Allie tapped on her screen, and one of the phones in the back of the room let out a sound that startled its owner. “Sir, would you please stand?” She tapped another button, and a phone in the front row on the opposite side of the theater sounded. A woman held her phone in the air and then stood and turned around.
“Congratulations! If you two were playing Click’d, you’d be in a spot on each other’s leaderboards.” They waved at each other from across the theater.
“That’s basically how my game works. You take a quiz, the algorithm figures out who you have the most in common with, and then it uses your smartphone’s geolocation capabilities to help you find each other.”
Everyone clapped as the man and woman took their seats.
Allie glanced over at Courtney again. She had a huge grin on her face. Allie looked back at the audience, feeling on top of the world.
“The leaderboard is dynamic, constantly changing as new people join.”
The screen behind Allie filled with a picture of the CodeGirls, running around the computer lab with their phones high in the air, trying to find their matches.
“As soon as Click’d identifies someone on your leaderboard who’s within three hundred feet, your phone flashes blue and it bloops.” Allie brought the microphone closer to her mouth and whispered, “That’s a technical term,” and everyone laughed again. “When the two of you get within one hundred feet, it bloops twice and turns yellow, and then, when you get within thirty feet, it turns red and gives you a hint: a photo from that person’s Instagram feed.”
Allie rooted her feet in place. She was feeling good now. She didn’t look at Ms. Slade. She didn’t need to.
“When you find each other, you tap your phones together and see where you rank on each other’s leaderboards. Then you hear this sound.”
Woo-hoo!
The audience laughed again, and Allie couldn’t help but smile. “That sound is telling you to take a selfie together. The picture is sent to the whole user community to announce the newest click.”
She advanced the slide to a photograph of two CodeGirls with their arms around each other, and then another set of two, and another set of two.
Then she opened Courtney’s profile.
“This is Courtney. We landed in the number one spot on each other’s leaderboards.”
A photo of Allie and Courtney filled the monitor. Then Courtney walked out from behind the curtain and threaded her arm through Allie’s.
“Obviously, there’s more to friendship than overlapping answers on a quiz. But in our case…” Allie and Courtney looked at each other. “An app helped us see how much we had in common.” They both snapped their fingers at the same time. “And we clicked.”
The two of them bowed and the room exploded with applause. Allie and Courtney waved and ran offstage. Their CodeGirls instructor took their place, thanked Allie, and introduced the next presentation.
When they were behind the curtain and out of sight, Courtney hugged her. “You were amazing!” she said. When she pulled away, she gripped Allie’s arms with both hands and looked right into her eyes. “You have nothing to worry about. Your teacher is going to love it!”
“I hope so!” Allie said.
As soon as the presentations were over, Allie saw Ms. Slade heading up the steps and onto the stage. She reached for Courtney’s hand, squeezing it hard, like she could wring good luck out of it. Ms. Slade stopped in front of them and looked at Courtney. “Your game was fantastic!” she said, and Courtney thanked her. Then she looked at Allie.
Allie hadn’t seen Ms. Slade since school got out. Now that she was standing so close, she could tell her hair was a lot shorter, and that made it even curlier than it usually was. But otherwise, she looked the same, with her rich brown skin, and her warm, friendly eyes, and as always…the earrings.
Allie beamed when she saw her little swirly stick-figure friends on the light blue background. “You made Click’d logo earrings!”
The earrings were Ms. Slade’s trademark. She wore different ones every day—pizza slices, tiny power tools, lightbulbs—all made on the computer lab’s 3-D printer.
“Of course I did,” she said as she batted her fingers against them. “I made a pair for you, too. I thought you might want to wear them onstage next weekend when you present at the Games for Good competition.”
Courtney gripped Allie’s arm harder.
“Really?” Allie asked.
Ms. Slade nodded. “I’ve been digging into your code all week and trying to break it, just like the judges will. And I’ve gotta say, it seems to be rock solid.”
Allie looked at Courtney. “The CodeGirls have been helping me test it all summer. If they can’t break it, no one can!”
Ms. Slade was beaming. “And your demo was perfect. The judges are going to love Click’d.”
“I told you!” Courtney said.
Allie had built apps before—fun games for her friends and word puzzles for her parents, but she’d never made anything like Click’d. She felt like she was about to burst with pride.
“So let’s make it official. What are you doing next Saturday, Ms. Navarro?” Ms. Slade asked.
Allie stood up taller, threw her shoulders back, and put on her game face. “I’ll be presenting in front of a thousand people at the Games for Good competition.” She tried to stay serious, but she couldn’t seem to get her mouth to cooperate.
Ms. Slade gave Allie a fist bump. “Do exactly what you did up there today and you’ll knock it out of the park.” As she walked away, she called over her shoulder, “Don’t change a thing.”
Allie rested her lunch tray against her hip and took a deep breath. Relax, she told herself. They’re going to love it.
Her friends were sitting at their usual table out by the big oak tree. When Zoe saw Allie coming, she jumped up from her seat, ran to meet her, and threw her arms around her.
“You weren’t on the bus,” Zoe said.
“My dad gave me a ride.” Before Allie could get the words out, Emma was pushing Zoe out of the way, and Maddie was on her other side, fighting for space, too.
“You’re back!” Maddie said.
“When did you get home?” Emma asked.
“Late last night,” Allie said. “It took me forever to pack up my dorm room and say good-bye to everyone, and then my parents insisted on taking me to dinner to celebrate.”
Her friends knew what that meant.
“You got into Games for Good?” Zoe asked, and Allie nodded fast.
“I knew you would!” Emma said.
“We never doubted it!” Maddie added.
They all walked back to the table together. Allie sat between Zoe and Emma, just like she had all last year, and Zoe gave her a playful bump with her shoulder. “Missed you, nerd.”
Allie smiled and bumped her back. “Missed you more.”
Then Allie rested her elbows on the table and looked at them. “I can’t believe I haven’t seen you guys all summer. What did I miss? Tell me everything. Like…what was the best soccer tournament?”
“Oregon!” Maddie shouted at the same time Zoe yelled, “Lake Tahoe!”