ValleyStart: At the close of your second week, we assess the strong and the weak, the tortoise and the hare, the apps proceeding with vigor and care. Take a look, see where you stand, then grab your code with both hands! Lest you forget, Week 4 kicks off with the beta test!

The intensity of the program had ramped up these past few days, as teams focused on improving functionality before the deadline to submit their in-progress apps for review. Believing competition yielded better results, just as Nishi had said, ValleyStart planned to rank the apps. And the results were in.

Lucy squeezed her phone. Her team was tenth. Ten. Out of twenty.

What?

The middle of the pack. Average.

What? What?

Lucy was many things, but average was not one of them. She scanned the full list. Gavin’s team was tied for first.

What? What? What?

No. No, no, no. They’d fix it. She’d fix it. This was going to be her week. She flipped her ringer to silent and dug her notebook and favorite polka-dotted pen out of her tote, desperately trying to ignore the thud, thud, thud, thud in her temples; it was like her heartbeat was mocking her.

She pressed her hand against the carved wood of the door leading into the auditorium, crinkling the edge of the A DISCUSSION: WOMEN IN TECH sign attached to it.

A groan Lucy hated that she recognized came from behind her, and she gritted her teeth.

“Women in tech. And I have to go to this, why?” Gavin grumbled. “Luce, do me a favor and tell them about my big—”

“Mouth? Attitude? Chauvinistic tendencies? We all got it, Gavin, no worries.” Lucy sped through the doorway, knowing there wouldn’t be room enough for her, Gavin, and his ego when he checked his ranking.

She hurried down the gently sloped aisle, catching sight of Delia on the other side of the crescent-shaped room, next to Eric. Lucy waved, but Delia was talking with such excitement and intensity that she didn’t even see. The girl was downright peppy. A state Lucy had yet to witness.

Maybe this was the problem. Eric and Delia were spending a lot of time together, had even coordinated their kiosk shifts, which Delia insisted was only so when things were slow, they could work on their programming together. Either Delia was that naïve or somehow thought Lucy was.

Yet all the time Delia was spending with Eric hadn’t affected his team—it was fourth. Was Delia helping Eric so much that Lit was suffering or was he not helping her enough? Lucy fought the urge to wedge herself between them and instead made a note to talk to Delia about her “give-to-get” ratio.

She found Maddie up front and took the seat beside her. Before Lucy could speak, Maddie held up her hand. “I saw.”