Chapter 15: The Showcase

For two months Lena said nothing to me that wasn't a number.

She read the scale. I wrote the column. She said "Lindahl" when she needed the wire, and "Lindahl" when she handed it back.

On the Friday before Thanksgiving week, the physics atrium filled with folding tables and trifold posters for the freshman research showcase.

Ours said STEEL WIRE VERSUS STRING: WHAT A PENDULUM REALLY DOES in letters Lena had printed herself.

Her name was first on it. She had insisted, and I hadn't argued.

She stood at the end of our table with her arms crossed and her flannel sleeves rolled twice, and she was still polite to me, which was worse.

"The judges start at two," she said. "If you push your glasses up while you talk, I'll kill you."

"Understood."

"I'm not mad at the app. I'm mad that you never asked me."

"I know."

"Good. Say it to a faculty member instead of me."

She walked off to get coffee, and I watched her go.

Then the atrium doors opened and let in a gust of cold air and a voice I knew.

"Excuse me. Hi. We're here for the Lindahl project."

Chelsea had a blazer on.

She had a visitor tag on the lapel, a leather folder under her arm, and the smile she wore for photographs.

Toby was beside her in a clean shirt, carrying a tripod.

I thought about the dining hall and the security guard, and I wondered who had let them in.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Text From the Future: Dump Your Girlfriend from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.