The Boyfriend App (25 page)

“We’re en route,” the Guy said into his earpiece. He turned toward the three of us. “We’ll be arriving at Public’s headquarters in seven minutes.” I saw my reflection in his sunglasses. My skin looked even paler in California and my hair was spiking all wrong.

Lindsay pressed a black button. Air-conditioning blasted our faces. “My overactive metabolism wasn’t made for California,” she said. The sides of our hands touched and I tried ESP:
Lindsay. I’m in trouble.

We passed planes lining runways like hulking gray birds ready for takeoff. “You’re going to do great today, Audrey,” my mom said.

“Indeed,” the Guy in the Dark Suit said. I saw him smirk in the rearview mirror. “Public is very much awaiting your arrival.”

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE

HarperCollins Publishers

.....................................................................

chapter twenty-eight

T
he SUV crunched over gravel. Yellow wildflowers lined the side of the road next to a farmer’s market. The Santa Cruz Mountains loomed in the distance. Clusters of redwood trees arched into the sky on either side of us, like they were standing guard. We curved onto a paved driveway and my heart seized as I took in Public headquarters glistening on the horizon.

Looking inside the circular glass tower was like watching a video game: Floor-to-ceiling windows made it see-through, and miniature people milled about inside. There weren’t actual floors stacked on top of one another—the tower was constructed with one sloping floor that spiraled to the top. I’d read online the slope was so gradual you could barely detect it inside, even though your coworker’s desk could be a few inches higher than yours. In person it was like science fiction: an Escher-esque coil with no escape. We neared the entrance and I tried to act like I was okay, like my insides weren’t melting in a pressure cooker.

The SUV parked in front of headquarters. Two twenty-somethings wearing jeans stood in front of an ice-cream-truck-shaped vehicle marked:
PUBLIC COFFEE CART: GET BUZZED
. A sidewalk parted an elaborately landscaped courtyard. Weeping willows shaded two women hunched over their Beasts. Prickly-looking bushes were shaped into computers complete with keyboards. Potted vases held electric-blue flowers. A wooden sign with an arrow pointing to headquarters read:
PROGRESS, THIS WAY
.

The second SUV pulled behind ours. Nigit, his dad, Aidan, and Mindy climbed out. Aidan shook his head in awe as he took in the building. Nigit went to Lindsay’s side. “Can you believe how sick this is?”

“Totes sick,” she said, nuzzling against him.

My mother’s neon-orange fanny pack matched the PUBLIC letters arching over the entrance. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said, gazing into the sloping levels of office space. Chrome desks lined the interior. A glass elevator brought busy-looking people up and down the tower.

Dr. Gurung stood off the side. His face was grim when Nigit said, “Cool, right, Dad?”

Through the glass I saw two dozen Harrison lacrosse players waiting on the first floor. Xander saw me, and waved. I waved back, trying to act normal. The lax guys being there just made me more nervous.

My mom snapped a photo of the life-sized stone statue of Alec Pierce next to the entrance. Alec’s stone hand was lifted midgesture like he was in the middle of giving a TED talk. Lindsay climbed onto the ledge. “Take my picture, Aunt Marian!” She reached her arms around Alec and put her hands on his stone butt cheeks. “Mwah!” she said, and kissed his stone lips.

“Please don’t be inappropriate, Lindsay,” my mom said. But I could tell she was trying not to smile.

A man with a pink Mohawk walked by with his buyPhone pressed against his ear, eating a sandwich. I smelled salami.

The Guy in the Dark Suit pressed his fingertip against a print detector on the side of the building. The doors swung open and we entered the glass matrix.

“Hey, trogs!” Barron Feldman called, sounding oddly reverent. Then some of the other Harrison guys said, “What’s up?” like we were all friends. They wore collared shirts and khaki pants, like someone had given them a uniform. I’d never seen Xander in anything other than a T-shirt or lacrosse jersey.

I felt Aidan watching me as I noticed Xander. Heat rose to my face, and I looked away.

On our right, water gushed down a wall behind a receptionist who looked like a supermodel. Goldfish the size of hamsters swam in a sparkling black glass pool surrounding the reception desk. Pennies glinted beneath the surface. The receptionist looked up from her computer and smiled without showing her teeth. “We’ll begin your tour momentarily,” she told the lacrosse players. She exchanged a glance with the Guy in the Dark Suit. “You will wait here,” she told our group. “Except for Miss McCarthy,” she said, glancing at me. How did she know which one I was?

“Good luck, sweetie,” my mom said.

My throat constricted.
Calm down, trog
. It wasn’t like they were going to murder me—I’d watched enough primetime to know you didn’t bring the person to your place of work to commit the felony.

A woman with long red hair emerged from behind the water-wall like a mermaid. Next came a short guy in a salmon-colored button-down. His sunburned skin matched his shirt, except for the white area surrounding his eyes in the shape of sunglasses. The mermaid went behind the reception desk. The sunburned guy strode in our direction, extending his hand. “I’m Tag Adams,” he said, smiling. His canine teeth were too long, like a wolf. He shook our hands. “I’m pleased to tell you that you’ll each have the opportunity to meet Alec Pierce today,” he said.

“Are you freaking serious?” Nigit asked.

No one had ever said anything about meeting Alec Pierce in the contest-prize description.

The lacrosse guys overheard Tag and mumbled among themselves, sounding impressed.

Tag nodded. “And you’ll meet him first, Miss McCarthy,” he said.

Everyone had to be wondering why I was meeting Alec alone, right? I prayed someone would speak up. Say they wanted to come with me.

No one did.

Aidan was standing next to my mom, who was smiling at me. I cleared my throat. “I don’t feel so good,” I said to my mom, quiet enough so just she and Aidan could hear.

“Do you want me to ask if I can come with you?” she whispered.

I shook my head. I couldn’t involve her in this.

Aidan reached behind his neck. His long fingers grabbed the piece of twine I’d noticed in the spot behind my apartment. He took it off over his head and I saw a silver computer charm hanging from the twine. It took me a second to remember why I recognized it—I’d given it to him freshman year when he transferred into Harrison. I’d told him,
The trogs know where it’s at. Come hang out with us in the lab.

I looked up and met his eyes. I saw how nervous he was—like he was telling me something when he passed it into my hands. I brought the twine over my neck and ran my fingers over the silver computer. We stared at each other. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to.

“I’ll be okay,” I told them softly.

The mermaid woman gestured to a square of plush white leather sofas. “What can I get you?” she asked our group.

Lindsay was asking for
Something to cool my metabolism down, please. A slushie?
when the glass doors to the elevator opened. I followed Tag. A cleaning woman wearing an outfit that looked like a Wimbledon uniform boarded the elevator alongside us. I stared at Aidan as the doors closed.

The cleaning woman’s bag of eco-friendly, organic cleaning supplies reeked of eucalyptus, and she smiled (probably because she was the only one who didn’t know I was being taken hostage by Public). I held the computer charm in a tight fist and tried to take deep, calming breaths, but the eucalyptus burned my nose hairs.

Tag smiled back at the cleaning woman as she got off on the third level. The elevator doors closed. Tag wouldn’t look at me.

The elevator moved quickly and soundlessly. The glass windows made it feel like flying into the sky on one of those amusement-park rides that rockets up, only to free-fall you back down to the earth until you want to throw up. We soared above the redwoods. I took in the desks and Public employees at their computers as we shot past them. The Santa Cruz Mountains were blue and hazy in the distance, and a memory struck me: I saw my dad’s broad hand holding mine as we hiked a trail on the Mini Mountain Campground in New Carlisle. I was only ten, and panic-attacking about mountain lions, and my dad taught me some Survival 101 about widening your arms and making yourself as big as possible to scare one off.
Know your opponent,
he’d said as we climbed higher.

On the top level, the elevator opened to a circular floor three times the size of our apartment. Sun poured through the glass onto the marble floors. Model airplanes like the kind Amelia Earhart would fly hung from the ceiling next to modern ones. The airplanes circled a spaceship-looking dome. A putting green with real grass sat in the center of the room with a flag over the hole that read
PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE: CREATE BIG
. White sand–filled kidney-shaped traps on either side of the grass. A glass shelf circled the room, showcasing wooden plaques and a golden statue that looked like an Oscar.

Even grander than the showcase was a supertall Alec Pierce in plaid pants and a short-sleeved baby-blue golf shirt. His back faced me but I knew it was him by the overcrowded hair follicles on his head and forearms. His right hand clutched a putter way shinier than the ones they give you in mini golf. A candle burned on his long chrome desk. I couldn’t smell the scent—only the smoke.

“Alec Pierce: Audrey McCarthy,” Tag said. Then he disappeared into the elevator, leaving me alone with Alec.

Alec turned. Sunlight backlit his body and stubble shaded his face. His eyes were black like an oil spill. He smiled. I shivered. He moved slowly to his desk. He pressed a button on his keyboard and the massive computer screens that hung from the ceiling illuminated. Data scrolled. I recognized conversation after conversation:

u goin 2 win the contest? 200k?

We need to get the Boyfriend App into the Top Ten

. . . we need a miracle
 . . .

U have explaining to do. Why is everyone talking about Debate Team Boy trying to make out w u?

The computer screen flickered and I felt like I was going to be sick.

I know you want to know more but I can’t tell you more right now. I just need you to trust me.

It was the text I sent Lindsay the morning after the Danny Beaton concert. They were tracking every move I made.

Alec pressed another button and the computers faded to black. The smoke smell made the air between us hot and thick. We were quiet until Alec gestured to a miniature pool of water next to his desk.

“The salt water’s good for my eczema,” he said.

A tiny black fluff-ball dog emerged from beneath the desk. The metal tags on his collar caught the sun streaming through the window.

“We have a situation here, don’t we, Audrey?” Alec ran a hairy-knuckled hand over his stomach like he’d eaten too much. “I’m hoping we can come to an amicable agreement that benefits both of us.”

Pins and needles prickled my legs.

“You’ve stolen software from my company,” Alec said. His voice grated over his words like a train covering tracks. “Software I’d rather the world know nothing about.” Yellow lights flickered on a vintage pinball machine and reflected off the glass. “Oh, and Audrey,” Alec said, chuckling to himself like this was all a game, “I’ve deactivated the BuyWare on my phone, so don’t get any ideas about using it on me.” He pushed a piece of paper and a fancy-looking ballpoint pen across his desk. “You can imagine I’ve done a lot of thinking about how to right this situation. And I’ve come up with something I’m confident will work for both of us.”

A blue-green vein bisected Alec’s throat. I imagined seawater coursing beneath his skin.

“You’re going to sign this document swearing never to reveal or use the software you’ve uncovered,” he said. “And in exchange, I’ll grant your college scholarship. The world will eventually forget all about the Boyfriend App. It will be like this conversation never happened.”

My heart clenched and then released.

Alec shoved the paper closer. “Sign it.”

I was so used to being unsure that I almost didn’t recognize the emotion surfacing in me now. Ever since my dad died, uncertainty about who I was and what the future had in store felt like a mystery, like the rug had been pulled from beneath me, leaving me unsteady, reeling. But I didn’t feel that now. I felt strong. Public wasn’t going to hide who I was and what I could do. How could I take Alec’s money and keep quiet when I’d always wanted software to be free and open? There was supposed to be truth in technology, not lies and secrets and cover-ups. Even though I was scared, everything my dad and I believed in made this decision the easiest one I’d ever made.

“No,” I said.

Alec’s face remained perfectly calm, perfectly still. But a red color spread across his cheeks and forehead.

I said it louder.
“No.”

His eyes were so black I couldn’t distinguish the pupil from the iris. “If you don’t agree to my terms, things will made extremely unpleasant for you and your family,” he said.

I didn’t even flinch. “Things have already been
extremely unpleasant
for my family and me,” I pointed out. The person we loved most had died way before his time. How much more unpleasant could things get? “And the truth isn’t meant to be covered up.”

I battled the aching sadness that crept through me. There was nothing else to say. The only collateral I had against Alec Pierce and Public would hurt people I cared about and break my dad’s rule.
My
rule. If I fought back, if I let on I knew Alec funded a public-health study and then blackmailed Dr. Gurung into keeping the results quiet, then Nigit and Aidan would be involved, and Alec would find a way to take away their scholarships, too. He’d find a way to keep them quiet—he’d threaten them like he was threatening me, like he’d threatened Dr. Gurung. Nigit’s parents could pay for his college. Aidan’s couldn’t.