Lucy had marched to the snack center, loaded her arms with iced coffees and kale chips, and then carefully arranged them on the table beside her. She pulled out her laptop and said, “Should we try Swift, then?”

She punched letters on the keyboard, and Maddie learned two things: that this Lucy chick could code, and that so far the only thing they had in common was a stubborn streak. They may have had the worst app, but they had an app by the end of the hackathon.

They were there when Ryan Thompson announced Gavin Cox and his teammates as the winners. They were there when Gavin Cox stood on the table, pumped his fists in the air, and shouted, “Boom!” And they were there when the team attempted to crush Red Bull cans with their chest bumps. One can must have been mostly full, and when Gavin Cox received a shower of sticky liquid, Maddie and Lucy both cracked up—the first time they were in sync all night.

BFFs and Maddie went together as well as her dad’s bean soup and her mom’s Irish soda bread. This was simply a professional partnership. Except so far it was anything but.

Maddie had lain in bed, exhausted but wide-awake—from jet lag and the thoughts running through her head. She’d listened to the faint sounds of a guitar echoing from somewhere down the hall, figuring it was that Emma girl Lucy had been creeping on during the hackathon. She’d checked the flights to Boston and had almost booked one. But then she pictured herself alone with her parents and without Danny.

Maddie would stay, but not like this.

“I think we should see Ms. Kapoor,” she said after Lucy and Delia took seats across from her at the breakfast table. “She’s my mentor and—”

“And we need mentoring,” Delia said.

“Doubt that’ll be enough,” Maddie said. “Face it, we’re just not compatible. I think we should consider splitting up. Maybe there are other teams looking to make a change, or maybe we can work alone.”

Delia’s face showed her shock, but Lucy simply finished chewing her bite of scrambled tofu.

“Fine by me,” she said. “I was going to propose the same thing.”

Delia lowered her eyes and pushed her bacon around her plate.

They ate in silence.

When they got up to leave, Maddie noticed Delia’s plate was as full as when she’d sat down.

*   *   *

An awkward silence hung in the air as they stood in front of Nishi. They’d arrived early to the class on functionality that she was leading that morning.

“There’s precedent,” Nishi finally said. “Team members leave for all sorts of reasons—job offers, emergencies, illness. We’ve had two-person and solo teams in the past. We don’t like to, but really the disadvantage is yours, so if you all agree . . .”