The Do-Over(12)
Author: Suzanne Park
“. . . Our goal is to teach students how to think algorithmically and solve real-world problems efficiently. Languages included in the coursework will be C, Python, SQL, and JavaScript, plus CSS and HTML, but not all of them will be on your midterms or finals. To make things interesting, those who rank top of the class after key projects are turned in will be eligible for highly coveted summer-internship opportunities at Solv Technologies, one of the companies I advise. They’re looking for people who major in social sciences but are programmably inclined. Jacob, why don’t you introduce yourself and tell them more about Solv.”
I didn’t think “programmably” was a word but it wasn’t a hill I was willing to die on.
Jake/Jacob put on a serious face as he addressed the class. “I’m Jacob, a Carlthorpe alum. Recruiters from Solv will be on campus this semester to find top talent, so as long as you turn in homework on time, study for exams, and earn a top spot in the class, this could turn into a lucrative career opportunity.” The entire class ooohed and ahhed, me included. Solv was one of those reputable tech companies that offered catered lunches, had team off-sites at ski resorts, and lived and breathed diversity and inclusion. They had been at the top of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list, for three years straight. The word on the street was that each job opening there had a thousand or more applicants. What a dream it would be to even get an invitation to interview there.
Pssst, Lily, he’s talking to these twenty-something-year-olds, not you. YOU have a career that you’re trying to get back to, remember? It’s too late for someone like you to start over like this. Plus, you’re going to statistics anyway.
Right. I needed to get as far away from this class as possible. Specifically, away from my ex, Jake. And Jacob Cho, his hotter grad student persona.
One of the girls in front of me leaned to her left, whispering loudly to her friends, “I hope Jacob has office hours, I need to pay him a visit.”
Her friend laughed and elbowed her. “If I’d known CS grad students looked like him, I’d have started taking these classes first semester first year. He’s a little broody too. My favorite.”
I slunk down in my chair, avoiding any eye contact with the professor or with Jacob. My plan was to get through this class period, and then go to the registrar immediately afterward to get transferred into stats. Or calc. Even quantum mechanics and nuclear physics. Honestly, any class but this one. Reliving college was bad enough, but what in the fresh hell kind of nightmare was I living in now? My college ex was in a position where he could fail me out of school again if he wanted to. This was something someone at Netflix could adapt into an eight-episode horror miniseries.
The professor chirped, “And this marks the end of the first lecture. So now let’s get to the heart of what programming is, shall we? Jacob, would you please take these two boxes of chocolate and hand them to a couple of people in the room?”
Jake put his backpack down next to the professor and took the candy from his hands. He proceeded to walk down my aisle. Toward me. With each step he took, my heart rate jacked up higher and higher, like I had just started an intense cardio-heavy workout on too hard of a level.
He handed a candy box to one of the Jacob-obsessed groupies in front of me. Their entire squad squealed in delight. Jake continued down the aisle, passing my row, and I didn’t bother to turn around to see who else received the chocolates. Didn’t matter . . . I’d already set my mind on transferring out.
The professor said, “Okay, let’s begin. Mr. Cho, stay where you are.” Smiling at the audience, he explained the exercise to the class. “Please give Jacob a set of verbal instructions that will have him go to either one of the candy stations, take the box back into his hands, and return it to me. If you can do that, or contribute significantly to this exercise, you will not only get the candy, but you’ll get an automatic A on the first assignment.”
My classmates shouted out a wide range of instructions, which Jacob took literally. “Move forward” made Jacob walk all the way down the aisle and out the door. “Turn right!” caused Jacob to spin in circles clockwise. Our directions became more nitpickingly specific as Jacob twisted, turned, and ran all over the room. Eventually, the class offered instructions that resulted in Jacob moving in teeny tiny increments to eventually work his way to the fangirl one row ahead of me.
My chest tightened as he drew closer and closer. I didn’t want him to get her chocolates.
Was this ridiculous? Yes.
Petty? Absolutely.
But something inside me kicked into gear. Adrenaline? Grit? Maybe just good old-fashioned jealousy? Good grief, whatever it was, it made me want to win this thing.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw a brawny dude near the aisle holding the other box of candy. Only one or two commands were needed to get Jake over to the girl, but I’d never been known to take the easy way out.
Clearing my throat, I projected my voice and gave my instructions. “Turn one hundred eighty degrees to the right and stop. Walk twenty-five paces forward and stop. Turn ninety degrees to the left. Walk three paces ahead and stop.” I knew Jake’s shoe size from college. And his underwear size, but that wasn’t needed for this exercise.
Jacob walked away from his fangirl and, with my commands, ended up right next to the guy who held the other box of chocolates. I couldn’t help but grin at my tiny nerdy achievement.
Soon, others in the class offered instructions to have Jacob pick up the candy and deliver the box of sweets straight down the aisle to the professor.
Doc nodded as he received the candies from his TA. “Well done. This was by far the best attempt in all my years of teaching this exercise about how computers take things literally.” He moved his head right and left, scanning the lecture hall. “The young gentleman in the Red Sox shirt, please stand.” It was the guy who gave the instructions after mine, the ones that made Jacob reach out and take the candy box. “The young woman in the black-and-white stripes?” She was the one who “programmed” my ex to walk down the aisle and stop next to the professor. “And the woman dressed in the black long-sleeve tee, with just past shoulder-length black hair.”
Me. That was me. And he didn’t call me young. Damn it.
I stood slowly.
“Attention, students, these three will be the ones receiving the first As this week. As for everyone else, you’ll have to earn your first assignment grades the old-fashioned way.”
I avoided looking at Jake’s face. I knew the moment I gazed into his eyes, my life would change in an instant. Kind of like what would happen to people when they saw Medusa. One of my worst fears could come true that as soon as I laid my eyes on Jake, my heart would melt and I would fall for him all over again.