing it might not be my business until after I already ask.
“Oh...just Sam, saying Happy New Year,” she says.
I glance at my own phone, but no one’s texted me. “He’s back from skiing?” I ask.
“Just got back today,” she says, and I get the feeling they’ve been texting over break. He hasn’t texted me, but then I’ve mostly been with Izzy and haven’t texted him, either.
She picks up her phone to text him back. “Tell him I say Happy New Year, too,” I tell her. Then I scroll through Netflix some more. “Oooh,” I say. “How about a horror movie instead of this sappy romance?”
Jane laughs, puts her phone away and asks if we have any popcorn.
Chapter 24
The morning I head back for the final semester of my high school career, Izzy surprises me by waking up early and cooking me French toast for breakfast before I even make it downstairs.
“Wow,” I say, walking into the kitchen. “It smells great in here.”
“Can I drop you off at school so I can have the car today?” she says. Now that Dad is going back to work, she’ll be stuck here all day without a car if she doesn’t take mine. Ah, an ulterior motive. She makes great French toast, though, so I don’t even care.
“As long as you pick me up, too,” I say. “And I have to go to the Villages after school to volunteer, so you’ll need to go with me since I won’t have time to drive you home first.” She makes a face, but then nods to agree to all that. “Oh, and we need to pick up George on the way to school this morning. I’ve been driving him this year.”
She slides a piece of French toast on my plate and sits next to me at the table, watching me eat it. “George likes you, you know, Em,” she says quickly, matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, George and I have become pretty good friends this year,” I say in between bites.
“No. I mean, he likes you. Wants to date you.”
“What?” I stop eating, turn to her and laugh. “That’s ridiculous, Iz. He’s dating Hannah.”
She shakes her head. “Only because you guys have this silly app for your competition. You can’t write a code for love, Em. I was one hundred percent kidding when I told you to do that the day I left for LA.”
“Actually, you can write a code for love. And we did.” I shove the last of the French toast into my mouth, and stand up to put my plate in the sink and gather my things for school.
Izzy follows after me. “Okay... So then tell me why George matches Hannah or whatever in your app. But he’s actually in love with you?”
In love with me? Something flutters a little in my chest, and I have to stop and catch my breath. I think about all the words Jane used to describe love the other night—dumb and crazy, and happy. Really, really happy.
“That’s ridiculous,” I say to Izzy. “George and I are friends. Co-presidents of the coding club. That’s all. What would even make you think he’s in love with me?”
“The way he looks at you,” she says. “It’s so obvious, Em.”
I roll my eyes. The way he looks at me? What does that even mean? That’s not something quantifiable, something I can reasonably wrap my head around. Izzy has no idea what she’s talking about. We did write the code for love—our matches are all working out great. Izzy doesn’t know everything there is to know about love, no matter how amazing her relationship with John is. “I have to finish getting ready,” I say. “Or I’m gonna be late.”
* * *
“I have bad news,” Sam says at lunch, plopping down next to me. He’s walked in a few minutes late, and I’ve already started eating the leftover vegetarian chili I brought from home. Maybe it’s the break, or maybe it’s that everyone who wants to use our app already is, but lunch has been quiet today. I have, so far, been sitting at our table all alone, and haven’t said a word to anyone. I’m happy to see Sam, though—it’s been twelve days since I’ve seen him last—but I also notice that, strangely, he’s alone.
“What’s that?” I say. “Where’s Laura?”
“Oh, she’s home sick. But that’s not my news. Ian and Brianna broke up over the break. And so did Bethany and Tyler.” I stare at him and nod, then eat a little more chili. “That’s not good, right?”
“Well...” I consider for a moment what this means for our app, for us, for the upcoming state competition. But I don’t think it’s as bad as Sam thinks it is. “We’re in high school. It’s not like we’re telling people who they should marry or anything. Just who they match best within our school. So, I guess it’s bound to happen. Some couples aren’t going to work out, right?”
“Yeah?” Sam smiles, looking reassured, and he sits down next to me and opens his lunch box. He pulls out an orange, a small thermos of soup and a sandwich on a full hoagie roll.
“Wow, nice lunch today,” I say.
He laughs. “My mom was off the past few days, and she totally stocked the fridge.”
I motion to my thermos of chili, instead of my usual tray of cafeteria-bought lunch. “My dad has been off, too, and was cooking for the first time in, like, ten years. And Izzy and I made six dozen cookies. Want one?” I push the small Tupperware of cookies toward him, and he takes out two halves of a broken star, holds them up and puts them back together before taking a bite.
“You and Jane have a fun New Year’s Eve?” he asks as he devours the cookie.
I push the Tupperware toward him and he takes another. “We did,” I say. “Did you and Laura go out?” Though even as I ask the question it occurs to me that maybe it would be weird if they had, given that he was texting Jane when the ball dropped.