She breathed in the last of the wisteria as she exited the arbor, appreciating her mom in a way she hadn’t done in years.

*   *   *

Delia wouldn’t stay still. In front of the pizza oven, she bounced from one foot to the other. Back and forth. Forth and back. Lucy couldn’t take it anymore.

“Maddie’s at the music hall, right?” Lucy asked, to which Delia nodded. “Then I’m staking out the student center. You stay here. Text me if anything happens.”

The beta test was an hour in, and they only had a handful of reports.

It was working, just not hard enough. They needed testers.

Lucy opened her scheduling app. Another blast about participating in Lit was waiting. She hesitated and then amended each post to include the photo of her and Ryan.

Any and every advantage.

She opened Lit and marked the pizza place as “worth the trip.” She then ducked into the restroom. By the time she came out, half a dozen students were in line, all on their phones. She weaved through, sneaking a glance at what was up on their screens. Lit. They were on Lit.

“Better be good,” one guy in a beanie said. “I’m starved.”

“No worries,” the guy beside him said. “Level 10 approved. Said ‘worth the trip.’ So it will be.”

Level 10?

Lucy slunk into the corner. No one else had marked the pizza joint as “worth the trip.”

She bit down on her lower lip. Wanting to open Pulse. Afraid to open Pulse. But she did it anyway.

And, inside, she screamed.

She was Crushing It.

And soon, so was Lit.

*   *   *

Nothing could be more perfect than Pulse-Lit. Their beta test proved it. Because when a user with a high Pulse rated a venue, more people responded—leaving when things were dull, arriving when they were happening.

Not only did Lit work, Lit was prime for exactly what Ryan had suggested—a merger. Lucy was practically floating by the time the test ended. Officially ended, that is. Users were continuing to add ratings.

Because they loved it. And everyone at ValleyStart could see it.

Gavin could see it. And Gavin, Lucy noted when she passed him in the quad, was worried. She didn’t envy the call to come with his father. But Lucy had earned this. They all had.

Lucy, Maddie, and Delia had split up for the rest of the test, each traveling between venues to assess the traffic. They’d planned to meet in their dorm room.

When Lucy arrived, she took the stairs two at a time, anxious to put their disagreements behind them and celebrate their success—which included Ryan’s interest in Lit.

When she burst through the door, the room was empty.

A tightness spread across her chest.

But she was at the student center—she was closest, right?

They’re coming, they’re definitely coming.