The Code for Love and Heartbreak - Jillian Cantor Page 0,14

down after our loss. I’d pulled an earbud out of my ear to talk to him for a second. “We’ll win next year,” I told him with a confidence I hadn’t yet felt.

“Yeah,” he’d said, leaning his head on the seat in front of him. “Maybe.”

I’d put my earbud back in, and I’d forgotten all about that conversation until right now. But maybe it’s a good thing that Hannah matches him? Phillip might be willing to help me, to help us, given his past history with coding club. Even though he’s no longer part of the club, I do think he’ll genuinely want us to win. That he might be willing to be my first test subject.

* * *

“Which one is Phillip?” Hannah asks as soon as I pick her up Monday morning to go to school. I’d texted her about my results yesterday, but she was at a swim meet all day and couldn’t come over. Now I hand her my yearbook from last year, before pulling out of the parking lot of her apartment complex and driving toward school.

Phillip’s face is flagged with a sticky note, so she finds him quickly. “He’s cute,” she says, sounding excited.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Phillip’s cuteness is beside the point. They’re a statistical match, perfectly suited to date one another. But when I glance at her again, she’s still staring at his picture, smiling a little.

I’d texted Phillip last night and asked him if he’d meet me in the courtyard before school this morning. He texted back that he really didn’t have time for coding club anymore. I told him that was fine, that this was about something else, and then he had agreed to meet me. And that wasn’t exactly a lie. I don’t need or want him back in the club. I just need him to listen and give my algorithm a chance.

I’d texted George last night, too, asking him if he needed a ride to school this morning, hoping maybe he’d come with us, see my work in action and change his mind. All I got back was one word: nope. But he can’t stay mad at me forever. As co-presidents, we’re going to have to work together to submit our application for the state competition, and once I get Phillip on board, and maybe get a few more people interested in matches, George will come around. He’ll have to.

* * *

Phillip is sitting in the courtyard, just like he’d promised. And I sigh with relief when I spot him there. It’s not that I’d expected him to stand us up exactly, but I also wasn’t sure whether he’d remember or care enough to actually show up, either.

“Hey, Em,” he says, looking up as we approach. It annoys me, the way he calls me Em, like we’re old friends. We’re not. Em is reserved for people who really know me, who love me. Everyone calls me Emma, except for Izzy and sometimes Dad. But I bite my tongue, offer him a wave and a forced smile. His eyes move from me to Hannah, and he opens his mouth a little, like he wants to say something else, but then closes it, saying nothing at all.

I gently take Hannah by the shoulders, sit her down on the bench next to Phillip and stand in front of them, looking at them for a second. His orange hair is still just a little wet from the shower and curling up above his ears, and Hannah’s red curls are also a little damp and flatter than usual, revealing more of her heart-shaped face and bright green eyes.

“Phillip,” I say. “This is Hannah. She’s a freshman, new in coding club this year. Hannah, this is Phillip.” Hannah turns and rigidly holds out her arm, offering one of her tiny hands to shake. But Phillip cocks his head to the side, smiles at her. He picks her hand up, but instead of shaking, just holds on to it for a second, before she pulls away, her cheeks burning as red as her hair.

“I’m confused. What’s so important that you guys needed to see me before school?” Phillip asks, turning back to me.

I take a deep breath and tell him about my matching app, not sure what to expect after the way things went horribly awry on Friday with Ms. Taylor and Mr. Weston. Once I finish explaining to Phillip about how I ran Hannah through my algorithm and how he matches her, he stares at