The Code for Love and Heartbreak - Jillian Cantor Page 0,81
they’re all wearing to the dance, and then one girl, Olivia (I think?), turns to me and says brightly, “Who are you going with, Emma?”
“Oh,” I say, putting my sandwich down. “I’m not... The coding club is planning on going together, as a group.” But I remember this was Jane’s idea, and that I’m mad at Jane now, too. So maybe we won’t still go as a group. “Or,” I add, “I might not even go at all.”
“You didn’t do your own match?” another red-haired girl whose name I can’t remember asks, looking incredulous. I shake my head. “Why not?”
“I don’t want a match,” I say.
“But aren’t you just a little bit curious who you’re supposed to be with?” Olivia asks now, pressing me.
I think of what George said, that taking someone to a dance doesn’t mean you’re supposed to be with her. Olivia and Mara and the rest of these girls clearly feel differently.
“Emma doesn’t have time to date,” Mara interjects, saving me from explaining more. “She’s going to be our class valedictorian.” It hasn’t officially been declared yet, but I’m also pretty sure it’s going to be me, as I currently have an A in Spanish while George has an A-.
I shoot Mara a grateful smile. “Exactly,” I finally say. “And besides, I’m too busy working on code so you can all have dates.”
And it turns out that was the right thing to say for once, because they all laugh like they think I’m funny, and maybe, they even like me.
* * *
Coding club planned to meet Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week after school to practice our presentations and make finishing touches to all our data charts, tracking data up until the very last minute. On Friday, we’ll all take a bus to Newark, missing the day of school to compete in the state tournament.
I know I won’t be able to avoid Jane and Sam, and skipping it isn’t an option after school on Tuesday, either. There’s still work to be done before the competition, and I’ll already have to leave early, by four, to get to the Villages to get my volunteer hour in. I have to go to the meeting.
When I walk in, Jane and Sam each look up from opposite sides of the room and wave at me, but I refuse to acknowledge them. Instead of sitting next to Jane at the meeting, as I’ve been doing now for months, I walk to the other side of the room and pull up a chair next to Hannah. Ms. Taylor takes the whole thing in and frowns, but she bites her lip, not saying anything at all.
“Hey, Emma,” Hannah says, her face curling up into a surprised smile. I haven’t spent as much time with her since she started dating George, and the truth is, I’m not really sure what’s going on with her at the moment or how she’s feeling about everything. She looks kind of nervous—she has a strand of hair twisted around her finger, which she then untwists and settles against her shoulders.
“I thought you and I could work together today on writing up the mechanical for the judges,” I say to her. She nods and smiles and stops playing with her hair. Part of our entry for states is writing out an explanation and justification of all our code. Really, Jane would be more suited to do this with me than Hannah, since she took the lead on coding the database, but I’ll write up what I can and Jane can do the rest on her own tomorrow.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jane holding on to her laptop, walking over to where Sam is sitting. They both look at her screen, and start working together on what I assume is editing Jane’s data chart. Robert is working alone in the corner on perfecting the trifold board. George has an environmental club meeting and will be here a little late.
The truth is, I don’t really want Hannah to help me now. I definitely don’t need her to help me. I can work quicker on my own. But I also want to make it look like I’m engaging her in conversation so I don’t have to say anything to Jane or Sam. So when she first starts talking in hushed tones about George, I smile and nod, and murmur, “That’s great.” But then she just won’t stop talking about George.