Strings Of Code

Chapter 1: Clean Slate

Not to mention I feel completely underdressed for the cold weather of Denver in my cropped tank top and pants with just a thin jacket for warmth. The rest of the students have obviously noticed the not so subtle whispers about my outfit travel around the class.

I take the last remaining seat in the middle of the classroom next to a girl, who is shamelessly gawking at my afro. "You can look all you want, but it's not gonna get any smaller girl." She opened her mouth and I could already tell what she was gonna ask, "No you cannot touch my hair." She turned to look forward looking very embarrassed.

That was probably a little rude but who can blame me. I mean wouldn't you do the same thing if you had been asked that question a gazillion times in your lifetime.

Or 8 times since I walked into the school.

The class was loud because it was just homeroom but it was filled with different characters. You could tell who the 'queen bees' were because they are all sat in the back of the room, acting like they own the whole place and looking down at everyone else.

You could see the quote on quote 'nerds' sitting and gaming in the front of the room on their laptops. One thing I've learned is never to piss off someone who knows their way around computer programming.

Looking around, everyone was with a group of people except for a guy wearing a blue plaid shirt and sitting by himself looking at me from his computer screen. Making eye contact with someone is so awkward if you just look at them so I smiled at him but he quickly looked away and continued typing. I got up and walked to where he was and sat in an empty chair next to him.

"Hey, I'm Rory but you probably already knew that... what's your name?" Making small talk isn't really my thing. I'm an awkward person and making conversation is like the quadratic formula for me, it can be done but it takes so much effort.

He looked up and surprise and confusion were all over his face probably wondering why I was sitting next to him. "Um...I-I...Uhh." I smiled at how flustered he was and how much he was blushing.

"Do you have a nickname cause that's a little long for me." I teased him hoping to ease the awkwardness he felt a little so we could have an actual conversation.

"No! I mean uh I-I have a name. It's Wallace." He was so awkward talking to me and I thought he looked really cute trying to come up with words to say.

"Well, it's nice to meet Wallace. But my last question about that nickname still stands."

"Oh! Umm..well...I mean-" I knew he was too shy to tell me so I thought of one myself.

"How about Wally? I think it has a bit of a ring to it." He nodded his head a little in approval. I figured it was gonna be a bit of a challenge to get him to talk to me but I wasn't gonna give up. "So Wally, what's you up to on that laptop of yours."

Rather nervously, he explained that he was reprogramming his computer so it would change the IP address every 5 minutes so that hackers couldn't track him down after he scrambled their systems. That was the moment I knew this guy was the best choice for a first friend.

I told him about my love for music and poetry and turns out we both love classical music and string instruments. But sadly it all came to an end when the bell rang signalling it was officially time for the first period.

"Thank you for making me a little less scared of this place. You were such a big help, Wally."

"No problem. Do you know where you're going?" Every time he spoke to me it was a so quiet you really had to listen to hear what he was saying but at least he was speaking in full sentences now. That's progress.