Delia sank deeper into her plastic-coated mattress as Lucy returned to the slideshow. She knew her team came first, and she wanted to win, it was just that she wanted Eric to win too.

Lucy had designed the Lit beta test, enlisting several on-campus spots and a couple off-campus venues as their test subjects, to be rated in real time. And that was the biggest “snag”—the ratings weren’t averaging fast enough. The more ratings Delia put into the app at once, the slower it worked. A lag might not be noticeable on a small scale like the beta test, but once the app hit a fully functioning market, the delay would become monumental. The judges could extrapolate as easily as Delia had. They had to fix it—Delia had to fix it.

She ran through all the possible solutions again—a recitation she’d committed to memory same as when she helped her mother rehearse. Only Delia’s lines were a jumble of letters and numbers that she couldn’t untangle.

A buzz interrupted. A text from Cassie. Delia picked up her phone and shot up so fast, she hit her head on the bottom of the upper bunk.

“Please tell me that’s not the right time,” she said, holding up her phone.

“Can’t,” Maddie said. “That’s the right time.”

Lucy placed her hands on her hips. “Painted Ladies, huh? No significance whatsoever to that being your background picture since you and Eric aren’t a thing.”

The mattress squeaked as Delia shoved herself off of it. She grabbed her kiosk nametag from her suitcase/nightstand and searched under her bed for her backpack. Maddie’s stuff made its way into every available crevice on their side of the room, with balled-up sketches in the corners, sneakers dangling off the bedpost, and chargers dropping down into Delia’s sheets. As Delia slid her backpack across the floor, it brought with it a Red Sox hat filled with pretzels.

“What are you doing?” from Lucy.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for that,” from Maddie.

“How long has it been missing?” Lucy asked.

Maddie paused.

“Don’t tell me,” Lucy said, snatching the hat and dumping the pretzels in the trash.

Delia edged past her. “Guys, I’m really sorry, but I’ve got work.”

“Now?” Lucy said. “But we planned this all week. You said you’d take tonight off.”

Maddie tucked the hat low on her head. “May be boring as hell, but even I know we have to be on the same page before the beta test.”

“Because,” Lucy said, “if we come out on top, we have an eighty-five percent chance of winning Demo Day. Eighty-five, Delia.”

“I know. And I want to stay, I do,” Delia said. “But no one could cover for me. And I’m already late.”

Lucy twiddled her fingers. “Tell loverboy we said hi.”

“That’s not why I’m going.”

“Right,” Lucy said.