“Welcome, welcome, welcome. And now, the p-i-i-i-tch.” Ryan drew out the word. “Ah, nothing rattles to the core like that simple five-letter word. Nerves. Fear. Humiliation.” Lucy was sure if she were closer, she’d have seen that same mischievous grin he wore in her dorm room. “But this is a no-pressure environment. And if you believe that, I’ve got a hip programming language called FORTRAN to sell you.” He laughed, though, Lucy noticed, with less gusto than he had with her. “Okay, okay, seriously, this is easy stuff. Just get on up here, outline your team’s project in sixty seconds or less, and you’re good to go.” He clapped his hands together. “Now let’s get started. Hmm, you know, we usually go in numerical order, but let’s just say that this morning . . . I’m feeling twenty-two.”

Lucy’s heart stopped. This was exactly what she wanted, and yet . . . was she actually going to do this? They’d brainstormed pet grooming half the night. She dropped her feet to the floor. But this was Pulse. She gently pushed back her chair, feeling all sixty pairs of competitor eyes on her.

This was Ryan Thompson.

She had to wow.

She quickly turned back to her table. “Do you trust me?”

“No,” Maddie said.

“Yes,” Delia said.

“Majority rules,” Lucy said, inventing their team precept on the spot.

She brushed her dark hair over her shoulder and weaved through the tables to reach Ryan. Confidence was not something Lucy lacked. Today was no different. Still, after accepting the microphone, warm from Ryan’s hand, she stood close to him, figuring it couldn’t hurt to absorb some of his own three-comma-club, billion-dollar confidence by osmosis.

“Right,” she said. “So you’ve heard of Uber. Lyft. Waze. They get you places. We aim to get you to the right ones.” Lucy glanced at Maddie and Delia. They knew she was off message. But they had no idea just how far. Yet.

She cleared her throat. “Because nothing’s worse than showing up first at a party.” Now deliberately avoiding her teammates, Lucy surveyed the room and this lot whose last party probably had a bouncy house. “Or getting to a club that’s more fossilized than a tyrannosaurus bone. Or a show where the band’s dedicating the whole night to Barry Manilow covers.”

Pulse. Ryan Thompson. And WOW.