Love Bytes

by Brooke Clonts

Sixteen-year-old Sutton Ellis knows what happens when you let someone see you clearly: they take what's useful and go. Her ex proved it when he stole her internship project and put his own name on it. Her parents are proving it slower, one silent dinner at a time. So Sutton jury-rigs a VR crown—a cheap consolation gift from her ex and codes a dating simulation where love works properly—and models a player character on Axel Turner, the infuriating school rival she can't stop looking at. Because if anyone's perfect, Axel Turner is. The game is her internship submission, and her proof she's more than capable of the project someone else got credit for. Then bugs start creeping into code, the only person she can talk to about her frustrations is a gamer she's never met, whose quick wit and sarcasm make him the only friend she cares to keep. For Axel, hacking Sutton's game should be simple. Win the internship, keep food in the Quantum Chef. Whatever it takes. But after hours of chatting w