After the dance party and cleanup, it was finally time to go home. Abuela had found me after the maze runs and gushed about how hackathons were the most fun thing ever—she even said she might want to participate in one. I tried to explain that they probably didn’t all end in dance extravaganzas.
“Well, maybe they should,” she’d said firmly as I waved goodbye. Ellie’s grandmother overheard our conversation, and soon she and Abuela were chatting away about learning to code and taking a flamenco dance class together at the Y.
“That was the best dance party!” Leila declared as we headed out of the community center. She was carrying Zahira.
“Like we’re the best group!” Maya said.
“And today was the best hackathon!” Erin added.
I started to say “We are the best—” when Lucy cut in.
“Best friends,” she finished.
“You guys are the best,” I gushed.
“Talking about us again?” It was Bradley. “We still have the best robot,” Bradley bragged as he, Sammy, Alicia, and Ellie came walking up next to us. Bradley held out their team’s robot. “We’re calling him the Climb Over Rover.”
Their robot had placed pretty high, though the winner was a robot from another school that sped through the maze tipped on two wheels. I still wasn’t sure how they’d managed to do that. It was pretty epic.
“We won a pizza party from that new place near school,” Bradley said smugly.
While Bradley and the others discussed the pizza party, Sammy stepped up next to me. “Hey,” he whispered. “Can I talk to you?”
We started walking a bit slower, falling behind the others.
“What’s up?” I asked, trying to act calm.
Sammy looked down at the ground. “So, you know . . . the dance?” He shuffled his feet around.
I thought about what Tyson and Maya had said. I realized that I kind of did want to go to the dance with Sammy, and it seemed like he wanted to, also.
I took a deep breath. “You want to go together?” I couldn’t believe those words had just come out of my mouth.
Sammy looked up at me wide-eyed and then broke into a grin. “That’d be awesome.” He reached for my hand. I let him take it, even though it was a sweaty mess—but his was, too. Right before we reached the others, he let go of my hand and looked at me with his warm, dark eyes. “Text you later?”
“Okay.” I nodded, my heart racing.
Sammy’s mom was giving his team rides home, and Lucy’s dad was going to drive us to her house—he’d just stopped to talk to another parent inside. We’d all planned to hang out at Lucy’s for a while before going home.
As soon as I caught up with my friends, they pounced. “What was that about?” Lucy shrieked as she and Maya, Erin, and Leila crowded around me.
I touched my hot cheeks. “I asked Sammy to the dance!” I exclaimed, surprising even myself.
“You didn’t!” Maya said, hitting me on the arm. “What did you say?”
“I just asked him to go with me!” I was feeling pretty proud of myself.
“That’s so cool!” Leila said.
Erin hugged me. “You’re awesome.”
“Okay, but you have to promise not to wear raggedy sports shirts or sweatpants,” Maya said, scanning my outfit with her finger.
I put my hands over my heart. “Promise.”
I looked at my friends and thought how I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them helping me out that morning. And if I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have been able to help code Zahira’s amazing dance moves. And ask Sammy to the dance.
“Smile!” Erin held her phone up, and we threw our arms around one another and made silly faces, making sure to hold Zahira up high.
“Text it to all of us,” Maya said.
“Done.” Erin nodded, tapping her phone.
I pulled out my phone and looked at the picture that popped up on my screen. “Rockin’ Robots forever,” I said, waves of happiness washing over me. Not only did I have the absolute best, most epic team . . . I had the absolute best BFFs.