An early morning class of basis Syntax is the way Ryan Torres started his morning. A teacher whose name he could never pronounce nor cared to learn and a class of kids too dumb to identify pieces of a motherboard let alone put one together, at least in his opinion.
“Why do I do this to myself? It’s Nine AM, Wednesday morning yet again and I am stuck in this horrible class. As a sophomore you learn not to do dumb things like enroll in 9am classes but not this kid. I pick the one major where all of its required classes are before the world wakes up.” Ryan utters in his mind as he scrolls through the latest hacker blogs that were updated a few hours after he nodded off checking at 4 AM in his room. He scrolled through the miscelanous to find something interesting to pass the time; he did. It was a picture of a girl, a girl he happened to recognize. It was the girl who happened to be at the front of the class, the girl who was currently acting as the teacher’s aid. He started to stare intently, making sure it wasn’t a mistake.
“Mr. Torres, would you like to assist the class in telling us why this form of code is irrelevant or would you like to continue gawking at my Aid?” proclaimed the teacher
“The annex code described in the passage is no longer relevant to most people because it was based off the M-DOS system.” Ryan rattled off without missing a beat.
“Very good Mr. Torres. Maybe if I allow you to ogle at Melissa during your finals you might actually show up this time.” Sneered the proffesor.
Professor Anster was a man who never really liked anyone but his own reflection. He had the knowledge and the very lengthy list of degrees to be a great designer but instead chose to ramble on and call himself a professor of the technological arts. Some whispered that he never really got the many degrees he claimed to have or that he was a secret spy and was relocated and became a professor. Ryan could have cared less and professor Anster knew that. He disliked Ryan simply because his more than adequate knowledge flustered him. He was not accustomed to being had by his students. Even if they knew more than him they never stepped out of line. Professor Anster was strict but Ryan cared less of the class and more about the information he stumbled upon. He found himself a female hacker. Someone of the opposite sex he could connect with or hope to. He didn’t mind his friends but he yearned for something more. The only “more” a nineteen year old knew he wanted, contact with the opposite sex.
As the class came to an end, Ryan could do nothing but think about approaching Melissa but he had no idea how to. He had never had the urge to step up and introduce himself to women. He would always watch from afar but this time was different. He waited for her outside the Computer science building that the class was held in. After a thirty-minute wait, Ryan almost gave up until he caught a glimpse of her coming out of the side door. He hurried to catch up with her, almost knocking over a freshmen rushing to a class. When he finally closed the gap he realized something. He had no idea what to say. He decided to say the first thing to come out of his mouth.
“How’s the hacking coming along?” he blurted. Melissa paused and slowly turned around.
“Can I help you with something? Freshmen usually don’t approach me so abruptly.” She said with a smirk
“I’m not a freshmen! I am a sophomore!!!”
“Like that makes much of a difference. Is there something you want or can I go on living my life and forgetting you exist?” Melissa scolded. Ryan paused baffled; as he had no come back to the tongue-lashing he just received. Melissa swung forward again and continued her stride.
“Hey I know who you are! I saw you on one of the hacking blogs!” Ryan exclaimed. Before he could say another word, Melissa was atop of him with her hand on his mouth. He couldn’t quite figure out how he went from standing to sprawled across the cement with a gorgeous woman pinning him down.
“Listen runt. You don’t know anything about anything. Hacking is a strong word to use. What do you know about… the subject you seem to think I experiment in my spare time? “She said while slowly sliding her hand off his mouth.
“I dabble like you do. I just wanted to know if you wanted to grab a Slurpee sometime and compare notes.”
“Ha, a Slurpee? You’re in college now kid, real college kids drink coffee. “ She chuckled as she let him free, collected her things and simply walked away. Ryan felt something that he never felt before. He wasn’t sure if it was a new sense of infatuation or a mild concussion but he knew one thing for sure. The woman that brought it on was a woman he wanted in his life.
Limping in his state of confusion, he pondered on what had just transpired. Was he right and Melissa was what he thought she was or was she into something totally different? What would make her spring into a defensive attack that would put him flat on his back? These questions and more spiraled through his noggin as he entered his dorm room. He sat down at his desk and stared at his computer. He stared at this laptop screen and just pondered but never turning on the machine. Ryan found himself infatuated with finding out more about Melissa and what she was doing in her spare time. He wondered if she was a better hacker than he had ever encountered. He was pretty decent himself, cracking small firewalls, changing grades for a small fee, accessing personnel files on people who intrigued him. Could she be into something more? Ryan sighed and got up from his desk. Tomorrow was another day and he had assignments to complete. He showered himself of dust and dirt as well as the feelings of his overwhelming day. He sat down and wrote his semi weekly email to his older cousin. She was one of the few who understood him; after all she was the one who taught him everything he knew about hacking.
Melissa found herself in her room looking into the idiot underclassmen that started questioning her earlier. She tried to remember her the name of the kid but she couldn’t recall. She pulled the attendance for the class roll call until she found a name that popped out at her. She got down to the bottom of the page when a name looked like the one. Torres, Ryan. That was the name she was looking for. She almost looked over it until she recalled a comment Professor Anster had made about him ogling her. She didn’t give it a second thought until now. Was that when he put two and two together? She searched for the blog post this Ryan kid mentioned and immediately deleted it. It was a post from the “club” she and Quincy had been molding. It was a long paragraph included with picture about her skills and her admiration for her as a fellow female hacker. As she finished cleaning up the blog she continued her search for this Ryan. After a little digging she found herself staring at the work of a Dash-Zero, the work of Ryan Torres. As she began to admire his work her phone began to buzz from her bed.
“A call this late?” She thought to herself. When she got up to check who it was it was her partner in crime and somewhat side squeeze.
“ Hey Quincy, I’m happy you called… No happy in a professional capacity although a social call is always welcomed. I just bumped into a decent little prodigy. I think he could be beneficial to our cause. He would fit right into our little ‘club’… his name?” she said as she paused. Finishing the name on the file.
“His name is Ryan Torres”
