Lucy paused, then turned the bottle upside down. The words Girl Power on the label had been embellished with the letters em crammed in before power and ed after in red ink.

“Girl Empowered,” Lucy said, her own smile as wide as Maddie’s. “Maddie, I—”

“Just do me a favor and open a window when you use it. Almost passed out from the fumes last time.”

Lucy resisted the urge to hug Maddie and simply said, “You got it.” She then slid the end of the scarf Maddie had flung over her shoulder back to the front.

Maddie rolled her eyes. “So should we text Delia?”

“Not yet.” Lucy grabbed a pair of skinny jeans. “She and Eric need all the time they can get.” And Delia needed to check on their surprise for Maddie—a belated birthday gift. It was just like Maddie not to tell them; Lucy only found out when she noticed the deflating balloon next to Maddie’s handle on Pulse, the sign of a recent birthday. Superior as Lucy’s organizational skills may be, even she was impressed that the surprise had come together so fast—just in the few days they’d realized they could actually be a part of Demo Day.

Lucy crammed one leg in her jeans, realizing this meant she and Maddie would be going to the club alone. Sure, they’d been spending more time together in the room while Delia was with Eric, but this was different. Was that why she’d asked?

“It’s okay, right?” Lucy said, trying to sound nonchalant. “That it’s just us?”

Maddie flipped the scarf back over her shoulder. “Yeah, it’s okay.”

“Cool, then.”

“Uh-huh. Cool.”

A little awkward maybe, but, yeah, cool.

*   *   *

Janky.

The club wouldn’t make any must dos in Silicon Valley. Between the grime on the walls and the cockroaches scurrying into the corners, it was the definition of janky.

Lucy didn’t need her Pulse tee to get in here. They just walked through the door. The bartender barely looked up from his phone when they asked which way was backstage.

They didn’t knock. Because there was no door. They entered the dark room with concrete floors, a couch in need of a case of her lavender-scented wipes, and the stench of old beer and decomposing fruit or rat or both.

Maddie came to a halt when she saw her. “This is why we’re here?”

Lucy nodded and moved deeper into the room, watching Emma Santos. She sat on a wooden chair (good call), her eyes closed (ditto), her fingers strumming a guitar (impressively), and her voice working through a warm-up.