Hacker Academy

Escape

I stumble back. This boy, standing right in front of me, is hacker number 1.

The boy in my dreams that killed my family.

He has his black hoodie on, so his face is covered from me. I cross my arms and look somewhere else. The students here at Hacker Academy all look so weird. If I used to look weird in New York, I would be considered nothing here. Some girls have half-shaved heads, pieces on their ears and noses, the boys have dyed hair and tattoos. Maybe they belonged to Hacker Academy more than I did. I look at Unix for some support, but she looks like she's about to die from happiness.

I look at Cyber. "Nice to meet you," I say and start to back away, "I'll see you later."

Miss Tag laughs and motions me over. "Not so fast, Ada. Here. You take a chair and Cyber gets a chair."

I take a chair from the side of the ring and so does Cyber. I sit down. Miss Tag calls to Unix to bring me my laptop. Cyber takes his laptop out from his backpack.

"This will not affect your hacker number. I'll send you an assignment. Whoever hacks it first gets 100 hackcoins," Miss Tag says.

Ripples of chatter float from the stadium, and I look at Cyber unsurely. He grunts.

"Just 100 hackcoins?"
His voice is rough and raspy as if he hadn't spoken in a long time.

I gasp. Miss Tag laughs. "You should be grateful for what you have, Cyber. Take this as a matter of getting experience."

He says nothing, and we wait for her to give us our assignment. My hands tremble on the keyboard. I don't want to do this again. What will happen this time? Will my family really die? I shake my head. I need to focus.

"Did you get the assignment?"

We both say yes to Miss Tag. She nods. "You may start."

I open the file and scan through the file quickly. I'm starting to sweat, and it's icy cold. My hands are wet from nervousness. I feel dizzy. My eyes move up and down so fast the text seems to come out from the screen. I sigh. It wasn't as hard as the one from my dream. Cyber is already typing furiously. I finish looking through everything and start hacking.

The moment I seal the file back and press Enter I shout, "Done."

I glance up at Miss Tag, and she looks surprised.

"Done."

There is complete silence. I just finished before hacker number 1.

Slowly Miss Tag starts clapping. Applause echoes throughout the stadium, filling my heart with the beat. I hear a fast and loud clapping, and I know it's Unix's. This moment is the best. The feeling of beating the best hacker and knowing my family is safe. I smile.

Cyber stands up. He makes his way over to me. I look up. He takes his hoodie off, and I see his sparkling blue eyes and dark hair. He smirks.
"Good job."

I'm a little stunned. I imagined him menacing and stern, but he looks so kind. If he wanted to be. I nod. "You too."

He takes his backpack and leaves the stadium. Miss Tag grins at me. "Well done, Ada. Your family would be proud of you."

But all I could think of was the retreating figure into the darkness.

At lunchtime Unix, Domain and I sit at our usual table, but today there are hundreds of students crowded at our place. I groan and push a boy coming too close.

"You really beat Cyber? Man!"

"A hacker like you could beat the best? Liar."

"Don't you dare come close to my man!"

Domain looks at me amusedly, seeing my uncomfortableness. "You beat hacker number 1 and now you get all of this publicity? Boy, am I jealous."

I sneer and push the oncoming crowd away. "Don't be such a jerk."

In the distance, I can see a black hoodie sitting far away from us, and for some reason I know at once it's Cyber. Further behind is Celestia and her friends. They press her into walking over to Cyber. I look away. Unix jumps up.

"Let's get out of here. It's Free Friday. Let's go to the mall."

My eyes grow large. "You mean, HackCity?"

She grins. "Duh!"

Unix pulls Domain's arm and he groans. "Do I have to come?"

"You would if you want to escape questions about Ada for the rest of the day."

He shuts up and lets Unix drag him away. I follow the two of them and push my way out of the crowd.

When we're almost at the door, I look back and see Cyber staring at me. I quickly turn away and push the door, glad to leave Hacker Academy and its strange life.