Spotlight on Coding Club!

by Michelle Schusterman

  Mom blinked several times, then turned to stare at me. “Are you okay? Did something happen?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well,” Mom said slowly, “I’ve been asking you to do this for months, and you clearly didn’t want to. Is it because you’re grounded? Because, Erin, I’m happy you’re open to getting back into therapy, but that’s not going to make me unground—”

  “No, that’s not it,” I interrupted. “I swear. I just . . . well, I ran into Leila’s sister, Tania, today, and we talked a little and . . .” I swallowed, staring at my knees. “I think I figured out why I kept putting off finding a therapist.”

  Mom tilted her head. “Oh?”

  “Yeah.” I took a deep breath, then met her gaze. “I thought I’d outgrown panic attacks. Like they just happened because I was little and couldn’t handle being stressed. But then Dad gets sent on this mission, and suddenly I’m hyperventilating in class and sleeping with Brave Bonnie Broomstick like when I was seven. So I was trying to distract myself with all this extra work because I figured that was a lot more mature. But”—I added quickly when Mom opened her mouth to protest—“Tania said getting professional help is the mature way to handle it, so.” I gestured at the screen. “Therapists. Ta-da.”

  I slumped back in my chair with an exaggerated sigh. Mom smiled at me, her eyes suspiciously shiny. “Do not cry,” I warned her. “I’m tired of crying. Crying is banned in this house.”

  Mom laughed. “Fair enough.” She leaned over and planted a loud kiss on the top of my head. “I’m proud of you, sweetheart. Everything you just said? That was very, very mature.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.”

  “Is film club meeting tomorrow after school?”

  “Yeah, definitely,” I replied, ignoring a little pang of sadness. “We’re into round two for the talent show, so there are a lot of videos to watch.”

  “If you’re feeling okay,” Mom began, and I held my breath. “I suppose you can go to film club. Just for an hour,” she added quickly. “Then it’s straight home. Okay?”

  I nodded fervently. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Mom headed into the kitchen, then turned around in the doorway. “Let me know if you need help with that, okay?” she said, pointing to the screen.

  “I will.” Sighing, I started scrolling through the therapist reviews again. But my mind wasn’t on therapists anymore. My eyes kept straying over to my phone. No coding club group texts, which was unsurprising, given how awkward things had gotten today.

  But Maya hadn’t been there, I remembered suddenly, and I grabbed my phone.

  hey!! how’d it go with hannah?

  To my relief, Maya responded right away.

  SO FUN. i can’t wait to show you these new outfits!

  i’ll see them on friday at the assembly!

  i hope so! i still can’t believe i’m in round 2

  um, you’re like at the TOP of round 2. you’re so gonna be a finalist

  that would be amazing!

  also, something happened at lunch . . .

  My stomach twisted a little. Had one of our other friends told her about me running out of the cafeteria? The little text dots kept popping up then disappearing, and I pictured Maya typing and deleting, typing and deleting. At last, a text appeared.

  i asked hannah if she wanted to see a movie this weekend, and she said yes!

  “Oh my god!”

  A moment later, Mom stuck her head out of the kitchen to find me bouncing up and down in my chair, my smile ear to ear. “Everything okay?”

  “Yup!” I replied, my thumbs flying over the screen.

  AHHHHHHH!!!!!

  that’s so awesome!!! definitely a date?

  yeah

  ah, my stepdad is calling me for dinner. text more later?

  yes, please!!!

  I set my phone down, still smiling, and tried to focus on therapist reviews. But it was a lost cause. Partly because I was excited for Maya, but also because I was nervous about seeing Lucy, Sophia, and Leila tomorrow. Our group text was still unusually quiet, and things had been so tense at lunch today. Then I’d run off like a weirdo. I wanted to explain everything to them, but everyone had been so stressed out lately with robots and softball and all our different interests. Plus, at the end of this week, Mrs. Clark was leaving.

  My stomach twisted as I had a terrible thought. What if this was just the beginning of the end of our coding club group?

  Chapter Ten

  When I got to school the next morning, it seemed like every kid I passed was staring at their phone, and the All the Talents web app was pulled up on every screen. Round two only had twenty contestants, and everyone was excitedly talking about their favorites. I was pleased to hear Maya’s name mentioned more than once.

  My excitement and anticipation seemed to double every time the bell rang. By the end of fourth period, my stomach was so full of butterflies, I didn’t know if I’d even be able to eat my sandwich. I’d just stepped into the hall when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, and I pulled it out.

  hey, guys! lunch in mrs clark’s classroom? she said it’s ok!

  I pressed my back against the lockers to let everyone else pass. Chewing my lip, I stared at the screen until the next text popped up.

  ok!

  on my way!

  I exhaled a sigh of relief and typed a reply.

  be there in a min!

  I headed in the opposite direction of the cafeteria, the butterflies in my stomach basically swing dancing now. But I couldn’t help feeling relieved, too. I had no idea why Lucy wanted us to have lunch in Mrs. Clark’s room, but after what happened yesterday, I was perfectly fine with avoiding the crowded cafeteria.

  Mrs. Clark was leaving just as I arrived. “Hi, Erin,” she said warmly. “Just running to the cafeteria. I can’t believe it’s my last-ever chicken-fingers day!”

  I fake gasped, placing my hand on my forehead like I was going to faint. “Wait, does TechTown not serve chicken fingers in their cafeteria? Those monsters! You should quit and stay here with us. That would teach them a lesson.”

  “Actually,” Mrs. Clark said, raising an eyebrow. “Everyone at TechTown gets to order their lunches from their favorite restaurants. Including the Bakeshop.”

  My eyes widened. “So you get to eat cupcakes while you code?”

  “I do,” she replied, nodding seriously. “Well, as long as I keep the frosting off my keyboard.”

  I let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh fine. I guess it’s a pretty cool job.”

  Mrs. Clark winked at me. “It’s pretty great. But it won’t be the same, not seeing you girls every day.”

  “You could visit coding club sometimes,” I said immediately. “And I’ll bring homemade cupcakes! The Bakeshop’s got nothing on my baking skills.”

  She laughed. “It’s a deal.”

  I waved as she hurried down the hall, then stepped inside her room. Lucy was already there, arranging five chairs in a circle. She smiled at me, and I couldn’t help thinking she looked just as nervous as I felt.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi.” I walked over, squeezing my lunch bag so hard, I crushed my chips. “So, um. What’s this about?” I asked, gesturing to the chairs.

  “Oh, Mrs. Clark said we can’t eat near the computers.”

  Despite my nerves, I laughed, thinking of the cupcakes. “No, I mean why are we having lunch here instead of the cafeteria?”

  “Well.” Lucy shifted nervously in her seat. “I thought some privacy would be nice after, um, yesterday.”

  Before I could respond, Maya and Leila walked in. “Private lunch room!” Maya exclaimed, claiming a chair and stretching out her legs. “Nice.”

  “Yeah, we should do this every day,” Leila agreed, glancing over her shoulder. “Hi
, Sophia!”

  “Hi.” Sophia stood in the doorway, with the same nervous smile as Lucy. For some reason, realizing I wasn’t the only one who was nervous made me less nervous.

  Once everyone was seated, we looked at Lucy. She took a deep breath.

  “Okay, so the reason I wanted us to eat in here is I thought maybe we should talk about what happened at lunch yesterday.”

  I swallowed hard. Then Lucy, Sophia, and I all blurted out:

  “I’m sorry!”

  We stared at one another, open-mouthed. After a second, Maya started chuckling. Then Leila joined in, and soon the rest of us did, too.

  “Okay, hold on,” Lucy said, looking at Sophia. “What are you sorry about?”

  “For not helping more with everything coding club has been doing,” Sophia replied. “I know you all got stuck with a lot of extra work since I’ve had softball tryouts, and I feel bad.”

  “And I’ve been working on my fashion show,” Maya added. “I probably slacked off on coding club, too.”

  “I didn’t do any extra work, either,” Leila admitted. “I’ve been spending a lot of time getting ready for this robotics competition.” She hesitated, giving me an uncertain look. “And Erin got stuck testing the site all by herself. Tania said you were really stressed out, Erin. I’m so sorry.”

  Now everyone was looking at me.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I volunteered for all that. Work zombie, remember.” I looked down at my hands. “But that plan kind of backfired on me. I was trying to distract myself from something.”

  I paused, glancing at Maya, and she smiled encouragingly. Then I told my friends all about my dad’s missions and my panic attacks.

  “I had one on Saturday when Maya came over to help me with my video,” I finished. “That’s the real reason I dropped out of the talent show.”

  Exhaling loudly, I leaned back in my chair. No tightness in my chest, no super-fast pulse, no sweaty hands. The only thing I felt was relieved.

  Lucy spoke first. “Erin, I’m so sorry,” she said, her eyes wide and round. “I had no idea. And I kept asking you for help with the teacher app, too!”

  Leila reached over and patted my arm. “Is there anything we can do to distract you?”

  “Yeah!” Sophia said eagerly. “Want us to come over after school? We could watch a movie or something!”

  “We could bake cookies!” Lucy added.

  Maya sat up straight. “Two words: dance party.”

  “Three words,” Leila chimed in. “Robot dance party.”

  Warmth radiated in my chest as my friends continued suggesting increasingly goofy ways to distract me. I couldn’t believe that I’d ever been worried about our friendship falling apart without coding club.

  “Okay, it’s settled,” I announced. “Friday after school, you’re all coming over for the movie-cookie-robot-dance-party-athon of the century!”

  “Perfect!” Leila said. “And we can celebrate Maya winning the talent show, because we all know she’s going to.”

  Maya fiddled with the silver star charm on her necklace. “Ha, we’ll see. But I’d love to come over!”

  Sophia nodded. “Me too!”

  I turned to Lucy and was surprised to see she looked a little teary. “What’s wrong?” I asked, alarmed.

  She smiled and blinked a ton, staring up at the ceiling. “Nothing! It’s just . . . well, I know this is going to sound silly, but ever since Mrs. Clark told us she’s leaving, I’ve been worried that . . .”

  I stared at her, realization dawning. “That we’d all stop being friends?”

  Lucy shrugged. “Yeah, kind of. Everyone was suddenly so busy with other stuff . . . it felt like everything was changing. I think that’s why I’ve been so obsessed with the teacher app. I guess I thought if I found the perfect replacement for Mrs. Clark, you wouldn’t quit the club.”

  “Quit?!” Maya placed her hand over her heart dramatically. “Never!”

  “No way!” Sophia agreed. “And, Lucy, even if there was no coding club, you know we’d all still be friends.”

  Lucy looked at all of us, teary-eyed. “I know. It was silly of me.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” I told her. “I was worried about the same thing!”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I was totally afraid we were drifting apart or something.” I paused. “I think that’s part of why I’ve been so anxious. My old therapist did say clubs were helpful, but I don’t think it’s because they distract you from what’s making you anxious. It’s because they help you make friends who can help you when you need it.”

  “Like when you have a ton of chores to do if you want to make it to the hackathon on time,” Sophia said. We all laughed at the memory, but I knew Sophia was right. We were more than teammates. We were friends, and friends are there to help when you need it the most.

  Lucy looked at me curiously. “So do you have a therapist now? It sounds like your old one was pretty cool.”

  “She was,” I said with a loud sigh. “I’ve been looking for a new one, but it’s so . . . ughhhhhhh.” I slumped over in my chair, letting my arms dangle, and my friends giggled.

  “Why is it ughh?” Maya asked.

  “There are just so many to choose from, and all these reviews, and every time I try to go through them all, it’s really overwhelming.”

  I opened my lunch bag, then realized Lucy was still staring at me. But now she had a familiar glint in her eyes.

  “Can you send me a link to those reviews?” she asked. “I think I have an idea . . .”

  Chapter Eleven

  The instant my alarm went off Friday morning, I stumbled out of bed and hurried to my computer. Out of habit, I glanced at Dad’s dot—gray, of course—then pulled up All the Talents. The twenty finalists’ videos were on the front page, and after I logged in, the voting options appeared below each one.

  Squinting, I found Maya’s video and clicked the thumbs-up on the criteria below it. Then I started voting on the other videos. Since film club had gone through all twenty already, I didn’t need to watch them again. I had five to go when Mom poked her head in the door.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed this before,” she mused, cradling a mug of coffee in her hands. “My daughter, Erin Roberts, actually getting up when her alarm goes off, instead of hitting snooze a dozen times.”

  “Ha ha,” I said dryly, clicking on one of my favorite videos—Sarah Rodriguez’s Claymation film. “Voting on the next round started this morning, and I want to make sure our site is working okay.”

  “When are the top three announced?” Mom asked.

  “Voting closes at noon,” I replied. “Then the site should send everyone an e-mail with the results.”

  “Very cool!” Mom sipped some of her coffee. “I wonder if any other school talent show has ever had so much talent behind the scenes.”

  I grinned. “Probably not.” I had to admit, she was right. I was still sad that I’d missed out on actually entering the talent show, but putting it together had been a fun new experience for me. I was always so focused on being onstage, I’d never actually realized what exactly went on offstage.

  After I finished voting, I got dressed and ate breakfast in record time. When I got to school, I saw Hannah standing outside the entrance.

  “Oh hey, Erin!” She waved her phone excitedly. “Did you vote already?”

  “Of course!” I exclaimed. “I hope you’re ready to walk the runway this afternoon.”

  Hannah gave me a conspiratorial grin. “Oh, I am. Actually . . .” She glanced around, then leaned closer. “Don’t tell Maya, but Ms. Davies let me store all the outfits Maya made for the talent show in the theater club room.”

  “All of them?” I repeated. “But you’re her only model!”

  “Not anymore.” Hannah was so excited
, she was almost hopping in place. “I’ve been asking all of Maya’s coding club friends to model. Lucy and Leila already said yes, and I called Sophia last night—she’s bringing that amazing dress Maya made her for the dance last semester. So . . . are you in?”

  “Oh wow, of course! So the plan is to surprise her?”

  “Yes, exactly!”

  “Cool.” I mimed zipping my lips and throwing the key down the hallway. “I won’t say a word.”

  Hannah beamed at me. “Thanks, Erin!”

  We walked through the double doors, then waved and headed in opposite directions. I felt a surge of pride every time I passed another student with All the Talents pulled up on their phone.

  Even my teachers kept getting distracted by the talent show during class. Mr. Hupton, my history teacher, spent almost fifteen minutes speculating with us over who would be in the top three. By the time the bell rang for lunch a few minutes before noon, the atmosphere throughout the whole school felt like it was crackling with anticipation.

  I walked to the cafeteria with my eyes glued to my phone, refreshing my e-mail inbox over and over. Then, just as I reached the cafeteria, an e-mail titled All the Talents: FINALISTS! popped up, and I almost walked into the wall. I opened it quickly, my stomach doing cartwheels.

  Congratulations again to everyone who made it into round two of All the Talents! The votes are in, and your top three finalists, in no particular order, are: