How You Get the Girl

What Exactly Will I Do to Pass the Class?

One month later

I was getting an F in Computer Game Design, aka Hell on Earth. I did not know the computer langue we were using with our game engine. The first two games I had created had glitched. No mattered what I tried I could not get them to work. The teacher had worked with me. Kenzie and the little freshmen in the class had tried to help me but I still had ended up with games that failed. If I had messed up the first two easy projects that badly, my chances of passing the rest of the semester were not looking good. There was one more project to go and it was worth fifty percent of the grade for the class. It was complicated and hard. I was certain to fail it if I did it on my own. If I failed the final project, I would fail the class. I would not graduate and go to art school. My life would be over.

The really sad thing was that there were a lot of the things that went into computer game design I was good at. I did have something to offer a partner. I could write and I could draw. If we could write the code together, I could write the story and do the art and animation no problem. I didn't want someone to do the work for me.  I just needed someone to show me how to do the programming, slowly.

I had to figure out a way to pass. So, I ambushed the person I knew best in the class, Kenzie, in the girls' bathroom.

"Hey, Kenzie, do you have a second?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure, Harper," she said.

I gathered up my courage. "I kind of need your help. I'm not doing so well in Computer Game Design. The next project is worth most of our grade. I need a partner. Would you work with me?"

"I can't work with you," she said, actually sounding sad. "I'm working with Miles. We talked about it last week." She trailed off. "But, how badly are you doing?"

I decided to be honest. Maybe she would take pity on me. I really needed to graduate. "I'm getting an F. And that was on the really simple projects. The next project is complicated. I'm dead. I need someone who knows how to code to work with. You know I can draw. I am willing to learn how to do the coding. I don't want to be a leach. I'll work my butt off but I need someone who would be willing to teach me. They let me into the class without my having taken the intro computer class so I don't know any of the coding stuff."

"Oh, shit," she answered. "Okay, I have to work with Miles. But I can help you find someone who can help you. You have the whole pretty, blond hair, blued eyed popular thing going. Most of the guys in this class would kill to work with you."

"Thanks, Kenzie but you're exaggerating," I told her, feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable. It just felt wrong. And my eyes were hazel but it was probably petty to bring that up.

"No really, it would be a fair trade," she told me. "You're nice to them in exchange for an A."

I was really hoping she was not using 'nice' as a euphemism for something else. "I won't sleep with someone to graduate," I said.

"Oh, no," Kenzie said. "I did not mean that. It's just that, these guys don't usually have pretty popular girls who want to talk to them. There are a bunch of them who would be willing to work with you if you would just talk to them in the hallways or sit with them in the lunchroom."

"I would talk to anyone in the hallway," I said. Who would refuse to talk to someone in the hallway? Okay, I did know some people who might. Which was exactly why I wanted to get away from this school and this town.

"You probably would," she said. "But you are weird."

"Thanks, I think," I answered.

"Take it as a compliment in this place. I can't work with you. But I can help you find someone who will. You can take this class as many times as you want for credit since you can design new things each time. A bunch of us have taken it two or three times. There the freshmen, they are all taking it for the first time and won't be able to help you much. The sophomores are really immature and annoying. They should be a last resort but they would definitely work with you. What you really need is a junior or senior who is good at designing games. Miles is working with me. Lucas and Jonathan usually work together, you might be able to split them but it would cause drama. There are a few other guys but, the one you should ask is Ben," she told me. "He is a nice guy. He would probably work with you if you just told him why you needed his help."