“Oh,” she said again, wanting to crawl inside herself and hide.

“I already fell.”

Eric’s eyes met hers, penetrating deeper than anyone ever had, and her instinct was to look away, but she held his gaze right back, and suddenly that wasn’t the only thing she wanted to hold.

Her hands were around his back and her lips were on his and her knees were screaming from the way she’d dragged them against the concrete to reach him, but all she could think was, Oh.

And a bit of, Wow.

And, I have no idea what happens now.

But finding out, well, she couldn’t wait.

THIRTY–ONE

COPY AND CRUSH • Setting your sights on a competitor with the goal of eliminating them from the market; often spoken of in relation to a dominant organization like Facebook

“FOMO!” LUCY CRIED. “MADDIE, FOMO!”

Maddie leaned over her bunk. “Perpetual fear of yours, I know, but is this prompted by something in particular?”

Lucy jutted her hip. “I do not have a fear of missing out.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I don’t. Because there’s nothing to miss if I’m not there.” She smirked. “In this case, it’s a club.”

“You want to go out? Tonight? I’ve just about got your presentation memorized from listening to you run through it nine million times, so I know you haven’t forgotten that Demo Day’s the day after tomorrow.”

“It’s for the presentation.”

Maddie seemed unconvinced.

“No, it is.” Lucy summoned a bit of the courage she was going to need to go through with this. “Do you trust me?”

Maddie pushed her laptop aside. “Yes.”

“All right then. FOMO it is.”

Maddie climbed down. “I should change.”

Lucy eyed her Gumberoo tee and worn jeans. “It’s in San Jose. You’ll fit in just fine.”

“But what if . . . maybe I want to?”

A bounce. Just one. That’s all Lucy would allow herself. She nodded to her bunk closet. “My shirts will be crop tops on you, but that’s so in right now. Grab whatever you want.”

Maddie riffled through the stacks, and Lucy tried not to cringe (too much). Maddie pulled out a striped scarf, and Lucy helped loop it around her neck.

A hint of a smile broke out on Maddie’s face before she reached into her front pocket. “I almost forgot. Picked this up for you at one of the kiosks.”

A bottle of nail polish. A deep mauve.

Lucy felt herself blink, not because the color was such a sharp contrast against her bare fingernails but because of the gesture itself—and that it was from Maddie. “Thanks, but I’m not so much into it anymore.”

Maddie’s grin widened as she flipped one end of the scarf over her shoulder. “Look at the bottom.”