“Right?” Sadie said. “So you see?” She spun her phone around. “Emma’s down to a 4! She was a 10 a couple of days ago.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t you get it? A 10 doesn’t fall to a 4 in a matter of days unless they’ve been, like, arrested or something—and not even then depending on what they were arrested for.”

“That’s disturbing.”

“I know, I mean, what could she have done?”

“That’s not what I meant—”

Sadie talked over Maddie. “She’s on hiatus everywhere—every social media account. Like ‘later, alligator.’ And look what she wrote on her Pulse profile: ‘Can there be a Pulse without a heart? Discuss.’ Weird, right? She was supposed to perform at Pulse-a-palooza, but if she’s not a 10 . . . Crush it or be crushed.”

Maddie stood and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Forget it, and while you’re at it, maybe forget Pulse too? Just for a bit?”

She laughed. “You’re funny. Standup, really, Maddie, totally gotta go for it.” An incoming text made Sadie sigh. “My brother’s gonna be ten more minutes.”

“I’ll wait with you,” Maddie said.

“Yeah?”

“Why not? I’ve got a thing for porcupines.”

“If that’s true . . .” Sadie dug something out of her knapsack and held it out to Maddie. “We’re doing a presentation thing, so if you want to see my porcupine dance and meet my mom and brother or anything, you can.”

Maddie accepted the flyer. “I’ll be there.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She reached for her sketchbook, flipping past the pages of potential Lit icons she’d been working on—a flickering candle for “romantic,” a coffin for “dead,” a sardine popping out of a can for “packed.” Paper was the medium she’d started drawing with, and she still tended to brainstorm that way. Though she’d often transition to her tablet, there was something about the feel of the light texture against her skin that released her creativity. She focused on Sadie. “Now, let’s sketch some mockups of moves for our spiky friend.”

*   *   *

When Maddie returned to the dorms, she saw Delia and Eric sitting on the edge of the fountain in the center of the quad. He looked upset, and Maddie wasn’t sure if she was intruding, but Delia waved her over.

“Did you hear?” she asked.

“Hear what?” Maddie said.

“Emma left the program.”

“She’s gone?” Maddie realized she hadn’t seen Emma since the talk on women in tech a couple of days ago.

Eric nodded. “She missed classes and our prep sessions the past two days. Said she was sick. And then, today, she texted from Stinson. Family emergency and she’s out.”

“Stinson? Is that a hospital?”

“Beach. North of San Fran. Summer home. Her dad’s a big Google guy.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Sure hope everything’s okay.”