Virtually Yours, page 25
“Oh?” he said, that one slightly scarred eyebrow raised. We were at the crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn.
“I think their match percentages were bullshit,” I said. “As in, I think they were setting people up to fail. Like they knew Caleb was my ex and they thought it wouldn’t work. And once it didn’t, well, then they could dangle the virtual option in front of me.”
“Wow,” Jeremy said, blinking. “That’s eerie . . . and wouldn’t be too surprising.”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “But then I keep thinking about my number one match.”
He looked back at me, his head cocked to the side.
“ ‘Ninety-eight percent,’ Agatha kept telling me. She kept going on and on about what a high percentage that was.” My voice was so steady now, completely belying my thundering heart.
Jeremy ran his hand through his hair, clearly unsure where this conversation was going. “Right,” he said with a small laugh. The light had changed, but neither one of us was moving. “Meaningless numbers, right?”
“Well, that’s the thing. It blows a hole right through my theory.” I took his hand, hoping he would feel the same electricity I did when we touched. “Because I think she got that one right.”
Delight started playing at the corner of his lips, like clouds slowly parting to reveal the sun. But he didn’t say anything. And honestly, I didn’t want him to. I had to take this chance and see it through.
“I just wonder . . . is it too late to choose him now?” I looked him full in the face and saw the moment when he was sure of what I was saying, when his entire face beamed brighter than any neon lights or sparkly concrete. I knew then I’d never forget that look as long as I lived, the look of someone whom I could make happy by virtue of being exactly who I was and nothing more.
“No,” he said firmly. “I don’t think it is.”
“Good,” I said, and didn’t wait a second longer before I closed the gap between us, stood up on tiptoe, and kissed my match. The one that I had chosen.
Our first kiss was real.
And though it didn’t guarantee a happily ever after, though there was no such thing as a guarantee like that, it was as happy a now as there could ever be.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My editor, Zareen Jaffery, and my agent, Victoria Marini, are the sort of extraordinary people who are laden with talent and kindness in equal measures. Thank you for always pushing me to hone my craft and for continuing to make this wild career idea of mine viable. The past few years would not have been possible without the two of you, and I am forever in your debt.
Everyone at Simon & Schuster has consistently been the stuff that pub house dreams are made of. A million thanks are owed to Alexa Pastor, Justin Chanda, Lisa Moraleda, Jenica Nasworthy, Martha Hanson, Anne Zafian, Chrissy Noh, and Diego Molano Rodriguez. And a big shout-out to Krista Vossen and Lucy Ruth Cummins, who have, once again, given me a cover I want to live in forever—with extra-special thanks to illustrator Helen Crawford-White for making it so incredibly whimsical and perfect.
There aren’t enough thanks in the world for Ms. Sarah Skilton and Ms. Katie Blackburn, beta readers extraordinaire, momfidantes, foul-weather friends, and so much more. I don’t think I would have made it through publishing one book without you, let alone four. Thank you both for always seeing what I miss. You make everything you read and comment on so much better, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I also owe a big thank-you (and a few drinks) to eleventh-hour beta readers Jenny Goldberg and Golnaz Taghavian for all their invaluable insight, feedback, and encouragement.
I am hugely indebted to the Highlights Foundation’s Unworkshop program and its extraordinary staff and campus. Going there was an incredible gift, and I would never have found the time and space to properly finish this book without it.
Thank you to my mom, Haleh, my aunt, Homa, and my sister, Golnaz, for so much babysitting. You are the reasons I get any writing done at all. I love you so much.
And speaking of which, to the three boys who make reality unpredictable, unquantifiable, and so very worthwhile: Graig, Bennett, and Jonah. You are more spectacular and awe-inspiring than any AI could dream up. I love you to infinity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SARVENAZ TASH is also the author of The Geek’s Guide to Unrequited Love (an Amazon Best Book of the Year and a YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant YA Readers), Three Day Summer, and The Mapmaker and the Ghost. She was born in Tehran, Iran, and grew up on Long Island, New York. She received her BFA in film and television from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, which means she got to spend most of college running around making movies (it was a lot of fun). She has dabbled in all sorts of writing, including screenwriting, Emmy Award–winning copywriting, and professional tweeting for the likes of Bravo and MTV. Sarvenaz currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two sons.
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Also by Sarvenaz Tash
The Geek’s Guide to Unrequited Love
Three Day Summer
The Mapmaker and the Ghost
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2019 by Sarvenaz Tash
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Tash, Sarvenaz, author.
Title: Virtually yours / Sarvenaz Tash.
Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2019] | Summary: College freshman Mariam uses a new virtual reality dating service and is matched not only with her new best friend, Jeremy, but also with her high school ex-boyfriend, Caleb.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018054407 (print) | LCCN 2018058291 (eBook) | ISBN 9781534436664 (hardback) | ISBN 9781534436688 (eBook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Dating (Social aspects)—Fiction. | Dating services—Fiction. | Virtual reality—Fiction. | Best friends—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Colleges and universities—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.T2111324 (eBook) | LCC PZ7.T2111324 Vir 2019 (print) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018054407
Sarvenaz Tash, Virtually Yours
