Page 53 of Reasons We Break

Jassa eventually shows up with his tray, and Simran makes room for him by tucking her legs beneath her. It’s a tight fit—their shoulders press together. They eat in silence as Simran tries to figure out how to approach her question.

Jassa speaks after a minute. “Another example of you acting off: You didn’t get the academic award this semester.”

It’s true. Her GPA slipped. Her exams...well, some of them hadn’t gonegreat. She knew it deep down, but it still stung when she didn’t get the email. Now she knows who did. “Congratulations.”

“I didn’t think I could beat you.”

His voice is curious. Time to segue. “Well, since you’re my academic superior now, can I ask a favour?”

Jassa laughs. “Yeah, okay.”

“This is going to sound strange.” She puts her napkin between them. “My cousin sends me on scavenger hunts sometimes, but this time she’s sent a code I can’t crack.”

He’s still smiling, clearly thinking it’s a joke. “You?Can’t crack it?”

“Give me a pen.”

He reaches into his front pocket to hand her one. She takes it, then writes the memorized list of numbers on her napkin.

Jassa looks much less amused now. “What the hell?”

“I know. But I need to crack it. I think it’s a hint of where I’ll find the next clue.”

Jassa pulls the napkin toward himself for a better look. “Your cousin sounds intense.”

“You’ve got no idea.” That reminds her, she has to stop avoiding TJ one of these days. The fact that her cousin taskedChandaniwith mining information shows how bad Simran’s been at acting normal. “I’ve spent so long looking at these numbers. Why aren’t three, four, seven, or zero used? And if I replace the most frequent number with the most frequent letter in the alphabet—”

“E,” Jassa says softly. “You thought it was a Caesar cipher variation?”

Simran nods. Jassa speaks her language. “It didn’t work, though.”

He examines the napkin again. “Did your cousin use the Enigma machine to encrypt this or something?”

He’s starting to sound suspicious. Simran adds another layer to the story. “She got help from a math prof. She knows I like figuring things out. Well? Want to help?”

Without hesitation, Jassa takes the pen. “I do like a challenge.”

So, over the next few minutes, Simran watches as he repeats many of the strategies she’s already tried: frequency analysis, writing out the unused numbers, ranking high to low. Finally, he sits back and frowns. “Maybe this isn’t just numbers at all.” He taps the list. “These commas. Were they part of the original code?”

Simran stares down at the list. He might be onto something here. The fact that only the first and last number is single-digit...

“Maybe these commas aren’t separating numbers at all,” Jassa says. “Maybe they’re—”

“Coordinates,” Simran finishes. “Ordered pairs of numbers, like on a—”

“Cartesian plane.” Jassa flips his napkin and draws a graph. “Maybe all you need is anxandyaxis.” He marks each axis with the numbers one through nine. “Give me the coordinates.”

Simran reads them out—1,8; 6,8; 1,8;and so on. He marks each point. There doesn’t appear to be a clear shape between the dots. But she copies the graph anyway, and silently, they study their respective napkins.

A pair of feet stops in front of them. Jassa looks up first, Simran too busy trying to connect dots until he says, “Sat Sri Akaal, Auntie ji.”

Simran finally tears her gaze away to see her mother, greeting Jassa with a warm smile. Then she looks down at their napkins, eyebrows raised. “What’s this?”

“A puzzle,” Simran says before Jassa can.

She tilts her head. “Odd puzzle.”

“Mom, you have no idea.” Simran grimaces. “It’s a math thing.”