in Zac’s living room, “this is a preliminary database. Something you can present in class and give an idea of how it will work. There are a lot more features I have planned, but I’ll have to work on those over the summer. Even though this incarnation is very basic, I think it should be enough to get you an A.” She grinned, proud of herself.
“I hope so,” Zac said. “I could use it. Not all of us are valedictorians in the making.” He winked at me.
My heart did a weird fluttering dance. What was wrong with me today? Ever since I’d arrived at Zac’s house a few minutes before, I’d been unable to stop looking at him. I liked the way his dark hair fell into his eyes even after he tried to brush them away. I liked how pink his lips were against his naturally brown skin.
Stop looking at Zac! I told myself.
Molly typed in a web address and brought up the website Delia had designed. The logo for A to Z Love Matches featured a cartoon cupid shooting an arrow between our initials.
“I’ve put in the data you guys gave me,” Molly said. “So we can pick someone—let’s use you, Zac—and we’ll see what matches the computer gives us.”
Molly typed in Zac’s name to pull up his profile and then clicked the flashing “Match Me!” button she had added to the site. A moment later, a couple of names were displayed.
“Rita Haysworth?” Zac asked. “Who is that?”
“Freshman,” I said.
Molly laughed as she read the other name. “You got matched with Pamela Hopkins!”
Pamela Hopkins was a junior whose nickname was Goliath. She played on the basketball team, was about six foot five and very muscular. She could have crushed Zac easily.
“Pamela’s a nice girl,” Zac said, although he didn’t look too thrilled at the match.
“Keep in mind there are only about twenty profiles in the database right now,” Molly said. “So it’s possible you’d have a lot more matches if we had more profiles.”
Zac nodded and then said, “Do Avery.”
“No,” I said. “I’m not into this matchmaking thing.”
Zac reached behind Molly and playfully shoved my shoulder. “Scared you’ll get matched with someone gross?”
I ignored the tingles on my arm from Zac’s touch. “No, I don’t believe in this stuff, remember?”
“Then it doesn’t matter what the computer says,” he pointed out. “It’s a silly game. Do it, Molly.”
Molly typed my name in, hit the button, and…nothing.
The page displayed the words “Zero matches found” in big black letters.
Great. Even a computer knew I wasn’t meant to be matched up with anyone.
A long moment of stunned silence fell over the room. Then Molly cleared her throat and said, “Well, like I said, there are only twenty profiles in the system right now. Once we get more…”
I tuned out Molly’s excuses and settled back into the couch cushions. Proof right in front of me that perfect matches didn’t exist, at least not for me. I’d known all along. I’d made it my mantra.
So why did the confirmation hurt so much?
Molly stayed for a while longer, going over her future plans for the site and potential revenue sources. Her ideas would keep her busy throughout the summer and into next year.
I sat slumped on the Greeleys’ couch, barely paying attention as they talked. How could the two of them believe any of this might be real? It was a stupid computer program, lines of code, that pulled out names based on things that in the end never mattered at all. Because you couldn’t predict people and you couldn’t force romance by pulling two names out of a hat and pairing them together. The entire project was doomed to fail.
That, at least, would get me out of dancing for Zac. If he lost our bet by us failing the project, then I wouldn’t owe him anything. We could go back to our separate lives in which I slept soundly in my bed on Saturday nights instead of running around town with him.
“And that’s basically it,” Molly said as she packed up her laptop. “If you have any questions or suggestions, email them to me and I’ll add them to the list.”
Zac stood and grinned at her. “Thanks a lot, Molly. This is going to be the best project in the entire class.”
Molly huffed. “Don’t be so sure of yourself. I have a project of my own, remember? And it’s pretty spanking awesome, if I say so myself.”
When Molly left, Zac and I were alone