When Dimple Met Rishi(96)

"You're welcome again. I expect great things from you guys now."

Dimple laughed, feeling like she might float off the bed. "Got it." She hung up and looked around at her friends. "We did it," she said softly. "We won."

• • •

Another three weeks passed way, way quicker than Dimple would've liked. She would've wanted another thousand, give or take, to tinker with the wireframe prototype. Still, she knew it was more polished than she'd hoped it would be at this point, thanks to the talent show money. The designers had taken Rishi's sketches to the next level and made the whole thing come alive.

And now . . . now it was time to let it go. The judges would be in to look at all the prototypes. There was nothing more to do. They were supposed to just go by the lecture hall later for the big announcement.

"Two more hours," Dimple said, leaning back in her chair. They were at You Gelato Be Kidding!, a sketchy little shop that had somehow become their favorite place to get dessert in the intensity of the last three weeks. Dimple had a giant bowl of cherry gelato she had had exactly two bites of so far.



       
         
       
        

"You really must be feeling sick." Rishi raised an eyebrow. He was tucking into his second bowl of gelato like he hadn't eaten in four days.

Celia giggled. They both looked at her, and she looked up from her phone and blushed when she saw they were watching her.

"Ashish?" Dimple asked, waggling her eyebrows.

"He just said the funniest thing about peanut butter gelato. . . ." Celia trailed off when she saw the looks on their faces. "Never mind." She put her phone down and sighed. "I'm so ready for this all to be over. Three more days."

"So they really don't care that you've dropped out?" Rishi asked, licking his spoon.

"No." Celia shrugged. "I guess there really isn't anything they can do about it if I want to waste my money like that. I'm glad they're letting me stay in the dorms till after the Last Hoorah party."

The Last Hoorah party was their chance to celebrate and let off some steam after the intensity of the last six weeks. After that it was good-bye, San Francisco. Dimple wondered if Rishi was dreading it as much as she was. They were pretty much avoiding talking about it.

"Too bad they let Evan join Hari and Isabelle's team though," Celia continued. "I was sort of hoping they'd make him drop too. Instead, they're combining their ideas or something. Whatever. Like they can do that in three weeks."

"Well, I hope it sucks," Dimple said, more loudly than she'd intended. A few people around the small store looked up at her.

Celia smiled gratefully at her. "Me too."

Rishi sat up suddenly. He looked pale and sweaty. "Um . . ."

"Are you okay?" Dimple asked, frowning, reaching over to put a hand on his arm. He pushed the chair back and ran to the bathroom.

Dimple jumped up and followed him. When he came out, he looked like he'd been run over by a trolley. "Are you okay?" she asked, rushing up to him.

He clutched his stomach and groaned. "I don't feel so good."

"Oh no. I wonder if the gelato was bad."

Celia raced up to them. "What's up? Everything okay?"

"Might be food poisoning," Dimple said, her arm around Rishi's waist. "I'm going to take him back to the dorm."

"Okay. I'm going to tell the fourteen-year-old behind the counter she might want to throw out her banana chocolate swirl," Celia said, gesturing at the kid in glitter lip gloss texting behind the counter. "I'll come up and check on you guys later. Just text me if you need anything in the meantime."




Rishi was pretty sure he was going to die. His skin was cold and clammy, his stomach kept heaving even though there was nothing left in there to come up, and he was pretty sure he could see the veil of the afterlife lifting. "I'm . . . so . . . sick . . . ," he whispered. 

Dimple rolled her eyes. Actually rolled her eyes. The girl had no sympathy. "You ate too much," she said, mopping his forehead with a wet paper towel she'd gotten from the dorm bathroom. "Should've stopped at one bowl, like normal people."

"Food . . . poisoning . . . ," Rishi managed, though just saying the words made him feel like he was going to throw up again.

"I'm not convinced." Dimple straightened his pillow. "I mean, all I know is you ate like six servings of the stuff. And Celia and I didn't feel sick."

"You guys barely ate anything," Rishi countered. "It wasn't enough to get sick on."