Hiding in the Shadows

Chapter 4 - Flash

I walked into our computer science class with Peter, watching as he immediately sat down at a table with Ned. I chose to sit at the table next to them, a little disappointed that the odd number left me to fend for myself. Not that I was reliant on anyone, but it was nice to have someone to talk with while the teacher was setting up.

A boy with dark hair and eyes who appeared to be of middle eastern descent took the seat next to me at my table, immediately holding his hand out for me to shake, "hi, I'm Eugene Thompson, but everyone calls me Flash."

"Hi, Flash, I'm (Y/N)," I replied with a polite smile, although I immediately got bad vibes from this kid. But those may have simply arisen because of the look Peter gave Flash when he chose to sit next to me.

"I know, you're in my physics class," he spoke, inching his chair a little bit closer. "So what made you decide to come to Midtown High?"

"Well, I used to live in Boston, but my father got offered a job in the city and this was the best school he could find," I answered, running through my entire backstory in my head so that I would not mess up.

"Really? And what does he do?"

"He's a scientist, focusing on molecular biology," I replied, deciding to expand on what Tony had given me to recite. "He's working with a team trying to find a treatment other than chemo for pancreatic cancer. They're actually starting a trial soon, but it's hard to find people because it's only for those who have cancer due to a mutation in the BRCA 2 gene."

"Oh, that's fascinating," Flash encouraged me to go on, although I could tell he wasn't as interested as he was letting on. "It's a shame that class is about to start, otherwise I would love to hear more about it. Tell you what, here is my number and you can tell me about it over the phone or we can meet up somewhere after school."

Flash wrote down his number on a slip of paper and handed it to me, making me uncomfortable as I really didn't want to encourage him. However, I politely took the slip of paper with a smile, "sure, maybe I'll text you later."

The teacher took that moment to begin class, saving me from making more small talk with this kid. And because of that I was about to decide that I liked this teacher, until he had to point out that I was the only female in the entire class.

"You're new, aren't you?" Mr. Caldwell asked me as all of the boys in the class turned to face me.

"Yes, I am," I replied, trying to keep my tone of voice respectful, even though it was quite obvious that I was new to the school.

"I thought so, I'm afraid that you've gotten lost. What class are you supposed to have this period?"

"What do you mean, Mr. Caldwell, I'm in this class this period, would you like to see my schedule?"

"You do realize that this is the advanced placement computer science class, Miss-"

"(L/N), and yes I do. That is the class that I signed up for before coming to school today."

"Well, I want to make sure that you are aware that it is not too late to change into a lower level class if you find this one too challenging," Mr. Caldwell assured me, giving me a reassuring smile and making my blood boil.

I had to fight the urge to stand from my seat as I replied, "and what makes you think that this class will be too challenging for me? Why are you singling me out instead of any other person in this room?"

"Miss (Y/N), you are a-a-" he began but didn't finish his thought.

So I finished it for him, "a woman? Is that what you're trying to say? Because if it is I'll make sure that my gender does not impair my ability to keep up in your rigorous class. I have been coding and programming since I was six years old, perhaps even before then. I have grown up learning computer languages as though they were my first language. I can assure you that your class will not be too challenging for me, Mr. Caldwell, if anything, I have a feeling that it will be far too basic."

His lip curled as I disrespected his authority, "well, in that case, I'm sure you wouldn't mind demonstrating your abilities to the class."

"I would be honored to if that is what you expect from a student coming into your class," I responded coolly, though slightly nervous he would whip out something I had yet to learn to do.

"Then please demonstrate how one would calculate a factorial in c," Mr. Caldwell ordered as I stood from my chair.

"Would you like the recursive version or the iterative one? I wouldn't want to take too much time out of your class writing out the iterative one, but I do acknowledge that recursion is generally less time efficient and holds less memory than iteration. Besides the recursive version is simply easier and I wouldn't want you thinking that I chose the easy way out."

I could essentially feel the waves of anger that Mr. Caldwell was emitting as I faced his task equipped with confidence. He managed to mutter that the recursive version was fine for now as he wanted to get class started as soon as possible.

It didn't take me long to complete the task he had assigned for me, especially since I knew I could always check my work with (A/I) before showing it to Mr. Caldwell. However, I had done this same exact algorithm with my father over the summer for a project we had been working on.

As I stepped away from my work, having not made a single flaw and I enjoyed the defeated look on Mr. Caldwell's face as he told me it was passable and to return to my seat.

Flash leaned over to me as I sat back down, "that was some pretty impressive work, (Y/N). I've never seen Mr. Caldwell shown up by anyone before, much less a woman."

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(A/N): Ok so I know absolutely nothing about computer programming and very little about molecular biology so this chapter was fun lol. I hope you enjoyed it anyway!