Swap'd

by Tamara Ireland Stone

  “Courtney was giving me a hard time for not knowing about the four bonus racers, so I’ve been playing it all week, trying to unlock them.”

  “Did you?”

  “No.” Allie tapped her fingernail on the screen. “But this is it. Make this for the assignment. You already have a map, you created it when you made Built. Start with that as your foundation and create a super-simple, two-person racing game through the streets of your virtual neighborhood.”

  Nathan stared at the screen. “It’ll get people familiar with the game.”

  “Yep. And you’ll be racing past billboards. You can sell those to completely new sponsors.”

  “At the end of the race, they’ll have an invitation to join Built.”

  “Exactly. It’s viral. Friends tell friends. It’s a way to get new users, and get sponsors, Spyglass, and everyone else talking about it again.”

  Nathan looked at her. “See, I told you. You have better ideas.”

  Allie shot him a grateful smile and then took her seat at her computer. She opened a new workspace. “I’ve got a lot more than that.”

  She picked up her phone, opened the CodeGirls group text, and fired off a message. Less than ten minutes later, her workspace started filling up with code. All Nathan had to do was take his map, snap it together with the new stuff from the CodeGirls, and connect it all together to create something completely new.

  Nathan’s jaw fell as he stared at the screen. “What just happened?” he asked.

  Allie looked over her shoulder at him. “You asked for help.”

  Allie let out a yawn as the bus squealed to a stop in front of her. She climbed the steps and turned at the landing, trying not to make eye contact with Marcus.

  “Hey, Three,” he said.

  She paused. “Hey, Six.”

  “Can I talk to you when we get to school?”

  Her heart started beating harder. She wanted to answer him, but she couldn’t think straight with it thwacking against her ribs like that.

  “Yeah, sure,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. “Meet at the flagpole?”

  Marcus nodded.

  “Take your seat, Ms. Navarro,” Mr. Steve yelled.

  Allie walked to her seat on wobbly legs. As soon as she sat down, the bus lurched forward.

  “Wait, what just happened?” Zoe whispered.

  “He wants to talk to me about something.”

  “What?”

  “How would I know?” Allie glanced up at Marcus. He was staring out the window.

  Zoe bounced in her seat. “That’s good!”

  “How do you know it’s good?”

  “Well, I don’t, I guess. But look on the bright side!” Zoe said.

  “There’s a bright side?”

  “You just officially said more than three words to him. In person! And now you’re about to have a real conversation. It’s perfect. And you have me to thank!” Zoe smacked Allie’s arm with the back of her hand. “Why don’t you look happy?”

  None of it felt right. It felt weird, and awkward, and scary, and it certainly didn’t feel perfect. Her heart was thumping against her rib cage, and her palms were sweaty, just like they’d been when she and Marcus were sitting with Ms. Slade in the lab the day before.

  Allie wished she could have gone back in time and never sold that tutoring item. That would have been easier than facing him.

  Ten minutes later, the bus pulled into the roundabout and stopped. Everyone rushed for the doors. Allie tried to stand, but her legs were still shaky. She gripped the seat in front of her and waited for everyone to pass by.

  “Aw, look how cute he is, waiting for you and playing with that little string on his hoodie,” Zoe said. Allie followed her gaze. Marcus was sitting on the small brick wall surrounding the flagpole. “I might be changing my mind about the dimples. That boy is pretty adorable.”

  “Not helping.”

  Mr. Steve cleared his throat from the driver’s seat. “Time to go, ladies.”

  “Come on,” Zoe said, nudging Allie with her shoulder. “I can’t move until you do.”

  Mr. Steve stood and turned to face them. “You know, I get paid to pick you up, drive you to school, and let you out. That’s how it works. That’s why they pay me the big bucks. I lose my job if I return to the bus yard with children still on board.”

  “Sass,” Zoe said as she grabbed Allie’s arm and forced her to stand. “That’s why I’ve always liked you, Mr. Steve.” She gave Allie a light shove, urging her toward the door. “Go. Chicken.”

  “What if he’s still mad at me for telling you guys about the tutoring thing?”

  “Then you’ll apologize.”

  “Okay, but what if he’s still mad?”

  “He’ll get over it, Allie. He’s really nice, I swear. It’ll be fine. Go tell him why you did it—because you like him. He’ll understand. How can he be mad if you tell him the truth?”

  “I can’t tell him that,” she whispered.

  Zoe probably thought Allie was too shy to admit it, but that wasn’t it. She couldn’t tell Marcus she liked him, because deep down, she was no longer sure it was true.

  The flirting was fun. She loved that her friends were so invested in her mission. The buildup was exciting, and the thought of seeing him every day made her giddy. But until Maddie made that comment outside the store a few days earlier, Allie had never really thought about what happened next. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the two of them as a couple. And, as nice as he was, she was starting to think that she liked the idea of Marcus more than she actually liked him.

  Zoe shook her head dismissively. “That’s just the nerves talking.”

  Allie reluctantly made her feet move, and somehow, she made it down the steps and onto the sidewalk. As the bus pulled away, Zoe hugged her and said, “I’ll be waiting right over there. Tell me everything.”

  She took off, leaving Allie alone. Marcus was watching her. She had no choice but to walk toward him.

  She sat on the wall, keeping a bit of distance between them. “Hey, Six.”

  “Hey, Three,” he said.

  He kept playing with that string on his hoodie.

  Allie fidgeted with her fingernails.

  “I have something for you,” he said.

  “You do?”

  He reached into his backpack and pulled out the gift bag filled with all the items Allie had gathered up with the help of Nathan and her friends. “These are yours.”

  Allie wondered if that was the only reason he wanted to talk to her. She tried not to look disappointed as she took the bag. “Thanks.”

  The two of them were quiet again.

  Allie knew it was her turn to talk. She took a deep breath, gathering her nerve, and then said, “I’m sorry, Marcus. Really. Technically, I didn’t tell my friends who you were. They knew before I uploaded the auction. We were all hoping you’d buy it, and when you did . . .” Allie trailed off. She wasn’t sure what to say next. She’d already given too much away. She pulled her thoughts together and kept going. “You have every right to be mad at me.”

  “I’m not. I mean, I was. But I’m not anymore.” He wrapped the string from his hoodie around his finger again. “Actually, I was never really mad, I was more . . . embarrassed, I guess.”

  Allie nodded. She understood that feeling.

  “Did Zoe put you up to it?” he asked.

  Allie looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Actually, she did. How did you know that?”

  “She’s in my Spanish class. We’re in the same group and she kept telling me I should bid on the tutoring sessions, so . . . actually, I thought she was Princess Peach. I bought the auction item because I’ve been trying to ask her out for months, and I thought maybe the tutoring would give me a chance to talk to her . . .”

  Allie’s heart sank deep in her chest. “What?”

  He hid behind his hand. “I know. Lame, right?”

  Allie shrugged. “It’s not
that lame.”

  “Anyway.” He lowered his hand and looked at her again. “I thought Zoe was trying to get me to buy them, and then we’d have this inside joke. But then when I found out it was you, I felt like I was the joke. Like you, and Zoe, and all your friends had been laughing at me behind my back the whole time.”

  “We weren’t,” Allie said. “I promise. We’d never do that.”

  Part of her was sad that he liked her friend and not her, but then she reminded herself about what she’d just admitted: Allie wasn’t sure she liked him–liked him anyway.

  “I know. It took me a while to get over it, but I realized that wasn’t the case at all. You were just offering tutoring sessions because you’re actually a really good tutor.”

  Allie sat a little taller. “I am?”

  “The best. You made that so much fun. And I told you, I got an A on my test. I haven’t gotten an A on anything in that class all year!”

  Allie’s heart didn’t feel quite so broken anymore. She still hated being rejected, but knowing he thought she was a good tutor made her feel a little better about the whole thing.

  “Over the weekend, I told my mom about our sessions and bag full of stuff,” Marcus continued. “And then last night, when my mom saw that A, I thought she was going to jump straight out of her skin. She was so happy.”

  The look of pride on his face was impossible to miss. And it must have been as contagious as Courtney’s laugh, because suddenly, Allie felt it radiating all through her body.

  “She wants you to keep tutoring me.”

  That jolted her back. “Excuse me?”

  “She said she’ll pay fifteen dollars a session. She suggested we meet twice a week, maybe in the library. Or you could ride the bus to my house and she’d take you home afterward. She gave me money to give to you, but I figured I’d better not hand it to you on school grounds.” He reached down and patted his backpack.

  “That’s probably smart.” Allie let out a nervous laugh that didn’t even sound like her own.

  “What do you think?”

  “I think that sounds amazing.”

  She had a job. A job that would pay thirty dollars a week. In a few months, she’d have enough money to help Courtney buy a ticket.

  “Do you mind if we start next week?” she asked. “This week has been kind of bananas.”

  “You mean plátanos.”

  “Yes, exactly. Plátanos.” She gave him a fist bump. “Nice.”

  The bell rang. Marcus stood up quickly. Allie thought he was going to leave, but he lingered for a long moment, shifting his weight. “Hey, I also wanted to tell you that I’m really sorry about what happened to you yesterday. I can’t believe you had to give all that money back. That must have sucked.”

  “Pretty much,” Allie said. “But it’s okay. I’m glad you’re not mad at me. And I’m sorry about telling my friends who you were. I won’t tell anyone I’m tutoring you this time, I promise.”

  He rocked back on his heels. “It’s okay. I don’t care if people know anymore. But will you do me a favor and keep the Zoe thing to yourself?”

  “Deal.” Allie slid her finger and thumb across her lips, like she was zipping them closed.

  He smiled. “See ya, Allie.”

  “See ya, Marcus.”

  As soon as he was gone, Zoe ran across the lawn. “What happened?” she asked.

  “He wants me to keep tutoring him,” she said.

  “See, I told you!” She threaded her arm through Allie’s and started leading her toward first period. “This is the part where you thank me.”

  “Thank you,” Allie said. “But I think Marcus and I are just going to be friends.”

  Zoe stopped cold. “What? Why?”

  “I don’t know.” Allie shrugged. “It just doesn’t feel right.”

  “After all that?”

  “Yep,” Allie said. “I mean, he doesn’t like dogs. How can I like someone who doesn’t like dogs?” And then she bumped her hip against Zoe’s. “Something tells me it will all turn out for the best.”

  As they walked to class, Allie thought about everything that had just happened with Marcus. And suddenly, a new idea started forming in her mind. It didn’t fix the mess she’d made, and it didn’t get Courtney a plane ticket in time for Game On, but it was a good start.

  By the time she slid into her seat in math class, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

  At lunch, Allie ran straight to the lab. She had been so focused on Swap’d, she hadn’t even thought to open Click’d, but she logged in and navigated over to the backend database like it was second nature. Within minutes, she was staring at the list of every Click’d user—934 names, and nearly every student at Mercer Middle School.

  She scrolled down to the G’s and stopped at Gilbert.

  Kelsey’s photo was in the upper left-hand corner, next to her name and bio. Allie could see all her answers to the quiz questions, and her leaderboard featuring her top ten clicks.

  She tapped on the TEXT icon, and typed her message:

  Allie

  Hi. It’s Allie Navarro. Can you come to the computer lab?

  Allie pressed SEND. While she waited, she opened a new file and started the second part of her new project. She found the perfect image, wrote a catchy headline and a clear description, and then she played with the fonts. She wanted something friendly. Something approachable. Something that said “fun” but also said, “this is a real business.”

  Her phone chirped.

  Kelsey

  Am I in trouble?

  Allie

  No! Not at all!

  OK give me 5

  Allie quickly picked a font, read the whole flyer one more time, and pressed PRINT. By the time the lab door opened and Kelsey stepped inside, Allie was standing at the printer, holding her newest creation.

  Kelsey’s gaze traveled around the room, taking in the workstations, the monitors, and the posters on the walls. “I didn’t even know this room existed until yesterday. I walk right past it on the way to science every day.”

  “It’s been here for years.” Allie started walking toward the back of the room and motioned for Kelsey to follow her. “I want to show you something.” She pulled out the chair in front of one of the two massive computers at the back of the room—the ones Ms. Slade reserved for special projects—and told Kelsey to have a seat as she powered it up.

  Allie hadn’t been back at that station since the fiasco with Click’d, and as she sat down, she suddenly missed those days when it was just Nathan and her, plowing through lines of code and bags of microwave popcorn, while they each listened to music on their headphones and tried to ignore the other’s presence. It was hard to believe it had only been four months earlier. It was even harder to believe that back then, they hated each other.

  “This is Ira,” Allie said, patting the top of the monitor. “In the old Wonder Woman TV show, Ira is the name of the computer she uses to create false records for her secret identity, Diana Prince.”

  Kelsey smiled as she ran her hand along the keyboard. “I’m kind of obsessed with Wonder Woman. I’ve seen that movie at least twenty times.”

  “I figured,” Allie said. “I thought it was a brilliant avatar name. It made it even harder for me to do what I did.”

  Kelsey looked confused. “What did you do?”

  “I auctioned off those Spanish tutoring sessions you almost won. Erm, well . . . might have won. Should have won, but—”

  Kelsey interrupted her. “You stopped it early.” She sat up a little straighter. “There was still time on the clock.”

  “Three seconds.” Allie felt that same twist in her stomach. “You were bidding against this guy and—”

  “You wanted him to win,” Kelsey said, finishing Allie’s sentence. “So you ended it before I could raise the bid?”

  Allie nodded.

  Kelsey stared at her, and Allie couldn’t read her expression. And then the corners of her mouth turned up in a
small smile. “Diana Prince never would have done that, you know?”

  Allie let out an uncomfortable laugh. “No, she wouldn’t.”

  “Especially not for a guy.”

  “Never for a guy.”

  Allie grabbed a flyer from the stack and handed it to Kelsey. “I blew it, but I want to make it right.”

  “You’re tutoring?”

  Allie shrugged. “In my spare time. When I’m not writing apps that get me into trouble.”

  “You seem to have a knack for that.”

  “I know, right?” Allie tapped the flyer with her fingertip. “I owe you. The first three sessions are on me.”

  Kelsey read the description. “Actually, I could really use it. We had a verbal exam yesterday and I totally bombed it. My mom always said I had an ear for languages. She’s so wrong.”

  “That’s not true. I’ll prove it to you.” Allie handed her more flyers. “Here. Give these to your friends in Spanish class. I’ll prove it to all of you.”

  “Thanks. I will.” Kelsey slipped them into her backpack. “So . . . did it work?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “You and the guy?”

  Allie pictured Marcus holding up each item and snapping a picture. The apple. The balloon. The dollhouse chair. The flashlight. It felt like flirting at the time, and it was. Only Marcus thought he was flirting with Zoe.

  “Not exactly,” Allie said. “But it’s okay.”

  “Tell me who he is, and maybe I can help.” Kelsey winked at her. “I should probably check your references anyway . . . make sure you’re a good tutor.”

  Allie brought her thumb and forefinger to her lips and turned an imaginary key, like she was locking them shut. “His secret identity is safe with me.”

  Kelsey shot her an approving smile as she turned to leave. “Now you’re talking like someone who deserves to use Diana’s computer.”

  “I’m coming to San Francisco,” Courtney said the second Allie answered the phone.

  “For Game On?”

  “I wish. Not that soon. But I’ll be there.” Courtney was bouncing in place. “Parker loved me! Her mom asked me to babysit twice a week after school. If I save every penny, I should be able to come for spring break.”