Chapter 9 After telling Jesse not to use my idea , I stretched out on the rocking chair in my grandmother's yard , trying to think of a way forward . The country sky was ridiculously clear , with stars scattered everywhere , like tiny lamps showing lost people which way to go . That was when my grandmother walked over , holding half a watermelon , and handed it to me . " What's on your mind ? You look so deep in thought . " Looking at her kind smile , I hesitated . " Grandma ... " She touched the tip of my nose and shook her head with a knowing grin . " You can't hide anything from me . Just tell me : What's really going on lately ? " My voice dropped low , thick with a lump in my throat . " Grandma , I don't know why , but all my work somehow gets stolen . And worse , the person who takes it always turns it around and makes me look guilty . No matter what I think about , she ends up thinking the exact same thing . It's as if ... " " As if she already knew your thoughts ahead of time ? " My grandmother finished for me . I nodded hard . She sighed , brushed her hand gently over my hair , and said , " From the day you came back , I felt something was off . Especially with how Rocky reacted ... " Then she gave me a small , steady smile . " Alright , for the next few days , just rest and stop worrying about everything . I'll go find someone who might know what's going on . " I tilted my head . " Someone ? Who ? " Over the next three days , I stayed busy helping out around my grandmother's house . Since I'd always had strong grades , my advisor approved my leave without a fuss . After all , with graduation coming up , plenty of classmates were already off doing internships anyway . She even reminded me to start working on my speech for the graduation ceremony . Meanwhile , my grandmother pulled my father along to hike a hill nearby , searching for a man named Ivor Porter . I stopped thinking about my stolen code , stopped stressing over the competition , and just let my brain breathe . My biggest worries turned into mundane stuff , such as whether we should cook the cabbage or the spinach , and how many different ways you could make cucumbers taste good . Life slowed down and felt full in its own simple way . One day , my grandmother called to say she'd be back the next day . Before I knew it , seven days had flown by , and it was finally the deadline to submit our project . That was when I got a call from an unknown number . Mark's voice came through , loud and panicked . " Where the hell have you been these past few days ? Hurry and check this bug ! Nicole's freaking out - we need to submit the project now ! " I leaned back , took my time picking up my phone , and opened Instagram . But this time , my feed wasn't filled with Nicole's praise . Instead , it was wall - to - wall complaints and rants from classmates . The bug I planted earlier had finally triggered . 1/2 Cha