The Tech Wiz | #2✓

Chapter 11

"This place looks great," Felix said as he walked about the tech shop, inspecting the gadgets on display. I watched him trace out their outline from the glass before he wandered to the main desk. My father and the three other technicians that worked here were testing a desktop computer that they'd fixed recently, and that was going to get picked up by the owner tomorrow. They were all in the backroom, leaving Felix and me in the main shop, waiting for them.

"Do you guys deal with software?" Felix asked this time as he wandered to the other end of the shop, surprising me a little.

"Software repair, not engineering," I informed, watching as his eyes looked over at the poster pasted on the cream-painted wall.

I unpacked my school bag on the main desk, going through my laptop as we talked as waited for my dad and his workers to be done with the back room. In about half an hour they came out through the back door. I paused the video I'd been watching, smiling when my father gave me the go-ahead by pointing at the door with a nod of his head.

My father smiled when Felix greeted him from across the room.

"Hello, how are you doing?" my father asked as he moved towards the cupboards at the corner.

My father was someone on the tall side. He was also a lot darker than me skin tone-wise, and apart from that and his bald head, I looked exactly like him. Though, I doubt I'll ever be that tall.

"I'm doing fine," Felix answered, making my dad nod. The three other technicians soon came out from the back door. Two of them being men, and one of them being a young lady that had started working here about a month ago.

"Oh, you're back from school," the woman, Theresa, said as she walked over to give me a side hug before running a hand through her twist braids. "Who's your friend?" She asked, looking over at Felix who was still at the other end of the room.

"He's a senior from his school," my father answered on my behalf before tossing a screwdriver over to Bob, who was standing a distance away. The red-haired man stumbled on his feet a little before catching the tool, making Tim, the dark-haired man with a few grey hairs laugh.

I picked up my laptop from the desk before closing it and putting it into my bag. "We can go inside now," I said, turning to Felix.

He nodded, walking over to me before following me through the door that led to the workroom my father was allowing us to use. The lights were already on, and so was the air-conditioner. All we had to do was set up, and get to work.

"You can use that place," I told Felix, pointing at a dusty desk at the corner after I'd turned to find him looking around with a confused look on his face.

"Oh, okay," he muttered, heading to the desk I'd shown him. It was covered in piles of screws and spare parts, but there was enough space for him to put his laptop. After a few minutes of clearing the table a bit and getting him set, we started working on his project side by side with the school website.

"I give up," Felix laughed at himself when he registered the wrong string of codes for the fifth time in the thirty minutes we'd spent in the room.

"I'll fix it, don't worry," I said, turning towards his desk. I watched him let out a frustrated sigh as he nodded.

"Yeah, thank you," he said before smiling weakly. "It's just a little frustrating to suck at this."

I stared at him, not knowing what to say before turning back to my computer when he put his headphones on and continued working.

You're pretty useless at comforting.

I scolded myself, running a hand through my wooly curls as I bit my lip in thought. A smile broke across my lips when I suddenly got an idea. The sound of the legs of my chair scrapping the tiled floor made Felix turn to me with a confused look. I waved it off, getting up and walking to the other corner of the room.