A white guy barely in his twenties, the Head of House had on the Silicon Valley uniform of expensive sneakers, logo tee, and hoodie. He spent the first ten minutes talking about his days at ValleyStart only a couple of years ago. He’d won with an app that counted the number of trees in acres of forest land that he subsequently sold “in the upper two commas” to some Wall Street timber fund. Silicon Valley, the place that made you a millionaire for doing what any preschooler could do. Lucy couldn’t help picturing the logo Maddie would design: a toddler counting on fingers and toes.

Though Lucy felt naked without her notebook in her hands, the image helped to relax her nerves and infuse a calm in her voice when Tim Corrio, the Head of House, finally got around to asking why they were there.

Lucy cleared her throat. “It has to do with Ryan Thompson.”

“My man!” Tim clapped his hands. “Did you know the Rye-man and I—”

“No, just no,” Maddie said.

Lucy widened her eyes, but Maddie simply said, “Go ahead, Lucy.”

Grateful to have gone through the events multiple times with Maddie and Delia, the only part of Lucy shaking were her hands, which she easily slid under her thighs. Though her pulse was quick, her words remained level as she began. “Last night, I left campus and went to San Francisco to have a business dinner with Ryan—”

“That’s it!” Tim jabbed his finger at Lucy. “San Fran! The club! I remember you from the club.” He raised his arms over his head and grooved to his own “untz, untz, untz.”

“Uh, okay,” Lucy said.

“You and my bud, Marc, were tearing it up on the floor.”

Lucy pressed her thighs harder into her hands. “Sure, right.”

“Marc with a c?” He raised his eyebrows expectantly before waving his hand. “Ah, forget it. You were trying so many on for size, how could you remember? No worries, I won’t tell him. No need to crush my boy’s feelings.”

“Okay, yeah, thanks.” She cleared her throat again. “But like I was saying, last night, I—”

“And that was you heading into the office with Ryan during our shotgunning tourney, right?”

“Yes, that was my mentor session.”

“Man, he’s your mentor? What I wouldn’t have given to have had him as my mentor when I was here.” He smirked and flung the hood over his head. “Oh, wait, probably did okay without it.” He mouthed “two commas” and held up his index and middle fingers.

Maddie groaned, and Delia, surprisingly, did too.

“Yes,” Lucy said. “Ryan’s my mentor, which is why—”

But Tim’s head was in his phone, his finger swiping up and down. “Comatose? For the love of LaCroix, you’re Comatose? I’m surprised you were even let into ValleyStart. When I was applying—”

“Counting was revolutionary?” Maddie said.