Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“I mean, he has no idea how good you are,” she complained. “He's never seen your code or seen what you can do to be such an asshole like that.”
Throwing a handful of Lucky Charms into my mouth, I shrugged closing my eyes and leaning back to enjoy the sun on my face. “It doesn't matter. Good code is good code. If he sucks, one day he’ll be found out. It's freshman year. Who knows if he is going to make it all the way through?”
Jill stopped pacing. “You're right.” She picked out a few marshmallows from the bag.
“You’re violating rule number one of Lucky Charms contraband. Do not pick out marshmallows!” I joked. “I’ll let it pass since you’re upset.”
Jill laughed as she chewed. “Sorry!” She paused and started to pace again sending her blonde ponytail in a jaunty swing. “You know, one of Roger's brogrammer friends, Isaac, refused to be my partner in our Machine Structure class.”
I got angry myself. A brogrammer is a term we used for asshole programmers who somehow still thought computer science was an exclusive field just for males. I sat up watching Jill pace. “What do you mean he refused?”
Jill threw her hands up. “He said he didn't want to be partners with a girl because then he'd have to do all the work.”
Anger crept up spine. Gritting my teeth, I asked, “What did you do?”
Jill put her hands on her hips. “Well, Danica is in my same lab section. She paired off with her boyfriend, Ryan, but she switched so she could be my partner just so Isaac would shut up. It was sad. Really, really sad.”
I stood up and started to pace, too.
“Who the hell does that? What an asshole!”
“I know, right?” said my friend. “But trust me, it happened.”
Shaking my head, I spoke then.
“You know what we should do the next time a brogrammer says something stupid? I’ll tell you what.”
I raised my fists up into the air and screamed to the skies.
“FUCK YOU!”
Wow, that felt good.
My voice echoed in the courtyard below; a few passerby turned their heads quizzically. Fortunately for them, my shout made just a faint noise, nothing too outrageous.
But damn, it felt good to scream like that and vent my frustration because I’d been the target of haters before too, especially snobby computer nerds who thought they could be the next Mark Zuckerberg.
Try again, losers. You’re just a wimpy kid who knows code.
But tell that to these snobs. Silicon Valley worships brogrammer types, and they were riding high on the hog.
Jill laughed though, face mirthful.
“Ohmygod. You would never do that to their faces!” She grabbed her phone and a handful of cereal. “I wouldn't either!” she said with a mouthful of Lucky Charms.
I stretched my arms out and spun around fully enjoying the freedom of being the only few people on campus at that moment. No one could see me up here on the roof. It was liberating. “I would never have the nerve, but still, it's fun to pretend that I would.”
Jill pointed her phone at me. “So, what would you say again?” she laughed.
I stopped spinning and looked right at the camera this time. Extending my middle finger, I screamed with a smirk, “I'd say, 'Fuck you!'“
Jill snapped the photo giggling. Looking at the photo on her phone, she gasped, “Mia, look! You look amazing in this.”
Eating another handful of Lucky Charms, I stood next to her staring at my photo. Honestly, it hardly looked like me because the girl there was belligerent, beautiful and outrageous all at once. Usually, I’m a shy mouse, the egghead typing away at her computer in lab.
But this time, Jill had captured a secret side of me that lurked within because everything looked different about me. The brown curls that are wild, zany, and too crazy to tame? In the picture, they looked vivacious and buoyant, sassy and sexy.
The big brown eyes that were generally looking down, avoiding eye contact? Here, my gaze was direct and challenging, as if telling the viewer, “Get a piece of this.”
And Jill, always my best friend, nudged me with her elbow. “You look really pretty when you're having fun.”
I stared at myself on her phone screen, hardly believing it was me.
“Thanks,” I said with a soft giggle. “It's fun to pretend you're a badass sometimes.”
The blonde rolled her eyes and let out a sigh.
“You are a badass, Mia. You’re the top student in the Computer Science program, but no one would ever know it because you’re too humble to brag.”
I guess that was true. A GPA doesn’t lie, after all. But still, there’s no need to be a princess. I’m not like that, I’m more of a tomboy.
But sometimes, it’s great to escape, you know? So laughing, I stood with my hands squarely on my hips channeling Wonder Woman, and challenged Jill.