The Code for Love and Heartbreak - Jillian Cantor Page 0,9

walks out and Ms. Taylor puts her head in her hands. George is glaring at me; Sam shrugs and offers me a small smile. Hannah is wide-eyed, and either in awe of or ashamed of me. Robert Martin doodles on his notebook, indifferent, and Jane, dressed today in her signature lab coat, is raising her hand wildly, waiting for Ms. Taylor to stop being mortified enough to notice her.

“Yes, Jane,” Ms. Taylor finally looks up and says.

“I’m just going to state the obvious and say this is absolutely ridiculous.”

“Yes, Jane.” She shakes her head, sounding more resigned this time.

“I don’t think it’s ridiculous at all,” Sam says. My face warms with the compliment and I shoot him a grateful smile.

“There are a million dating apps out there already,” George cuts him off. “The world doesn’t need another one.”

“A million?” I fume. Is he deliberately speaking in hyperbole just to make me angry?

“Yeah, but this is different,” Sam says. “It will tell you who you should date at our school. And teachers should be off-limits,” he adds.

“And those million other apps aren’t for us,” I say, still feeling angry and defensive now, too. “Most of us aren’t even old enough to use them. Our app will only connect people at Highbury High, so everyone can find their best match who also goes to our school. If we get it right, this could even become a model for high schools all over the country.”

Ms. Taylor sighs. Her face has finally gone back to a normal color. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to use her in my prototype. But she seems to be considering my points now, too.

George turns to look at me and Sam and frowns. “Why would we waste our time on something so silly, when we could actually try and do something important?”

“And you can’t just mess with people’s lives like this,” Jane adds emphatically, twisting her fingers around the sleeves of her coat. It’s making me hot just to look at her in that thing. Seriously it’s still in the 80s today. Why on earth does she feel the need to accessorize with a lab coat?

“I volunteer.” Hannah raises her hand in the air. Jane shoots her an icy stare. “I mean...I just...” She looks away from Jane, and looks directly at me. “You’re not messing with someone’s life if she wants it to be messed with, right? I want a match. I volunteer to be the test subject.”

“All right, everyone.” Ms. Taylor waves her hand in the air. “That’s enough for today. Why don’t we call the meeting? Jane, George, if you want to come up with other prototypes to share with us next week, then we’ll have some options, okay? In the meantime, Emma—” She shoots me a weird contorted look, and I can’t tell whether she hates me or loves me right now. “Let’s leave people’s love lives alone, okay?”

* * *

George gathers up his things and walks toward the parking lot, ahead of me. I run to catch up. “George, wait,” I call out. “I didn’t mean to leave you out. I just thought you wouldn’t take this idea seriously unless you saw it in action first. We could go back to my house and work on the prototype more together now.”

He stops walking, turns around to face me. “Emma...” He shakes his head. “I thought you were better than this.”

“I know the coding is still rudimentary, but it’s only a prototype.”

“I’m not talking about the coding,” he says, and before I can ask him what he means, Jane walks up behind us.

“You need a ride?” she says to George, pulling her car keys out of the pocket of her lab coat.

“I’m giving him a ride,” I say. Jane doesn’t react or even turn to acknowledge me. It’s like I’m invisible, and she doesn’t see or hear me.

“Yeah, thanks,” George says, turning away from me. “I would love a ride, Jane.” His words sting, and I flinch a little.

I watch the two of them walk away together, thinking I should call after George, or apologize. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to say or what I have to apologize for. It’s not my fault he doesn’t like my idea. George is being stubborn.

“I could use a ride,” Hannah says. I was so focused on George I hadn’t even realized she’d walked up next to me, until I hear her voice. “I mean, if you don’t mind? I can text my mom to get