Swap'd

by Tamara Ireland Stone

  Hey, SurfSup! I’ve never been a tutor, but

  She stopped. “Ugh,” she said, ripping the card in half. He didn’t need to know that she’d never done anything like this before. She reached for another card

  Hey, SurfSup! I’m your Spanish tutor. Let’s get you an A on Tuesday’s test! Can you meet tonight at 6:00 pm? Text me at 555-9588 to confirm.

  -Princess Peach

  Allie read it four times. And then she looked over at Bo. “Hey, buddy, listen to this.” She read it aloud. “What do you think?”

  Without opening his eyes, Bo rolled over on his side and tipped his head back, giving her easier access to the spot under his chin. Allie reached down and scratched it, as requested.

  “I know, right? This is completely ridiculous.”

  She looked at everything strewn across her bed, thinking about how strange the last couple of hours had been. Nathan didn’t have to do any of the things he’d done. He didn’t have to sell his stuff, or help her collect things for Marcus, or tell stories by flashlight. He didn’t have to keep her secret. He could have made her feel even worse about cheating at her own game, but he hadn’t.

  Allie dropped all the items back inside the bag, one by one. But when she reached the flashlight, she stopped. She turned it over in her hands a few times. And then she set it on her desk, went downstairs to grab a flashlight from the junk drawer, and returned, dropping it into the bag along with everything else. She added the note she’d written, stapled the bag across the top a few times, and wrote SURFSUP in thick black letters on the front.

  The bus arrived, the doors opened, and Allie climbed the steps, feeling brave, and bold, and on top of the world. She stopped at the landing, looked right at Marcus, and didn’t wait for him to greet her first.

  “Hey, Six,” she said.

  He looked taken aback, but then he sat up a little straighter and said, “Hey, Three.”

  Allie thought about all the items in her backpack. She couldn’t wait to get to school and put them in the locker.

  “Chat later, Ms. Navarro!” Mr. Steve yelled. “Seat. Now. Please.”

  Allie bounced to her seat and flopped down next to Zoe.

  “Switching it up. I like that,” Zoe said as she high-fived her. “See, my Marcus Plan is already working.”

  “It’s a good day,” Allie said. “And I have a feeling it’s only going to get better.”

  Allie was right. All day, everywhere she went, everyone was talking about Swap’d.

  She was sitting in math class, waiting for the bell to ring, when Evan leaned across the aisle and tapped Nick’s shoulder to get his attention.

  “Did you see today’s auction?” he asked.

  “Um . . . yeah,” Nick said. “That gaming headset has to be worth a hundred bucks.”

  “Right? And the opening bid is forty bucks!” Evan added. “That thing is all mine.”

  “Ha! Good luck with that,” Nick leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “I’m going after it.”

  “So am I,” Evan said, mimicking Nick’s posture. “And I have sixty to spend.”

  “Good to know. It’ll be easy to outbid you,” Nick said, tipping his chin up. “My grandma was especially generous with birthday money this year.”

  It was like that in second, third, and fourth period, too. Allie couldn’t help overhearing all the conversations about who was selling what, all the things people had planned to bid on, and how much they had to spend. They all whispered under their breaths, like they were part of a secret club.

  Allie couldn’t believe it was all happening. Her game was a success. This time, she’d done everything right. And she was going to keep it that way. She wasn’t going to push the app beyond its limits. She wasn’t going to get carried away, or get greedy, or get caught up in the popularity thing. And she wasn’t going to fail. She was going to show Naomi Ryan that she deserved a spot in Hackathon. She still wasn’t sure she’d take it, but she wanted to be picked. She wanted the chance to decide.

  When the lunch bell rang, Allie found Emma, Maddie, and Zoe waiting at her locker again. Allie dialed the combination and lifted the latch. All four of them stood there, staring at the huge pile of money inside.

  “Too bad you can’t keep it all!” Emma added.

  “Right? Ten percent seems like nothing,” Allie said as she scooped all the bills into the big plastic bag she’d brought from home. “This is four hundred and forty-three bucks. If I could keep it, I’d be buying Courtney’s plane ticket right now!” Allie zipped the bag closed and handed it to Emma, along with the list of winners. “You know what to do.”

  “On it,” Emma said as she turned on her heel. Zoe and Maddie were right behind her, bee-lining for the library to divvy up the cash.

  Allie raced to the eight-hundreds building and hid in her usual spot next to the garden, watching all the activity.

  FlipFlop was there first. She dialed the combination, lifted the latch, and removed a bag of candy. A minute later, 3DPea arrived, opened the locker, and left holding her new sweatshirt. Spider-Pig took Chris’s skateboard, ElevenWaffles grabbed her tub of blue slime, and SparkleMotion left with a fidget spinner and a bag of scrunchies.

  And then Kelsey Gilbert stepped up, and Allie’s heart started racing when she remembered what she’d done during the auction the day before. She felt sick to her stomach. But Kelsey didn’t seem upset at all. She was smiling as she reached inside, pulled out one of Zoe’s colorful bags full of candy and a new iPhone case.

  Soon, a short line had formed, but everyone took it in stride. Each person stepped up and took their new purchase, and Allie checked each item off the list. It was all going to plan. There was only one problem: Marcus still hadn’t arrived.

  The bell rang, signaling that it was time to get to class.

  Where was he? Had he changed his mind?

  She’d be late for class if she stayed, but she couldn’t leave—not now.

  And then she spotted him walking toward locker #860 with long, purposeful strides. He stopped, dialed the combination, lifted the latch, grabbed the grocery bag, and took off again, right as the final bell rang.

  Allie let herself breathe again as she checked his name off the list and then raced to the computer lab, hoping she could sneak in without anyone noticing. But when she opened the door, Ms. Slade was standing at the front of the room, leaning against her desk.

  “You’re late, Ms. Navarro.”

  “Sorry,” Allie said, rushing to her computer station. “I was dealing with something on my project.”

  Ms. Slade returned to addressing the class. “I know you’re all eager to get to work, but we’re at the halfway point, so let’s take a minute and check in on your projects first.” She looked around the room. “Let’s start with you, Ava. How’s your geocaching game going?”

  “Harder than I expected,” Ava said. “I started beta testing it with a small group yesterday, but the coordinates were off on three of the locations. I think I fixed it at lunch today, so I’m going to go back out now and check the map.”

  “Good. How about you, Ben?”

  “Pretty good,” he said. “It’s a virtual time capsule. People can add news clippings, music, YouTube videos, that kind of thing.”

  “And you’ll be ready to roll out on Monday as planned?” Ms. Slade asked.

  “Yep,” he said. “I’ll be ready.”

  “Sounds great. How about you in the back? How’s everything going, Allie?”

  “Great.” She gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

  “Do you want to tell us what you’re working on?”

  Allie hesitated. Part of her wanted to tell Ms. Slade and the rest of the class about Swap’d. It would be fun to see the looks on their faces when she told them that her game had been up and running for three days already, that she had eighty-three users, and that she’d sold almost a thousand dollars’ worth of stuff so far. But another part of her liked that it still felt kind of like a secret club; that i
t was all on the down-low. Nathan was the only person from advanced CS class that Allie had invited. Once the rest of them knew that Swap’d was her game, the whole school would know, too.

  “Do I have to tell you?” she asked. “It’s kind of a surprise.”

  Ms. Slade thought about it for a moment. “I guess not.” She moved along. “How about you, Nathan?”

  Nathan kicked his feet up onto the desk and leaned his chair back. “Mine’s a surprise, too.”

  Ms. Slade looked like she might not let him off the hook, but she moved on to Jackson Barry anyway. When everyone’s updates were complete, she sent them back to work. “If you need any help, you know where to find me.”

  Nathan pulled his headphones over his ears. And then he reached up, grabbed his monitor in both hands, and shifted it to the opposite edge of the desk so no one could see the screen, especially not Allie.

  Zoe slid into the seat next to Allie. “How’s it lookin’ today?”

  “Good,” Allie said without taking her eyes off her phone. “Sixty-seven players logged in. Two minutes till start time.”

  The queue looked good, too. There was a lot more variety than there was the day before—more clothes, more games, more phone cases, more jewelry, and even more fidget spinners. There were sneakers, stickers, baseball cards, board games, Hacky Sacks, stuffed animals, and PopSockets. And people were starting to get creative. One sixth grader named ProperPrim was offering to braid hair in the quad during lunch, and, for the right price, an eighth grader named CheesyPoofs would serve detention in your place.

  The clock hit three thirty and the auction began.

  This auction was different than the others. There were a lot more players, but most of them were new to the game, and they were only lurking. The same people were actively playing, but they were going after specific things, and quickly dropping out when the prices got too high.

  Allie watched each auction, mentally totaling up her take each time. By three forty-five, she’d only made $8. By three fifty, she was up to $10. The items were getting cheaper, starting lower, and not being bid on as aggressively. As the clock ticked on, the game ran out of steam.

  But then, the fourth auction began, and Nathan’s gaming headset was up. He started the bidding at $40.

  There weren’t many other big-ticket items in that round, so it had everyone’s attention.

  Allie and Zoe bent over Allie’s screen, silently rooting him on.

  Sundawg jumped in first, raising the $40 starting bid straight to $45, and that was all it took. The whole place went nuts. Spider-Pig raised it to $46, ScrappyDoo raised it to $47, and Buh-Buy raised it straight to $50.

  And that’s when the outbursts began. Someone yelled, “This is insane!” and another girl two rows in front of Allie slapped her hand hard against the window.

  Some guy at the front of the bus stood up and yelled, “Oh, ScrappyDoo . . . you’re toast, man!” And a guy at the back of the bus yelled, “Get him, Alex!”

  Apparently, that was all Alex needed to hear. He lifted his phone in the air and yelled, “Watch me!”

  LastPopTart jumped in and raised it to $57.

  “If I have to pull over again, you all have detention!” Mr. Steve yelled.

  The bus quieted down, but not for long. When ScrappyDoo pulled into the lead with a $62 bid, everyone went crazy again.

  “Keep going,” Allie whispered.

  She wanted more.

  And she knew Nathan wanted more.

  And she knew they had it to spend.

  As soon as the clock hit the ten-second mark, everything kicked into a whole new gear, and in a matter of seconds, the headset was up to $65.

  Three.

  Two.

  One.

  LuckyCharms bid $68 and cha-ching! The auction ended. The leaderboard appeared, shuffling everyone around, knocking SweetTooth down to #3, adding BooBooBear to #2, and sliding RiskItBiscuit into the #1 spot.

  “Yes!” Zoe screamed, happy to still have a top position.

  The system automatically sent out a message announcing the winner of each item and followed them up with the usual instructions for the sellers and buyers. And then it kicked out a message to everyone:

  THANKS FOR SWAP’N!

  NEXT AUCTION ON MONDAY AT 3:30 P.M.!

  Thanks to Nathan’s headset, Allie made a total of $25. It was good, but not good enough. She hoped Courtney had a much better day.

  She hugged Zoe and raced for the bus doors.

  “See ya, Six,” she said to Marcus as she rounded the corner.

  But she didn’t even hear him reply. She was already off the bus, sprinting across her lawn, and dialing Courtney at the same time. Courtney answered on the first ring.

  “How did you do?” Allie asked as she dug in her backpack for her keys.

  “Not good,” Courtney said. “I’m all out of my own stuff, so I only brought in fourteen dollars. How about you?”

  Allie opened the door, dropped her things in the entryway, and crouched down to let Bo cover her cheeks with kisses while she delivered the bad news. “I only made twenty-five.”

  “We’re forty-eight dollars short,” Courtney said.

  “We’ll get it on Monday, for sure!” Allie said, trying to look on the bright side.

  Courtney was silent for a long time. “Yeah,” she finally said, forcing a smile. “Monday.”

  At 6:00 p.m. on the dot, Allie typed her message:

  Allie

  ¡Hola, SurfSup!

  He replied right away.

  Marcus

  Who is this?

  Allie

  Princess Peach

  Marcus

  I was kidding

  Allie froze. She didn’t know what to say to that.

  Sort of . . .

  I don’t get to know who you really are?

  You bought *anonymous* tutoring sessions

  I thought I was the anonymous one

  You are. And so am I ;)

  Marcus

  Tell me one thing about you. Do we have any classes together?

  She didn’t want to tell him the truth. That would narrow it down too much. But she didn’t want to lie to him, either.

  Allie

  Maybe

  Do you ride my bus?

  Maybe

  Do you play a sport?

  There was only one way to reply.

  Maybe

  Let’s get going with our lesson

  She started typing fast, hitting SEND before he had a chance to ask any more questions that might give her away.

  Allie

  First, let me explain how this works

  1: I will speak in English but you can only reply in Spanish

  2: You can’t google the answers. If you don’t know, tell me you don’t know

  BTW, “I don’t know” in Spanish is “no lo sé”

  3: For today, you can use your notes, but after that, no notes

  That’s it. Any questions?

  Marcus

  Yeah

  Will I ever know who you are?

  “Nope,” Allie said. But she typed something else.

  Allie

  Maybe

  She moved along as quickly as she could.

  Did you get the bag of stuff?

  She already knew he had. She’d watched him pick it up.

  Marcus

  Yeah

  Good. Show me el horario del tren

  A few seconds later, Marcus replied with a picture of the wrinkled train schedule Nathan had pulled from his desk drawer the day before. She pictured that look of satisfaction on Nathan’s face as he handed it to her. “What’s next?” he’d asked excitedly, like the two of them were partners in a scavenger hunt and they were determined to win.

  Allie

  Good. Now show me la manzana

  Marcus was even faster this time. In the picture he sent, he was holding it up to his chest. It was hard not to notice his chest. And his shoulders. She could tell he was
wearing the same Mercer Mustangs T-shirt he’d worn to school that day. Too adorable.

  Bueno. Now show me la llave

  At first, Marcus replied with a picture of him holding up the garden shovel, but when Allie told him that was incorrect, he got the wrench right on the next try.

  Show me una linterna

  Marcus held the flashlight at his chin so the beam blocked his face, and Allie couldn’t help but laugh. But then she felt a strange lump in her throat, and she didn’t know why.

  Marcus

  You there?

  Allie

  Yeah. Good

  Allie looked through her notes, reminding herself what she’d planned to do next.

  Now without cheating, I want you to use each one of the items in a sentence. Any sentence you want

  Marcus

  En español?

  Sí

  Ok . . .

  The ellipses made him sound hesitant.

  Don’t worry. I’ll help you if you need it

  Allie waited for a while. Finally, he replied.

  Marcus

  Disculpe, ¿puede indicarme la tren estación?

  It was close. He got the structure a little bit backward, but it was easy to fix. Allie explained, then asked him for another sentence.

  At seven o’clock, Allie’s alarm signaled the end of their session. Allie let out a sigh of relief, and that surprised her. She had expected to be sad when it was over, but she wasn’t. The whole thing felt like work. Maybe it was all totally normal. Allie wasn’t sure.

  Allie

  That’s it for tonight

  Can we meet again on Sunday?

  Why not tomorrow?

  She couldn’t tell him she had a soccer tournament all day; that would give her away. But she didn’t want to lie to him, either.

  Allie