“That’s okay,” Ms. Slade said calmly. “We’ll just need to find another concentrated group of people you can reach before the day is over. What other options do you have?”
Allie thought about it. Emma, Zoe, and Maddie could meet her after school, but that would only get her three people on her leaderboard. She wouldn’t see her soccer team until their game on Sunday. She could call a leaderboard party on the blacktop, but that was too risky. And besides, she didn’t want to stay after school. She couldn’t wait to get home. She was counting the minutes until the bus pulled up in front of her house and the doors slapped open.
The bus.
That was it.
“There are probably thirty people on my bus,” she told Ms. Slade. “And they’ve all joined this week, so I already have all their information in the database.”
“Perfect,” Ms. Slade said, patting her hand. “As Captain Picard says—”
“Make it so,” Allie said, finishing Ms. Slade’s sentence. Everyone knew it was her favorite Star Trek line. Allie didn’t even need to turn her head and look at the poster on the wall behind her.
“Attagirl,” she said as she left Allie alone with her code and walked back to the front of the room to teach her next class.
Allie worked all through fifth period and into sixth. By the time seventh period was about to start, all her tests had passed and she was ready to push out the update.
She checked the calculations. She made certain there weren’t any mistakes. Everything looked solid, so she flagged the database table with everyone that rode Bus #14.
If she’d done everything right, the drive home would be full of bloops and taps and flying phones. It would be just like that day in the Fishbowl with her CodeGirls. Everyone’s leaderboards would be full in a matter of minutes.
Zoe would be #1. Marcus would be her #6. Penny would be #7. It would all fall into place, exactly the way it had earlier that week.
Right before the final bell was about to ring, Ms. Slade returned.
“I’m sending out the update,” Allie told her. But she couldn’t quite bring herself to press the button. She kept staring at the code, wondering if she was missing anything.
“You should be so proud of yourself,” Ms. Slade said.
Allie smiled. “I will be if it works.”
Ms. Slade smiled back. “You should be, even if it doesn’t.”
Allie combed her fingers through her hair. She didn’t want to ask the question that had been running through her mind all day, but she didn’t have a choice. “What happens if…if it doesn’t work? Do I have to drop out?”
Ms. Slade nodded. “I’m afraid so. But you can be in the Games for Good Pavilion.”
Allie brought her elbows to the table and rested her chin in her hands. She’d been so focused on the stage presentation, she’d forgotten all about the Games for Good Pavilion. Now she pictured a kiosk with her beautiful logo on a sign above a bright monitor, and her stomach clenched into a tight knot.
Ms. Slade reached for Allie’s spiral-bound notebook and wrote something on the first page. Then she slid it back to her. “That’s my cell phone. Call or text me and let me know what’s going on. It doesn’t matter what time it is.”
“Thanks,” she said. And then Allie pushed the UPDATE button, reactivating Click’d for all the people on Bus #14.
At the end of the day, Allie ran straight to the office. As promised, there was a packet waiting for her on the counter with a Post-it note on top that read Assignments for Allie Navarro. She quickly scanned the contents, raced to her locker to grab the books she needed, and took off for the roundabout, texting Zoe on the way:
Allie
meet me on the lawn by the bus
need your help!
She ran as fast as she could, feeling her backpack thump against her spine with every step.
Allie couldn’t help noticing that everything was different. No one was racing through the halls, trying to locate a match. People weren’t tapping their phones in the air or squealing with delight as they looked at their newly posted leaderboards. No one was taking ClickPics. And she didn’t hear a single bloop.
She pushed her way through the crowd, ignoring everyone as they tried to stop her with questions about Click’d.
“What happened?”
“I heard it would be back up by the time school got out!”
“Where is it?”
As she turned at the flagpole, she spotted Zoe up ahead. She took off sprinting and didn’t stop until she was standing in front of her, panting.
Allie told her about fixing the glitch and rewriting the code. “It’s all up and running, but this thirty-minute bus ride is my last chance to fill up my leaderboard for the contest tomorrow.”
“What do you need me to do?” Zoe asked, and Allie wanted to hug her.
“Open Click’d.”
The two of them started walking toward the bus while Zoe pulled out her phone and tapped her finger against the glass. As soon as Allie reached the top step, she heard bloop-bloop-bloop.
Zoe’s phone let out the same sound.
Allie smiled and held her phone out, and Zoe did the same. When they tapped them together, their leaderboards popped up on their screens.
Allie stood at the front of the bus. It was almost completely full. People were turned around in their seats, talking to one another.
“Hi!” she called out. “Can I have your attention, please?” The noise level gradually dropped, and soon, everyone was staring at her.
“Hi,” Allie repeated nervously. “So…hey…I need a favor.” She fidgeted with her hands, wringing them in front of her. “I just released an update of Click’d, but I only sent it to you guys—to everyone on bus fourteen.” She briefly explained what happened with the photos and how she’d fixed the glitch but lost the leaderboard and had to start from scratch. “In order to participate in tomorrow’s Games for Good competition, I need a working leaderboard and at least twenty members. And that’s where all of you come in. I need you to be my beta testers for the new version. Please don’t invite anyone else to join yet—they can’t anyway, because they aren’t in the system anymore.” Her gaze traveled around the bus and she met eyes with a few people. “You guys in?” she said, giving them a hopeful smile.
“Sure,” someone in the back yelled.
“Of course,” Penny said.
“What do we need to do?” Marcus asked from his spot in the third row.
Allie smiled at him, and then she addressed the group again. “Just launch Click’d and it will prompt you to install the update.”
Marcus reached for his phone and everyone else on the bus did the same. Zoe and Allie walked to their seats and sat down.