Chapters (45)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Pulse
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY–ONE
- TWENTY–TWO
- TWENTY–THREE
- TWENTY–FOUR
- TWENTY–FIVE
- TWENTY–SIX
- TWENTY–SEVEN
- TWENTY–EIGHT
- TWENTY–NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY–ONE
- THIRTY–TWO
- THIRTY–THREE
- THIRTY–FOUR
- THIRTY–FIVE
- THIRTY–SIX
- THIRTY–SEVEN
- THIRTY–EIGHT
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- RESOURCES
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
“We have to be more proactive.” Lucy climbed up on the stool and spun Maddie’s seat to face her. “Look, you know Emma Santos? Eric’s teammate?”
“Of course. She’s really talented.”
“More importantly, she’s a 7.” Lucy held up her phone, open to the Pulse app. “Last week she was a 5.”
“Well, good for Emma?”
Lucy tucked one leg under her to sit up higher. “Good for all of us. One week into the program and she shot up two whole Pulses. That’s how important ValleyStart is. Just think what it can do for us.”
What Maddie knew about Pulse came from Sadie, and she didn’t really think getting free iPhones and tickets to football games would matter this much to Lucy.
“It’s not really my thing, Lucy. I’m sorry I can’t share your enthusiasm. I just think there are more important things to worry about than Pulse.”
“It’s not just my thing, it’s everyone’s thing.” Lucy sucked in her bottom lip and spat it back out. “Listen, I get it, you’re not from here, you don’t want to be from here, so you don’t realize just how huge this incubator is. Or what it can do.” She paused, and when she spoke again, her voice lacked its usual bravado. “What I need it to do. Because I’m wait-listed, Maddie. Wait-listed at the place that’s been my dream since before I knew what the word ‘college’ meant. If simply being at ValleyStart can make Emma’s Pulse—our Pulses—rise, then just think what a successful beta test . . . what a win can do. If we win ValleyStart . . . if we intern at Pulse . . . there’s no way Stanford doesn’t let me in.”
Maddie wasn’t sure what to say, and in the time it took for her to decide, Lucy straightened her spine and reclaimed her authoritative tone. “Your design skills are sick, sure. But you don’t care about any of the rest of it. You’re not in it like me and Delia.”
Maddie pulled back in surprise. She’d laid the foundation, the typography and color scheme. She had designs for the logo and buttons. Maybe she wasn’t pulling all-nighters, but the user interface was easy stuff. “Because I don’t need to be. You don’t have to worry about my part.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I do have to worry, because your part is my part, my part is Delia’s part, Delia’s part is your part, it’s all connected. Or it should be. We’re a team. It’s like you don’t want to be. Makes me wonder why you even bothered applying in the first place.”
Maddie had seen Lucy angry, and this wasn’t that. Anger Maddie could handle. Disappointment was something else.