Cytronica

Two

Friday

Priya and Jiaying stood rigid and awkwardly, metres apart, their hands clasped, their academy uniforms pristine and uncomfortable. Between them was the locked door to the school's server room—a room very few had access to.

Jiaying sighed. "Hurry up."

"I know," Priya agreed. "This is taking way too long."

"Last time they were faster than this. I don't want to waste my entire lunch break on this."

A tall boy with a muscular physique walked past and stopped when he noticed the two statue-like girls. "What on earth are you doing?" Casey asked.

"Tours," Jiaying said simply. She knew him by name, but the two had hardly ever spoken. Due to the size of the school, and despite being in her fourth year, there were still many senior students she hadn't even met yet.

Casey frowned. "What tours?"

"They do guided tours of the academy around this time of year," Priya explained. "We're waiting for the parents so they can ask us ridiculous questions about Cytro."

"Oh." He seemed content with the answer. "But why are you two doing the tour? Isn't that more of a principal thing?"

"It is. But he likes the parents to engage with students."

"Plus we're the ones who actually log in," Jiaying added. "He doesn't use it."

Casey laughed. "But I mean, why are you two volunteering to help?"

"Because we want the academy to write us letters of recommendation for college."

Casey nodded. "That's a good idea. Doing everything you can to help your application. I like it."

"You should probably start thinking about doing something similar," Priya suggested. "There'll be about six hundred graduates this year, and all of them will be applying to college."

"No need," he dismissed. "I already have my sports scholarship."

Both of the girls' faces fell simultaneously.

"Are you kidding me?" Jiaying moaned.

"Nope."

She bit her lip. "I hate you."

Casey smirked and offered a friendly wave, taking his leave.

The pair stood in silence for a few moments.

"I'm happy for him," Priya eventually said.

Jiaying made a wry face. "Me too. But still ..."

Their conversation was short-lived. Up ahead, a large group of people wearing visitor badges had just rounded the corner of the corridor. Leading the pack was the head of the academy.

"Here they come," Priya muttered. "About time."

The principal stopped just before the pair of girls. "Afternoon," he greeted.

"Afternoon, Principal Ramirez," they responded in unison.

Mr Ramirez turned around and faced the visiting horde. "I'd like to introduce you to Priya and Jiaying, two of our finest students."

The parents stared at the youths. Some of them smiled, some appeared disinterested.

Priya and Jiaying both grinned as widely as they could, pretending to actually care about the tour. Or the academy, for that matter.

"And this is our server room," the principal continued, gesturing to the large glass window.

The mass of people shuffled forward, all eager to take a glimpse inside at the expensive equipment. Hidden among the servers and wires were several large mainframe computers with an instantly recognisable logo: Cytronica Industries.