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?
“What?” Delia shot out of bed. “I’m here on a scholarship, Maddie.” She wanted to say more, that her roommates might know what that word means but not how it feels, but Delia wasn’t one for conflict. And yet between her parents and San Francisco and Mountain View and her wanting this so much—not just for them but for herself—conflict was starting to consume her. That a ValleyStart win and maybe financial aid to Mountain View U could remotely be possible scared her like The Shining. It meant giving up everything she knew, all that felt right and safe, but still she wanted to keep it possible. She couldn’t have whatever this new obsession of Maddie’s was ruining it for her. “A scholarship that’s sponsored by Pulse, by Ryan Thompson. And you’re, like, what? Investigating him? Don’t you realize how bad that’ll look? For all of us?”
“And,” Lucy chimed in, “if you’re going to stay up all night at least you could be working on Lit. Remember when you told me there were more important things to worry about than Pulse? Well, right back at ya!”
“Don’t yell at her,” Delia said.
“Why not? You did.”
“Because this affects me. And her part on Lit is fine. That’s not what needs yelling about.”
“Sure, her part’s fine. She did fine. You did fine. I did fine. Fine, fine, fine. Fine isn’t good enough. And since I’m covering your tush in the Demo Day presentation, it’s up to me to make it all more than fine, to make it fan-freaking-tastic. You may think I’m over here painting my nails and flirting with boys, but instead I’m running all over campus to make sure our beta test actually has betas to test it.”
And with that, Lucy yanked the covers over her head.
Delia wanted to jerk them right off and sleep under them instead of her comforter that she swore scratched her cornea the other night. Instead, she turned away from Maddie and her ginormous laptop, snatched Lucy’s luxuriously soft pillow off the floor, and sank into bed. She buried her head beneath her sandpaper covers and wished for sleep.
NINETEEN
BLACK SWAN • An unforeseeable incident often with dire consequences
LUCY SUCKED ON THE metal straw of her smoothie and gagged. Peanut butter. She’d asked for almond butter and they’d clearly put in peanut butter. She pushed the cup aside. Even liquid food was questionable anyway thanks to the gymnastic routine underway in her stomach.
The beta test was today. And after, her dinner with Ryan. And after that, surely an acceptance from Stanford. Because Lucy planned to ask Ryan for a recommendation at dinner. How could she not leap off the wait list with a personal letter from the founder of Pulse?