Anastasia

CHAPTER 7 : He's Here In The University

Anastasia's POV

"So our 3 representatives who will level up to the competition later will be Tyler Green, Jacob Clarke, and Miss Anastasia Sullivan."

After she announced it, she looked at me and nodded.

I smiled at her, even though she didn't say it vocally, she appreciated me.

"That was a good fight, Anastasia."Jacob approached me.

"Yeah, it was, "I simply replied.

We're not even close. Why is he talking to me?

"To be honest, I was not expecting you to be one of us, " he said frankly.

I shrugged. I know, but I'm not expecting him to tell it to me vocally. I don't think it's needed.

"Coding is not for guys only."

"She even finishes her program ahead of us, Jacob. Stop comparing her to other women, as if you're a born programmer." Tyler coldly said this time.

I glanced at him. He's fixing his things. That's why I started to fix mine too. We will be proceeding to the next level of the competition and will be competing with other courses. It will be a great fight.

"But we all know that this competition is not for her."

I thought Jacob was done and would stop after Tyler said that.

"How could you say so, Jacob?"I asked him. It seems that he has a problem with women doing programming.

"Aren't you aware that Ada Lovelace was considered the first computer programmer? Even though she wrote about a computer, the Analytical Engine, that was never built, she realized that the computer could follow a series of simple instructions, a program, to perform a complex calculation. She's the pioneer of modern computer science and she's a woman, Jacob."I added, emphasizing the last words I said while fixing my things.

"But you're not Ada Lovelace."He shot back before flashing his annoying smirk at me.

I shrugged. I don't want to prolong our conversation, I will never win over this person and his toxic mindset.

"Guys are you ready?"Miss Moore entered our classroom.

We nodded. I looked at Jacob one more time before leaving our room.

Miss Moore guided us to the computer laboratory. There are 6 contestants from the Computer Engineering and Information Technology department. They looked at us seriously. I noticed that I was the only woman among the contestants.

I felt Jacob's presence beside me.

"Bring it on, Anastasia," he whispered before going to his seat. Tyler looked at us. He shook his head, he heard it. I shrugged and went to my destined set.

"Good day everyone!"It's Dean Ali.

"I would like to congratulate every one of you on making it to the next level. In just a few hours, someone from you will be able to represent our school in the national hackathon competition."She added.

"So, for this round, we will be doing pure coding, no computer terms like the elimination round. So that we could filter who among you will lead. It will be divided into 2 categories. The first one will be the "find the error" category. In this round, you will be checking the program that will be given in a short time and find its error. You will run the program only once. The system can monitor it, so you should be careful before you press the enter button. The 4 contestants who will be the last to run their program will be eliminated. And the other 5 will proceed to the last part of the competition, which is the "guess and code me" category. In this round, you will be given a problem. You should guess the accurate program language to solve it, then code it. The first contestant who could do it ahead of time with accurate logic and codes will be considered the winner."Miss Moore explained clearly.

We all nodded. I could feel the tension between us but I remained calm. The feeling is not new to me. The first category went smoothly. There were only 5 of us left. Jacob and Tyler made it and the other 2 contestants are from the Computer Engineering and Information Technology department. I don't know if it's because we are computer science students and we have 3 programming subjects that give us an advantage in this competition, but it's only day 3 of our class and we haven't tackled much. Meaning it's our knowledge that matters before we enter college.

I felt that Jacob glanced at me in my peripheral view but I didn't bother to look at him and remained calm.

The last round started. We were only given a 30-minute time limit to solve the problem and break the codes. It took me almost 3 minutes before figuring it out. I want to make sure that the language I will be using is accurate. I remembered all the logic of this language to make the program. I was a bit pressured by the time.

I checked my program once again before pressing the enter button. I thought I was the first one to finish my program ahead of time, but I saw Jacob grinning at me. Tyler made it a bit later than me and the other 2 contestants almost lack the time given.

I sighed. But it's not over yet. The professor is now checking our programs.

"Alright, I would like to announce that our Hackaton champion is…"She paused for a moment that made the tension between us much greater.

"From the Computer Science department! Miss Anastasia Sullivan!"She exclaimed and looked at me. There I saw amusement was visible in her eyes.

I was shocked for a moment. I thought it was Jacob. Everyone clapped their hands except me and Jacob, of course.

"Ma'am, but I am the first one to finish my program!"Jacob exclaimed.

"Sorry, Mr.Clarke, but you didn't read the problem comprehensively, you failed to use the accurate programming language. It's not always who is the fastest, but having the most accurate program too. And Miss Anastasia is the woman who made it. Finally, the code has been a break."She said and smiled at me.

Jacob stormed out of the room.

"Congratulations Anastasia, now I know why you made it to be our first-ever full-time scholar!"Dead Ali exclaimed as she gave me the trophy.

I felt appreciated. But that was for a moment only. Everyone left the room after that. Maybe I was just hallucinating for a couple of minutes when they praised me.

I smiled bitterly.

When I was about to go out of the computer laboratory, someone was walking towards me. His face wasn't recognizable until he was in front of me. I froze for a moment when I recognized him.

"Congratulations Anastasia."He mumbled and smiled at me. It was Lewis. Am I dreaming? If yes, then I don't want to wake up anymore.