23 Reclaiming her freedom
1691 Words
“I see… No wonder you had it rough huh?” Max said as they sat in the now dark classroom.
The sun had set, and they were only barely illuminated by the moon that was starting to shine light into the evening.
“Yeah… I was hard-pressed to find a job that would keep me stable, to keep the parents happy. And don’t get me wrong! The job isn’t hard at all… But I feel like if I take it, I will lose an important bit of myself,” Lina said, as she began packing her things, minus the box cutter which Max would not give back.
“No it’s ok, I kind of get it! Uhm… So it’s like me making codes that I already know. Let’s say I’m being paid to write and rewrite codes but doing so eliminates any kind of creativity on my part… is that right?”
“Yeah! Just like that. I Just want to be able to do what I want. I want to create! I want to be the best graphic designer I can be! And going into this company will surely get me a good paycheck and invaluable experience… But I won’t be creative anymore,” Lina said, lowering her head.
“Well… I know it might not be much coming from me. But I think that you can’t exactly trade happiness for anything else. You can live long and rich… but that won’t mean anything if you aren’t happy. But again, it’s kind of hypocritical for me to say, considering I’m trying to start up a company focused on making money.”
Lina shook her head and smiled at Max.
“I don’t think you’re hypocritical at all Max.”
“Why not?” he asked curiously.
“Because you love coding don’t you?” Lina asked.
His eyes widened at the question. Now he was the one at a loss for words. He thought that his entire life was spent studying the craft of coding. All this time, he always told himself that coding is necessary, and vital for him to get ahead in life. But now that all these memories from his previous life had rushed right into his head. He taught himself how to code from scratch. He remembered the exhilaration of executing his first successful code. He learned to hack afterward, which was also kind of thrilling. He remembered the contests that he won. He remembered the anger and frustration for searching for that specific code that was malfunctioning. He remembered the humiliation of being hacked and the catharsis of getting back at the hacker responsible. He remembered the two faces of poor kids locked in poverty, whom he took in. He still saw their faces in his dreams sometimes. Liam and Dev. He taught them everything he knew and gave them more. In return, they gave him everything, even up until the point of his death. All of this came from his life prior to Max. All of this came from his coding.
“Mhm… I guess I do, huh?” he said, smiling back at Lina.
She grinned back at him.
“Did you remember something nice?”
“Yeah...” he said, as a tear fell from his eye. “Something real nice.”
Max stood up and gathered himself. So did Lina.
“Listen, I know that it might be a little scary to go off on a new endeavor that may or may not work… But I promise you one thing. You’re gonna love it with us, because you will be able to use your creativity to its maximum extent. We will have money, and you will get paid, I promise,” he said.
She shook her head.
“You know that isn’t what I’m working for Max,” she said, with a faint smile.
“Right… You will be allowed to do anything you want, as long as you get us to where we need to go/ Sound good?” Max asked as he reached his hand out to Lina for a handshake.
“Mhm,” she said, as she reached back and gave it her best firm shake.
“So you’re in?” Max asked excitedly.
“I-I’ll have to let the company know first that I will not be accepting their offer… And I gotta explain it to the parents… s-so,” Lina stuttered.
“But that’s a yes right?”
“Y-yes..”
Max jumped into the air out of joy and hugged Lina as tightly as he could. She turned red again and started flailing, not knowing what to do in this kind of situation. After a while, Max let her go and gripped her shoulders.
“We gotta tell the guys! They’ll be thrilled,” he said starting to calm down. “But it’s great that you joined us, Lina. You don’t have to give up your freedom after all.”
She looked at him and for a moment, found some courage in herself as well.
“Yes! Thank you Max!” she said, as she started running toward the dorms.
Max ran after her, eager to welcome her as a new member of their unnamed company.
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The five students went to a restaurant just a little ways away from their campus in order to celebrate their new members. It was a burger joint that just happened to serve alcohol as well. The five of them sat at their own table and gathered in front of several burgers, a plate of fried chicken, and a bucket of ice-cold beer.
“Alright, you guys! Cheers to our new members! And cheers to a hopefully successful business!” Max said with glee.
Their bottles clashed in the middle, spilling a bit of beer onto the table. At this point, they couldn't care less because finally, the goal that they set to reach was just that much closer to them. They ate themselves until they were bloated, and drank until they were passed tipsy. The students made sure to enjoy every bit of time that they could before the real work would start to set in. Trae was the life of the party as he dominated the conversation with all of his jokes and stories. Max would be content to enjoy and laugh along with everything that Trae said. They realized that Charlie was an “I love you” kind of drunk, as he said I loved you to everyone at least twenty times. Jules tried to keep everyone in the table involved in the conversations as if she was worried that anyone felt left out. Lina drank quietly but felt at home with everyone at the table. No one forced her to talk because they knew that she was welcome regardless of how she acted with them. It felt as if everyone was getting closer to each other. As a matter of fact, they all talked as if they knew each other from childhood. By the time they started to talk back to campus, they were having trouble keeping their own legs under their feet. It was a good thing that the campus was so close, otherwise, they would be in a real pickle.
Trae took the lead, as he strode back to campus confidently in the front. He walked along the lights coming from the street lamps that glowed from above, talking loudly as if everyone could hear him from behind. He was too drunk to notice that they were all having their own conversations at that moment. Max and Jules walked next to each other, just behind Trae. Jules was clinging onto Max’s arm, trying to keep herself from puking right onto the sidewalk. Lina and Charlie walked behind them, having a casual talk about the members that they found themselves working with.
“So, how’d you meet Max, Lina?” Charlie asked, starting to sober up.
“Oh, well… H-he sorta just walked in on me, while I was drawing and stuff.”
“Oh is that so? That asshole has no tact at all… but I guess it’s kind of what makes him Max, you know?”
She looked over at Max and smiled. He never told anyone about her scars and made sure to keep it a secret for her sake. It gave her butterflies knowing that it was like they had a secret that nobody else knew. She smiled at the thought, as she kept her eyes locked onto Max, as he walked.
“Yeah, I guess it is huh?” she said.
Her eyes then drifted to Jules, whose arms were interlinked with his. She leaned on him, and he supported her as much as he could. For some reason, it stung a little bit on Lina’s end. However, she tried to ignore it for the moment.
“Lina? Are you alright?” Charlie asked.
She jumped at the question, as he looked at her for what seemed like a long time.
“Y-yes! I’m fine, Charlie,” she said, returning her eyes to them every so often.
He looked over and Max and Jules to see what the situation was. It was almost instantly when Charlie grasped the situation.
“I think I know what this is,” he said, with a sly, knowing look.
“Y-you don’t!” she said, clearly flustered.
“Yeah… I think I do,” he said, taking his glasses off and cleaning them with his shirt.
“Please be quiet, Charlie!” she said, starting to get a little more frantic.
“You got a crush on Max, don’t you,” he asked, with a smile.
She turned red, and immediately covered her face. She slowed down her pace, but Charlie slowed him as well to match hers. He bumped her with his knuckle on her shoulder playfully and smiled at her.
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell you. It’s not my secret to tell after all,” he said.
She looked up at him and gave him a thankful smile.
“P-promise?” she asked. “It is a crush after all… Just a crush.”
Charlie’s face became a little more solemn, but he patted her on the back regardless.
“Promise.”
She smiled at him and walked on ahead trying to keep with the main group.
“As for your crush comment… I certainly hope it is indeed just a crush,” he whispered to himself.
He put his hands into his pockets and tried to keep up with the rest of the group, hoping that tomorrow wouldn’t bring him a hangover.
- Writer
