The Code for Love and Heartbreak - Jillian Cantor Page 0,47
would that set for the club? If I match her, then I match her. Your math isn’t wrong, right?
It is basically the same argument I just made in my own head for how I would feel if I happen to match Sam. So I can’t argue with him. Though I also have this weird feeling rising in my chest. Annoyance, I think. Or...dread? I like Hannah. And George is my friend. But together they will be something altogether different. Something I might not like at all. And that bothers me.
But like George says, the math isn’t wrong, so I sigh and move on.
I run Sam’s match. And again, he matches Laura. Stupid choir. When I check the database, there’s also the fact that they are both bilingual...and I didn’t realize before, but she also plays volleyball, just like he does.
For some reason, I’m unreasonably angry, and I slam my laptop lid shut, done with matches for the night. I go downstairs, and even though it is late, after nine, I’m the only one home. Dad is working late, again. The kitchen is dark. But I don’t turn on the lights.
I find a pint of mint chocolate chip in the freezer and I don’t even get a bowl. I sit at the kitchen table in the dark and eat it right out of the carton with a spoon.
Chapter 17
“I think something’s still off with my algorithm,” I say to George in the car the next week on the way to school. After a few days of thinking on it, that’s the only possible explanation for how George and Hannah somehow match. And how Sam still matches Laura. She’s started sitting with us at lunch now, and she’s nice enough, but every day this week I’ve been thinking how she and Sam just don’t seem like they should be dating. Something feels off.
“I don’t think so,” George says as I park and we both get out of the car to walk toward school. “You know Liz, cross-country co-captain?” I shake my head. I know of her, know she matched Mara, but I don’t know her. “She found me at lunch yesterday and she is so happy that she matches Mara. She’s wanted to ask Mara out for two years, but was worried Mara didn’t feel the same way. Except apparently Mara does feel the same way, has for a while, and she was too scared to say anything to Liz, too.” I guess that’s what Mara was saying when she texted me Omg!
“All right, well, that’s one. I’m not saying the algorithm is completely wrong. Maybe it just needs to be tweaked.”
“Robert and Ben are going to a movie on Friday,” George says. And now it’s just annoying that he knows all this stuff I don’t. I sigh as we walk into the school. I guess it should have occurred to me to follow up with everyone this week, but my mind was still on perfecting the math, the algorithm itself. Of course it occurred to George, though. “And Hannah and I are going out to dinner on Friday night,” he says.
“You are?” I stop walking, turn to look at George. He shrugs, and he has this weird defiant look on his face, like maybe he wants me to tell him not to go. But why would I do that? What reason could I possibly give? “I mean, of course you are.”
“There isn’t anything wrong with the algorithm,” George says again. “And besides, we only have two weeks until the regional tournament. Full steam ahead.”
* * *
I get to lunch a few minutes late, staying behind in English to ask a question, and by the time I get to our table, Sam and Laura are both already there, laughing and holding hands. I stand back and stare at them for a second, thinking that maybe George really is right. There’s nothing wrong with my algorithm.
“Hey, E,” Sam calls out to me, waving me over. I walk to the table and sit down. He flashes me a smile, but doesn’t let go of Laura’s hand. “Do me a favor. Laura and I are having a debate—settle something for us.”
“What’s that?” I ask, plunking my tray down on the table. But I take a minute to observe them before I start to eat, noticing how close they’re sitting together, how they’re both smiling, like they really do like each other.
“Which one’s a better song: ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ or Rhapsody in Blue?” Sam asks.