The Anti Social Network by Sadie Hayes Read Free Book Online

aback: this was really happening. Vendors were going to start seeing her product. She was going to have a programming team.
    “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I think that sounds great. I’ll put up a bulletin at Gates to see if I can find any engineers who could work part time with me.”“Great,” Tom said. “Let’s meet again on Friday for a progress report.
    Sound good?”
    Everyone nodded in agreement. “Okay, then, how about some lunch?
    My treat.”
    As they were exiting the conference room, Tom patted T. J. on the back. “Great work, T. J. And good instincts. I’m afraid I underestimated you.”

Chapter XII
Dos Cervezas, Por Favor
    A t the end of the day, Adam and Amelia biked back to campus, following each other in silence down Sand Hill Road and onto Campus Drive.
    When they got to Amelia’s dorm, Adam stopped and turned to face her.
    “We need to talk,” he said.
    Amelia took a deep breath. “I know.”
    Ever since they had left the conference room she had been dreading this moment. She knew she owed it to him, but the thought of having to defend herself against turning down all that money made her want to cry.
    “Dinner at the Treehouse?”
    “Sounds good.”
    They biked to Stanford’s Student Union and ordered burritos at the Treehouse. Adam ordered two beers. Amelia tried to hide her surprise as he showed his ID and the cashier handed him two Coronas.
    As they walked outside with their food, Amelia whispered, “Since when do you have a fake ID?”
    “T. J. got it for me. Pretty sweet, right?” They sat at a picnic bench, one of a dozen lined up in the outside courtyard of the student union. The courtyard was bustling with other students laughing and drinking pitchers of beer. Amelia took a sip out of the bottle, trying to be casual about it. At this point, she didn’t want to do anything to upset Adam even more. If that meant drinking a beer, so be it.
    Adam unfolded his burrito on the table. “Look,” he said. “There’s a lot that I have to say and—”
    Amelia interrupted him, blurting out, “Adam, I’m sorry, but I just can’t take it. I know how much money it is and I know you think the money will solve all of our problems, but it’s just not going to work out if—”
    Adam touched her hand. “No, no, this doesn’t have anything to do with today. I mean, with selling or not selling.”
    “It doesn’t?” Amelia looked up, holding her breath and looking for confirmation before letting herself feel relieved.
    “No. Not that I don’t
want
eight and a half million dollars right now, but … Well, at the end of the day, I guess I trust your instincts, and Tom’s and T. J.’s as well. It’s not what I would have done, true. But I’m not the only one in this thing, right?”
    Amelia took a sip of her beer, which she surprised herself by actually enjoying. “Oh, that is such good news. Because you know you’re more important than any of it. I mean,
we’re
more important than any of it.”
    “I know. That’s why I have to tell you what I’m about to tell you,” he said. “I haven’t been honest with you lately and, well, here goes … ” He took a deep breath.
    “Remember the first day in the incubator when we got that call from The Family?”
    Amelia nodded.
    “Well, they’ve been calling ever since. And e-mailing. They want you to start embezzling money for them again.”
    “Tough luck,” Amelia said. “We’re done with them.” Adam swallowed. “That’s what we thought, but the thing is … they’ve got something against me. And they’re using it as blackmail.” Amelia put down her burrito. “What have they got against you?”
    “After you got caught and went to juvie … You know how we had just taken our SATs the week before?”
    Amelia nodded, not sure where this was going.
    “Well, I didn’t do so well.” He looked down. “I did okay—I got an 1880—but you got a 2310. And when you left, I sort of freaked out.
    Because it was awful being away