Lights, Music, Code!

by Jo Whittemore

  Erin pressed her lips together and squinted thoughtfully. “I don’t know her well enough to dislike her,” she said. “But I don’t think she’s changed as much as she says.”

  “You’d be surprised. She’s pretty sweet,” I said, opening my locker. Taped inside the door was a photocopied image of Nicole’s squashed face.

  “Surprise!” Nicole appeared beside me, and I yelped. “I saved you one as a souvenir.”

  Erin smirked at me. “Pretty sweet, indeed. Later!”

  Before I could respond, she disappeared into the crowd.

  “So do you like it?” Nicole tapped the picture.

  “I guess,” I said, frowning. “How did you get in my locker?”

  Nicole leaned closer. “I’m an office aide during homeroom. You want a locker combo? I can get it,” she said with a wink.

  “Thanks, I’m all set,” I said. “But next time, please ask before you open my locker, okay?”

  Nicole bit her lip. “You’re mad, aren’t you? Shoot! I thought you’d like your surprise.”

  “I do,” I said, “but I also like my personal space.”

  Nicole’s expression turned serious. “I completely understand. It won’t happen again.”

  She reached into her purse and pulled out two pieces of gum. “Want one?”

  I thought about what my mom had said about presents. “Sure,” I finally said, taking a stick. “And while we’re talking personal space, I heard you told my coding club friends to agree with my light-up bracelet idea.”

  Nicole stopped mid chew. “Was that wrong, too?”

  “It wasn’t wrong. I know you meant well, but it made them mad at me.”

  Nicole gripped my hand. “Oh no! I’m so sorry!”

  “That’s okay,” I said. “But it might be best if you leave the coding club alone. It’s really important to me, and if I’m going to make anybody mad, I’d rather do it myself.” I finished with a teasing smile.

  Nicole relaxed and smiled back. “Of course. Coding club and your locker are off-limits!” She crossed her heart with a fingertip.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks.” I grabbed my books and shut my locker. “I didn’t tell you this morning, but I love that top, by the way!” I nodded to her blouse: green with silver accents on the sleeves and collar.

  “Oh, thanks!” said Nicole. She told me about a sale where she’d bought it, and I couldn’t help marveling at how much she really had changed. The new Nicole was super apologetic when she screwed up, didn’t get defensive, and paid for things.

  My friends had her all wrong.

  Chapter Six

  “We have a small problem,” Erin said, when I got to Leila’s that afternoon.

  “We’re out of onion ring chips!” piped up Leila from her kitchen.

  “We have two small problems,” Erin amended, with a sigh. She shouted over her shoulder. “What about onion soup mix?”

  Leila poked her head into the living room where Erin and I were sitting with Lucy and Sophia. “You want to eat a packet of soup mix?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Erin said with a snort. “I want to pour it over popcorn.”

  Leila stared at her. “Sure. Because that’s less disgusting.”

  “What’s the other small problem?” I asked Erin while Leila disappeared back into her kitchen.

  “Mrs. Clark said we can’t use the gym’s light system,” said Erin. “In case something goes wrong, the school doesn’t want us to fry their ten-thousand-dollar set of bulbs.”

  “Yikes,” I said. “But that makes sense. What do we do now?”

  “Come up with another solution,” said Sophia. “Like a different light source.”

  My heart skipped a beat. If they were looking for a different light source—

  “You know . . . ,” I said in my most casual voice. “There’s still my bracelet idea.”

  Everyone groaned, including Leila from the other room.

  “Maya, no! We already said that idea was too expensive,” said Sophia.

  “We’ll have people pay for them before we buy the supplies,” I insisted. “Wouldn’t you buy one?”

  Sophia got quiet, so I turned to Lucy. “I know you want to get a special guy’s attention,” I said with a conspiratorial wink. Lucy blushed. “With a light-up bracelet, he’ll be watching you all—”

  “Christmas!” exclaimed Erin.

  I blinked in surprise. “I was going to say ‘night.’”

  Erin shook her head so hard her glasses slipped. “I was trying to think of other lights we could program, and then it hit me.”

  Sophia’s eyes brightened, and she pointed at Erin. “Christmas lights! We can program them to music!”

  “I thought the theme of the dance was the future,” said Leila. She walked in with a bowl of popcorn, cups, and a packet of onion soup mix. “Won’t Christmas lights just feel . . . festive?”

  “They sell strands in single colors,” said Erin, scooping popcorn into a cup. “We could get blue ones and white ones . . .” She handed the popcorn to Lucy, who almost flung it everywhere in her excitement.

  “Oh! And orange and gray ones, like our school colors!” she exclaimed.

  “That could work.” Leila nodded.

  Clearly, my bracelet idea wasn’t going anywhere.

  “Erin, do you think we can pull it off?” I asked.

  She handed me a cup of popcorn and nodded. “We’ll still need some sort of relay board we can plug into the wall since there’s no way the Arduino can power that many lights by itself. But after that, we just have to plug a bunch of light strings together, connect them to the relay board, and connect that to the Arduino.”

  Once everyone had their popcorn, Erin ripped open the packet of onion soup mix and sprinkled it over hers. She moved to toss the rest of the packet back onto the tray, but Leila stopped her.

  “Oh no. You wanted a packet, you have to eat a packet,” Leila said with a mischievous grin.

  Erin shrugged and poured the rest of the onion soup mix into her mouth.

  The rest of us freaked out.

  “Ewww!” said Lucy.

  “Gross gross gross!” Leila scooted away from Erin.

  Erin burped and fanned the air in front of her face. “I might regret that for the rest of the day.”

  Caught in the blast zone, I pinched my nose. “Try the rest of the week.”

  “It smells like a wet cat in gym socks threw up a little,” added Sophia.

  Erin just hummed and ate her popcorn.

  “To get back to our project,” said Leila, “how many sets of lights do you think we need?”

  “That depends on where we want to hang them,” I said. “Are we putting them around the door frames or around the refreshment table?”

  Erin’s eyes lit up at the word refreshment, and she grinned at me. I smiled but put a finger to my lips.

  “We could string the lights on the wall between the two,” said Lucy. “Kind of like we saw in that coding club video.”

  “Good idea!” said Erin. “That way, people dancing can enjoy it, and so can people hanging by the refreshment table.” She coughed into her hand, but it suspiciously sounded like, “Me!”

  Leila and I laughed. Sophia and Lucy did not.

  “Jeremiah asks you to the dance, and all you want to do is drink punch and stand around?” Lucy asked incredulously.

  Erin blinked in confusion. “Well, yeah. If I drink punch and dance, I get a stomachache.”

  Lucy crossed her arms. “If I were going with someone, I would not treat them like that.”

  And then I realized Lucy’s crush was on Erin’s date, not Sophia’s.

  Unfortunately, Erin hadn’t figured this out.

  Erin turned to Sophia and said, “Look, you clearly don’t want to go to the dan
ce with Sammy, and Lucy does. Why not let her?”

  “Huh?” Sophia said.

  “What?” Lucy said.

  “Uh . . . Erin?” I said.

  Erin held up a hand to silence me. “Sophia, you don’t have to cover it up anymore. I know that’s why you’ve been so mopey when we bring up the dance. You hate your date.”

  “Ohhh,” said Leila.

  Sophia turned pink. “That’s not true!”

  Erin patted her leg. “Shh. It’s okay. But at least set him free so Lucy can have him.”

  Lucy let out an indignant squeak. “I don’t want Sammy! I want Jeremiah!” As soon as she said the words, she clapped a hand over her mouth.

  “Whoa!” Leila watched them and nibbled her popcorn. “You guys are better than Netflix.”

  Erin ignored her and turned to Lucy. “You wanted to go to the dance with my date?”

  Lucy ducked her head but nodded. “I was going to ask him the day he asked you.”

  “Oh.” Erin bit her lip. “I feel bad now. I’ll tell him I can’t go.”

  Lucy’s eyes widened. “No! Don’t do that just for me. If you like him, you should go.” She paused and tentatively asked, “Do you like him?”

  “Well, yeah, but I don’t want you to be sad.”

  “And I don’t want you to be sad.” Lucy poked her. “But I also don’t want you to take Jeremiah for granted.”

  Erin smiled. “Would you feel better if I told you Jeremiah was the one who suggested hanging out at the refreshment table? He hates to dance.”

  Lucy frowned. “He does?”

  “Mm-hm. Almost as much as he hates cats.”

  “What?” Lucy clutched a hand to her heart. “But cats are the best!”

  “I know.” Erin shrugged. “I couldn’t even get him to like kittens.”

  At that, we all made sounds of protest.

  “Okay, nobody should go to the dance with him,” declared Leila. “If he can’t fall in love with teeny tiny paws, he’s dead inside.”

  Lucy studied Erin for a moment. “You know what? Have fun with Jeremiah.”

  Erin raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

  Lucy nodded. “I’m starting to realize I didn’t know him like I thought I did.”

  Leila brushed her hands together. “That takes care of that!”

  I held up a finger. “Wait a minute. We figured out why Lucy was upset, but I thought it had to do with why Sophia was upset.”

  “Me too,” said Erin.

  She, Leila, Lucy, and I looked at Sophia, who shrugged.

  “I was bummed for Lucy,” she said.

  “You were? That’s so sweet!” Lucy pounced on Sophia with a hug.

  Sophia laughed and patted her arm. “I just want you to be happy.”

  “Hey, since neither of us has to meet someone before the dance,” I said, getting Lucy’s attention, “come over early, and I’ll give us both makeovers.”

  Lucy’s face lit up. “Cool! I’m in!”

  “Well, I still need to buy something to wear,” said Erin. “If anyone wants to go shopping, my mom is taking me after this.”

  “I’ll go with you, but I’ve already got my outfit,” I said. I pulled up the picture of my dress on my phone.

  My friends oohed and ahhed.

  “I’m going to wear a superhero costume,” said Leila. “Because that’s what I’d like to see in the future.”

  Erin smiled. “Nice! So do you want to go shopping and . . . pick up a golden lasso or whatever?”

  Leila laughed. “I’m not going as Wonder Woman. I’m going as Ms. Marvel. She’s, like, the only Pakistani American superhero.” Leila showed us a picture on her phone.

  “Awesome,” said Sophia.

  “So cool!” I said.

  “Okay, no lasso, then,” Erin told Leila. “Do you want to go pick up your giant lightning bolt instead?”

  The rest of us laughed.

  “I wish I could,” said Leila. “But my parents want to go out tonight, so I have to babysit my little brother.”

  Erin turned to Lucy. “How about it? Wanna go shopping with me and Maya?”

  “Sure! Sophia, you want to come?”

  Sophia waved her away. “Nah, I’ve got sports stuff to do,” she said. “But send pictures of what you get.” Sophia’s voice sounded a lot lighter than the expression on her face looked.

  “Of course!” said Erin. “For now, though, we should probably get to work on this project.”

  While we searched the Internet for coding help, Lucy, Leila, and I whispered about the dance. Occasionally, Erin would jump in with a comment, and almost everyone would laugh. The only one who stayed quiet was Sophia.

  A half hour later, we had a rough idea of what we were doing but knew we’d still need help with some of the trickier technical parts. Luckily, Leila was confident her coding-savvy sister could step in.

  While my friends talked, I texted my mom to make sure I could go to the mall with Erin and Lucy. Since I hadn’t mentioned Nicole, Mom gave her approval and a smiley face emoji. I was about to respond when a text came in from Nicole.

  wanna hang out??

  Erin clapped her hands. “Great work, everyone! Time to shut it down and go shopping!”

  “Woo-hoo!” Lucy cheered. When I didn’t, she raised one of my arms for me. “Woo-hoo!”

  “Um . . . can Nicole come with us?” I asked.

  Lucy promptly dropped my arm. “Boo-hoo.”

  Erin made a pained expression. “Does she have to?”

  I frowned. “She doesn’t have to, but it would be nice for her to make more friends.”

  “So let her decide that,” said Sophia from where she was packing her bag. “She hasn’t tried to get to know any of us. Why should we make the extra effort?”

  “That’s not tr—nice,” I said. She was kind of right. Nicole didn’t seem to spend time with anyone but me.

  “Fine,” I said, texting Nicole back. As I typed, I said the message aloud. “Sorry, can’t. Have plans.”

  “Thanks,” said Lucy. “Maybe we can all hang out some other time, but I just want it to be our group today. And Nicole’s . . . you know.”

  She didn’t have to say it, but I could fill in the blanks. Nicole’s an outsider.

  “Sure,” I said.

  Lucy got to her feet. “For now, we have places to be and things to buy!”

  “Shoppinggg!” Erin sang, hoisting her backpack onto her shoulder. “Let’s go!” She pulled me to a standing position.

  “Woo-hoo!” Lucy cheered again.

  “Have fun!” Leila told us.

  “How can we not?” I said, forcing a lighthearted laugh.

  Since I was excited about shopping and I’d argued with my friends enough for one day, I decided to let it go.

  There was no way they were making me the next outsider.

  Chapter Seven

  “Are we ready for fun?” Erin’s mom asked when she picked us up.

  “Yep!” Lucy said.

  “Yep!” Erin said.

  “Nope,” I said, looking around me. “I forgot my scarf. Be right back!”

  I hopped out of the car and ran to Leila’s front door.

  “Leila,” I said, throwing it open, “I—”

  She and Sophia both glanced up in surprise. They were sitting on the couch, and Leila had a comforting arm around Sophia, who had her elbows on her knees and a scowl on her face.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.

  “I thought you were going to the mall with Erin and Lucy,” Sophia said. She’d stopped scowling, but her forehead was still wrinkled.

  “I am, but I forgot my scarf.” I grabbed it off the couch. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Great,” said Sophi
a in a voice that sounded the opposite.

  I sat on her other side. “Why don’t I believe that?”

  “It’s just . . . I’m a little . . .” Sophia pressed her lips together.

  “Teapot?” I ventured. Leila stifled a giggle, and Sophia finally cracked a smile.

  “No,” she said. “I’m a little bummed that you guys are talking about new dresses for the dance. I . . . I can’t really afford one.”

  “That’s okay.” I waved away Sophia’s concern. “Wear one you already have.”

  Sophia snorted. “I only have one.”

  My mouth fell open. “What?”

  Sophia nodded. “Money’s pretty tight for my family, so dresses aren’t exactly a top priority.”

  “Ohhh.” I knew she had a lot of sisters and getting a babysitter for them was often an issue because of money, but I hadn’t thought about whether or not she could buy new clothes—especially since she was usually in her sports gear, anyway.

  “She didn’t want to say anything because she was embarrassed,” added Leila.

  I shifted to face Sophia completely. “You know we won’t judge you for wearing that dress. You can even borrow one of mine, if you want.”

  Sophia shook her head, cheeks reddening. “This is my first dance with a guy. I wanted the dress to be mine, and I wanted it to be special.”

  I slumped on the couch. Outside, a car horn honked, and I knew it was Erin’s mom, but I wasn’t in a hurry to go to the mall anymore.

  “Sophia, I’m so sorry,” I said. “If we’d known—”

  She waved my apology away. “It’s okay. And I’m sorry I didn’t support your light-up bracelet idea. It is cool, but when you said people had to buy them, it was just one more thing I knew I couldn’t afford.”

  My hands went up to my mouth. “The light-up bracelet,” I whispered. Then in a slightly louder voice, “The light-up bracelet!”

  “Yeah,” she said, giving me a curious look.

  You know how great ideas are described as a lightbulb clicking on over someone’s head? For me, it was as if someone lit a fire under me.

  “That’s it!” I leaped from the couch and spun to face my startled friends. “Sophia, we could make your dress light up!”

  She gave me a puzzled look. “Huh?”