JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" id="our_table">
  <tr>
    <td data-row="1" data-col="1">a</td>
    <td data-row="1" data-col="2">b</td>
    <td data-row="1" data-col="3">c</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td data-row="2" data-col="1">d</td>
    <td data-row="2" data-col="2">e</td>
    <td data-row="2" data-col="3">f</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td data-row="3" data-col="1">g</td>
    <td data-row="3" data-col="2">h</td>
    <td data-row="3" data-col="3">i</td>
  </tr>
</table>

CSS

table td {
  width:100px;
  height:100px;
  text-align:center;
  vertical-align:middle;
  background-color:#ccc;
  border:1px solid #fff;
}

table td.highlighted {
  background-color:#999;
}

JavaScript

$(function () {
  var isMouseDown = false,
    isHighlighted;
 var currentCol;
  $("#our_table td")
    .mousedown(function () {
      isMouseDown = true;
      currentCol = this.getAttribute("data-col");
      $(this).toggleClass("highlighted");
      isHighlighted = $(this).hasClass("highlighted");
      return false; // prevent text selection
    })
    .mouseover(function () {
      if (isMouseDown) {
              $(this).toggleClass("highlighted", isHighlighted);
          }
      }
    })
    .bind("selectstart", function () {
      return false;
    })

  $(document)
    .mouseup(function () {
      isMouseDown = false;
    });
});