You Will Remember My Name

Admittedly, I was at a bit of a loss. Rarely did anyone ever approach me, even to ask a simple question. But here was this girl, Dahlia, who I didn’t remember ever seeing at this school at all, talking to me like I was a normal person. Her face was hard to read but I think she was serious about whatever she had to talk about.

“Um…alright,” I said quietly. “Outside the gym entrance then?”

“Perfect,” Dahlia said with a smile that seemed sincere. “I’ll see you then.” And just like that, she left the room and no one seemed to question it.

At that point, my mind was distracted. Who was this girl? She radiated an aura of confidence, maybe she was one of the popular girls in school. That said, why did she want to talk to me of all people? I sighed as I put in my earbuds and listened to Draft Funk to refocus on my current project.

As school let out, I had to admit I was a bit nervous. I never dealt well with peer pressure, despite the few times it ever happened in my life, and while I didn’t think Dahlia had any nefarious purpose, at the same time I didn’t want to disappoint her. That being said, I took a deep breath and made my way towards the gym.

Dahlia was waiting for me outside and she seemed genuinely happy to see me. “Oh good, you actually showed up!” she said with a big smile. “And here I thought I was gonna have to track you down.”

I forced out a chuckle. “That…that was a joke, right?”

“Of course it was, but seriously, there’s a reason why I want to talk to you,” Dahlia replied. “Look, I know we only just met for the first time, but to be honest, I’ve been studying you for a long time Wallflower. Well, I shouldn’t say me specifically.”

“Studying me for what?” As I expected, the anxiety was starting to creep in.

“I’ll cut to the chase,” Dahlia said. “You’re an ace when it comes to computers. Maybe a tech prodigy. Either way, the people I work with are very interested in you.”

“Wait…is this a job offering?” I asked.

“You…could call it that,” Dahlia said with a sly smile. “Would you be interested? I know they’d like to meet you in person.”

“Wait, this is happening all so fast,” I quickly told her. “Maybe for starters you should tell me who you are.”

Dahlia’s smile faltered and suddenly she looked slightly bashful. “Oh…right. I guess that’s only fair. Well, my name is Dahlia Sallow, I’m currently a senior here at CHS and like you I’m planning on going to college and majoring in computer science.”

“First of all, I never mentioned going to college and second, how come I’ve never bumped into you?”

I had expected her to look at least a bit surprised, but instead she grinned slightly, as if she were taking pleasure in all this. “Wow, you don’t miss a beat do you? I looked at the code you were writing when I came in earlier, pretty sure that’s material that hadn’t been discussed in lecture yet. Now, if you weren’t interested in computer science and possibly coding, why would you want to overachieve like that?”

Looking back, maybe I shouldn’t have been so suspicious of her. She was the first person to really talk to me out of her own free will and she apparently was a fellow coder. “Okay, fair point, but you didn’t answer my second question.”

“Hmm…” She looked away for a moment. “Maybe it’s because we have something in common? People don’t notice us like they should.”

I was taken aback by that response. I took a real good look at her. Her long brown hair, the blue blouse she was wearing and the purple skirt to match, there was no way she didn’t stand out. “I have a hard time believing that. You stand out like most of the girls here.”

Dahlia chuckled as she turned away. “You’d think that but…that’s not the case. Sure, maybe I stand out but not for the reasons you may think. Most girls worry about make-up and how their hair turns out while I’m firing away on a keyboard and getting past the school’s firewall. Believe me, they wouldn’t consider me one of them…”

She then looked back to me and the slight deviousness in her face was gone. “But back to my original point. These people who I work with, they can offer so much more than this school ever could. Not to mention the work environment is a bit more…”

“Chill?” I asked.

Dahlia laughed. “Very chill, well most of the people there. So what do you say Wallflower? Care to give it a shot? I should probably also mention once you agree to this, you can’t back out of it.”

Part of me thought the whole thing suspicious, but if it was an actual job and I was getting paid, could I really turn that down? “Can I think about it?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t expect you to make a decision right away. You got a cell phone right? Let me give you my number so that way you can contact me.” After I put her number into my phone, she then asked, “Listen, whether or not you decide to join, I was wondering, considering we’re kind of both geeks when it comes to computers and stuff, maybe we can hang out sometime? I know it sounds kind of weird but…I don’t exactly have a lot of friends and well, I think we’d get along better compared to other people so…”

This girl, who in my opinion had me beat in looks and charm, was asking to become friends with me. “You know what…why not? Maybe I can ask you how you got past that firewall sometime.”

“Deal. Wow, this is actually kind of exciting…anyway, I have to get going, got to get to work and all. I’ll be waiting for your response!” She waved to me as she started taking off.

I watched her go, trying to process everything that just happened. Somehow, without much effort I think I managed to make a new friend. This Dahlia was still a bit of a mystery to me, and that was probably why I found her so appealing.

By the time I got home, it was already past 3:30. I hadn’t been able to get my driver’s license yet when I used to take the bus, the bus driver often forgot to stop near my house so I decided to walk home which took about twenty-five minutes.

Mom was still working and wouldn’t be home for another two hours so I had the house to myself. I often went to her for advice but I’m not sure if she would be able to help in this situation. I went up to my room and booted up the old PC we had.

The desktop itself wasn’t that old, but the operating system we had was no longer going to be supported within the next couple months. Unfortunately, money was tight at the moment and asking Mom to get a new OS seemed out of the question at the moment.

After about a half hour of surfing web I got up and crashed onto my bed, lost in thought as I looked up at the ceiling. It shouldn’t have been a hard decision to make. I should’ve just accepted it and that would’ve been the end of it. After all, these kind of opportunities are once in a lifetime.

Part of me felt like texting Dahlia before she decided to change her mind and look for someone else. I then shook my head. Maybe I was being naive, but I don’t think she would do that. She was definitely interested in me — my talents that is — and I don’t think she would say all that to just anyone, at least I hope not.

Did I even have a choice? Regardless what they paid me, it was more than what I have now and above all else maybe it’d take some stress of Mom. Besides, it was a legitimate job, right?

I sat up and pulled out my phone, finding Dahlia’s number and sending her a message.

Hey, this is Wallflower. I know I probably could’ve answered this sooner but I’m interested in this job.

It didn’t take long before my phone vibrated and a message from her popped up.

Yay! :D I knew you couldn’t say no! <3 Can we meet up the same place tomorrow after school? Also, before you ask, don’t worry about attire. Casual’s just fine here.

I smiled slightly as I replied back. It almost seemed crazy that I was about to land myself a job, without even filling out an application. Unfortunately, naive me didn’t know what I was about to get myself into.