Spotlight on Coding Club!

by Michelle Schusterman

  Sarah Rodriguez

  Kyle Ward

  Maya Chung

  The finalists will perform at this afternoon’s assembly. Immediately afterward, log in to All the Talents to vote for your favorite contestant!

  I did a little happy dance right there in the hall, then hurried into the cafeteria. Maya wasn’t there yet, but Lucy, Leila, and Sophia were already at our table. They beamed at me as I sat down and raised my arms in a V for victory.

  “You ladies ready to be models?” I said.

  “Yes!” Lucy squirmed in her seat, still tapping her phone screen. “I’m so psyched for Maya!”

  “I can’t wait to see what we’re actually modeling!” Leila exclaimed. “Hannah said they were working on something really cool.”

  “I can’t imagine anything cooler than the dress she made for me,” Sophia said, her eyes shining.

  “Hey, Erin.” Lucy swiped her screen again, then turned to me. “Ta-da!” She held her phone out, and I saw what looked like the teacher app she’d been working on.

  “Oh, you finished it!” I said. “So who’s the ideal teacher?”

  Lucy shook her head. “No idea. This is something different.”

  Confused, I took her phone and started scrolling down the page. The names weren’t any that I recognized as teachers. But they were familiar. After a few seconds, I realized why.

  “These are the therapists from my mom’s list!”

  “Exactly!” Lucy beamed. “When you said all the reviews were overwhelming, I got this idea. These reviews are just data, right? People saying what they liked or didn’t like about the therapist . . . exactly like what I was going to do with the teacher app. So I just changed the criteria to stuff relevant to therapists, had the app analyze the data, and voilà!”

  I blinked in amazement as I continued to scroll. Beneath every therapist was a list of qualities like timeliness, kindness, and listening skills. And next to each was a rating between one and five, averaged from their patients’ reviews.

  “Lucy,” I said slowly. “This is . . . wow.” Setting her phone down, I leaned over and hugged her. “Thank you so much.”

  “So you think it’ll make it easier for you to pick one?” she asked eagerly, and I nodded.

  “Absolutely.”

  “Eek, there’s Maya!” Sophia said, pointing. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Omigod. It’s going to be so hard to keep this fashion show thing a secret for the rest of the day! What if Maya notices we’re acting weird?”

  “Don’t worry,” I replied, glancing at Hannah as she hurried across the cafeteria and threw her arms around a blushing Maya. “I think she already has plenty of distractions today.”

  * * *

  Near the end of fifth period, all talent show contestants were called to the auditorium. I sprinted to the theater club’s dressing room, nearly colliding with Leila and Lucy when I rounded the last corner.

  “Is she here yet?” I gasped, clutching my sides.

  “Not yet!” Lucy held the door open, and we hurried inside. Hannah was already there, fussing over a rack with five outfits.

  “Quick!” she said, waving us over. “Everyone pick an outfit before Maya gets here.”

  “She’s supposed to check in with the teachers in the auditorium first,” I said, grabbing an outfit off the rack. “That should give us a few minutes!”

  Sophia slipped into the room, clutching a garment bag. “I saw Maya and had to hide,” she huffed, and we laughed. Lucy, Leila, and Hannah chose their outfits, and soon we were all oohing and ahhing over our Maya Chung originals.

  “This fabric is so pretty,” Lucy said. Her romper was covered in a print of bright yellow butterflies.

  “I know,” I agreed, holding my hanger out at arm’s length. I’d picked palazzo pants and a matching scoop-neck top in a galaxy print, black with clusters of white, pink, and purple stars. Leila had chosen a chocolate-brown jumpsuit with a swirly pattern in almost the exact same shade of turquoise as her head scarf. And Hannah’s ankle-length, full-skirted dress looked like flames—dark red at the bottom that faded into orange in the middle and yellow at her shoulders. She was already wearing a light yellow headband that matched the dress perfectly.

  “You’ll look like a walking flame emoji,” I told her. “And I mean that in the best possible way.”

  Hannah laughed. “Thanks!” she said, just as the door opened and Maya walked in.

  “Oh!” Her eyes widened in surprise, and she clapped her hands over her mouth. “What are you all doing here?”

  “I asked them to model!” Hannah told her, beaming. “It’d be a total tragedy if the whole school didn’t get to see all the new outfits you’ve been working on.”

  “Wow.” Maya looked at each of us in turn, her eyes shiny. “That’s . . . you’re the best.”

  “Can we put these on already?” Leila said, shaking her jumpsuit excitedly.

  “Yes! Go!”

  We cheered, and everyone quickly started to dress. Leila finished first, then helped Sophia adjust the battery pack on her shoulder.

  “Hey, Maya,” Sophia called. “Do you want me to turn on the lights in my dress? I don’t know if anyone will be able to see them under the stage lights.”

  Maya and Hannah shared a look. “Actually,” Maya said slowly. “I guess I should warn you all about that.”

  “I’ve already talked to the theater-club girl running the lights,” Hannah explained. “After we each walk down the runway, we’ll line up at the edge of the stage. Then she’s going to turn off all the lights.”

  “Why? Does Hannah’s dress light up, too?” I squinted at Hannah, as if her dress was embedded with invisible LED lights.

  “Not exactly. But . . .” Maya pressed her lips together. “Well, we had some fun picking out the fabric. You’ll see.”

  Lucy and I gave each other puzzled looks, and Leila peered curiously at Hannah’s dress. The door opened again, and Ms. Davies stuck in her head. “Girls? Are you ready?”

  “Let’s do this!” I cheered, and we followed Ms. Davies backstage. We lined up on the left side of the stage, Hannah in the lead, and watched as Ms. Davies and Maya slipped through the curtains. A moment later, the chatter in the auditorium turned to applause, and my stomach fluttered with nerves—the good kind. The performing kind.

  Ms. Davies’s voice rang through the speakers as she introduced Maya and explained that she had designed and sewn every outfit the audience was about to see. A moment later, a loud pop song started to play, the thumping of the bass matching the thumping in my chest.

  “Here we go!” Hannah called, standing up tall and smiling widely. She stepped through the curtains, and the cheers doubled in volume.

  Lucy followed after a few seconds, then Sophia, then Leila. Taking a deep breath, I swaggered onto the stage after her.

  I could barely see the kids in the auditorium, but I could definitely hear them. Overhead, lights in at least a dozen different colors were flashing. So were the lights sewn into Sophia’s dress, although she was right—they were barely visible. Once we each had strutted down the runway, we lined up at the edge of the stage. The beat stopped, and the song turned to a long, dramatic drone. Then the lights turned off, and the whole auditorium was black.

  “Whoa!” I cried, staring down at my outfit. The white, pink, and purple galaxies were glowing in the dark, sparkling like real stars. I turned to look at Lucy and Leila—their patterns were glow-in-the-dark, too, and Sophia’s flashing LED lights were now impossible to miss. And at the other end of the line, Hannah’s entire dress glowed, including her headband. She really did look like a walking flame emoji!

  Laughing, we all struck poses while the crowd cheered and whistled. Then the stage lights came back on, the beat kicked in again, and we danced offstage to the right. The second Maya joined us, we tackled her in
a group hug.

  “That was amazing!” I yelled, grabbing Maya’s arm and lifting it triumphantly in the air. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the winner of All the Talents!”

  Maya ducked her head, giggling. Her face was flushed, her eyes all shiny again. “Thank you all so much,” she said. “I honestly don’t care what place I get. It was so amazing to see you modeling my outfits!”

  Ms. Davies’s voice sounded through the speakers again, and we all fell silent as she introduced Sarah Rodriguez. A few seconds later, Sarah’s Claymation film started. I’d watched it at least a dozen times—it was a cool, slightly creepy story about a puppet coming to life—and I could hear the crowd oohing and aahing when it appeared on the giant projector screen over the stage. I high-fived Sarah when she joined the rest of us, and Ms. Davies brought out Kyle Ward, who put on what I had to admit was a really impressive dancing magic act. Then Kyle huddled backstage with us, and the whole auditorium fell silent.

  “You’ve seen the finalists,” Ms. Davies said. “Now it’s time to vote! You can use your phone if you have one, or use one of the tablets set up in the aisles or the back of the auditorium. Go to the All the Talents web app, log in with your student ID, and you’ll see the names of these three finalists on the home page. Just tap on your favorite, and you’re done!”

  I stuck my head through the curtain. All over the auditorium, students’ faces glowed under the lights of phones and tablets. A second later, Lucy poked my arm.

  “We need to vote, too!”

  “Oh yeah!”

  The six of us raced across the hall to the theater-club dressing room to grab our phones. There were a few seconds of silence as we all pulled up the site and voted—using the feature we had designed!

  “You’d all better be voting for Maya,” Hannah said sternly, and everyone laughed. Once we were finished, we headed back to the auditorium to wait for the results to be announced. While my friends chatted away, I kept sticking my head through the curtains to see if everyone was done voting. Finally, I saw Ms. Davies step behind the microphone holding a tablet, and I waved frantically at the others.

  “Here we go!” I hissed, and Maya scrunched up her face like she was holding her breath.

  “Once again, thanks to everyone who entered All the Talents this year!” Ms. Davies said. “I think we can all agree, this was one of the most impressive talent shows we’ve ever had. And now, if the finalists will join me onstage?”

  Maya walked out onstage with Kyle and Sarah, and I screamed my head off along with everyone else. Hannah stuck her fingers between her lips and let out a piercing whistle that caused Lucy to shriek and the rest of us to burst out laughing.

  The cheers died down as Ms. Davies made a show of swiping her tablet.

  “In second place,” she said. “Maya Chung!”

  Beaming, Maya stepped forward to accept her ribbon from Ms. Davies. My friends and I cheered at the top of our lungs until Maya joined us backstage, and Hannah gave her a huge hug.

  “And the winner of this year’s All the Talents . . .” Ms. Davies paused for dramatic effect, and a nervous gasp escaped my throat. “Sarah Rodriguez!”

  The cheers were deafening as Sarah stepped forward with a huge grin to accept her trophy. Even though I’d wanted Maya to win, I was thrilled for Sarah, too.

  “Last year’s talent show didn’t have any fashion shows or films,” I told Lucy over the applause. “I hope we do this format next year, too.”

  Lucy gave me a slightly shifty smile. “I may have already started a list of ideas for improving the app,” she admitted.

  I gasped. “Oh my god. Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?”

  “What? Why?” Lucy asked, her eyes wide.

  “Because I think you’ve been bitten by . . .” I stuck my arms out straight and groaned. “Woooork zombiiieee . . .”

  Lucy shrieked and ran off, and the others cracked up as I lumbered after her.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Nom.” Sophia grabbed a double-chocolate-chip cookie right off the rack and crammed it into her mouth.

  “They haven’t cooled off yet,” I warned, then chortled when her eyes bugged out. Lucy handed her a glass of milk, and Sophia chugged it, crumbs falling from her mouth as she did.

  Over at the kitchen table, Maya was laying out rolls of the glow-in-the-dark fabric she’d used to make our dresses. Leila sat next to her, reading something on her phone. Just as the timer went off for my second batch of cookies, Leila said, “Aha!” and held out her phone for Maya to read.

  “Oh, that looks pretty easy!” Maya said eagerly. “Hey, Erin, can I borrow some scissors?”

  “Sure!” I pulled them out of the drawer and handed them to her. “What are you making?”

  Leila pointed to the star-covered fabric Maya had used for my dress. “A galaxy head scarf for me! And one for Tania, although I’m not sure which pattern she’d like best.”

  I set the sheet of piping hot cookies on the counter, then turned to look at the fabrics. “The fire one from Hannah’s dress,” I said decisively, and Leila nodded.

  “Yeah, you’re right. She’ll love it.”

  Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping!

  We all fell silent, staring at one another. “Did we all just get a text at the same time?” Lucy wondered, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

  “Maybe someone hacked into our group text,” I joked, taking out my phone. Then I blinked in surprise. “Oh wow—it’s from Mrs. Clark!”

  Hi, girls! Just wanted to say congratulations—not just to Maya, but to you all.

  The talent show wouldn’t have been such a success without the super-talented coding club!

  “Aw, I’m going to miss her so much,” Lucy said. Then she squinted at her screen. “Oh wait . . . she’s typing another message.”

  Also, TechTown has a few fun apps in the works, and they’re looking for teens and tweens to act as beta testers. I told them I just might know a few. I’ll be in touch!

  ps Erin, don’t forget your promise

  “Whoa!” I cried, and the others looked just as excited. “That is so cool!”

  We all spent the next few minutes bombarding Mrs. Clark with texts and talking about how amazing it would be to beta test a brand-new app.

  “I wonder what kind of apps they are,” Leila said. “Maybe Tania can tell us more about them.”

  “I hope one is a karaoke app,” I said. “Or some sort of voice-effect app. Ooh, I would have so much fun with that . . .”

  Sophia helped herself to another cookie. “You know, Erin,” she said around a mouthful. “I’m still pretty bummed we never got to see you perform that song. Maya said you even had a stuffed monkey.”

  “It’s true,” I said. “Actually, I think it’s still in my room.”

  Lucy gasped. “Omigod, Erin. Can you please put on that performance for us?”

  “Yes!” Sophia cried, and Leila nodded fervently. I noticed Maya giving me a worried glance before she cleared her throat.

  “Guys, maybe that’s not such a good idea . . .”

  “No, it’s fine!” I said, and she looked at me uncertainly. “Seriously.”

  “Oh wait.” Lucy slapped her forehead. “I’m sorry—I totally forgot it gave you a panic attack last time.”

  “It’s fine!” I said again, and I meant it. Just talking to my friends about my dad was already helping me feel less anxious. Plus, after that assembly this afternoon, I was craving another performance.

  We piled all the cookies onto a few plates, grabbed our glasses of milk, and headed for my room. “Are you ladies still my backup crew?” I asked as I flipped on my keyboard.

  “Yes,” Maya said, grabbing the stuffed monkey. “But don’t be mad when I end up laughing too hard to sing or dance.”

  She threw me the monkey, and I found the
accompaniment on the keyboard. Just as I was about to hit play, there was a knock at my door.

  “Come in!” I called. Mom opened the door, her eyebrows quirking up at the sight of my friends in a straight line in front of my bed, mouths smudged with cookie crumbs. “You’re just in time,” I said grandly, waving the stuffed monkey. “I’m about to put on the performance of the century.”

  Mom’s eyes twinkled. “This is perfect timing. I happen to have someone here who would love to watch.”

  She stepped all the way into my room, and I realized she was holding her laptop. And on the screen was a familiar, if slightly sunburned, face smiling at me from under an army cap. For a moment, I froze, so surprised I couldn’t even react. Then my dad’s voice came through the tiny laptop speakers.

  “Hi, sweetie!”

  “Dad!” I cried, my eyes instantly welling up with happy tears. I flew across the room and hugged the laptop, and Mom and Dad both laughed. Stepping back, I wiped my cheeks and beamed at him. “You’re okay? The mission’s over?”

  “Yes and yes,” he said, then tilted his head. “But we can talk about that later. I believe I was about to see the performance of the century?”

  Behind me, my friends giggled. I held up the stuffed monkey, and waited until Dad’s eyes lit up with recognition.

  “I really did call at the perfect time!” He struck a robot-like dance pose. “Hope you girls don’t mind if I join the dance party.”

  “You’d better,” I said as my friends chuckled again. Hurrying back over to the keyboard, I looked around at them eagerly.

  “Ready?”

  “Yes!” Sophia exclaimed just as Maya said, “Noooo,” and Lucy and Leila covered their mouths with their hands to stifle their laughter.

  I lifted my chin and adopted an imperious expression, clapping my hands briskly. “Places, girls!”

  They hurried to stand in a straight line. Sophia grabbed the last bit of cookie from Lucy’s hand, and Lucy gasped in pretend outrage. But Leila stole it from Sophia and gave her a mock-stern look before handing the cookie to Maya, who shrugged and popped it into her mouth. As they acted silly and poked one another, I felt as light as a helium balloon, ready to float to the ceiling. Lucy, Sophia, Maya, and Leila might have started out as my coding club friends, but they were my best friends now, and I knew nothing would change that.