Flora’s Guide to a Second Chance at Love and Life

The clacking of keys filled the room, making it sound like she was deep into some intense gaming session. But that was far from the truth...

Eilies and Cynthia exchanged a look, deciding it was best to keep quiet. Frustrated, they compared Flora's source code with their own and started making revisions. With Flora's code as a guide, they quickly wrapped up the rest of their work.

By 6 p.m., they had sent the completed website to their teacher's email, right on schedule.

Class began at 7:30 p.m. Students trickled into the computer lab. Flora, Eilies, and Cynthia slipped into the last two rows just as the clock struck time, their late arrival leaving them no other choice.

"I've received and reviewed your website assignments. Most of you did pretty well, but Flora's work stood out," Mr. Abbott, the web design instructor, announced as he walked to the front of the room. His voice was calm, giving nothing away: "Flora's project exceeded my expectations. She used advanced techniques that aren't usually in a beginner's toolkit."

The class felt a shift in the atmosphere.

straight with me.

produce something so polished. Flora, a freshman in

of the submissions varied widely, but Flora's was in a league of its own. Mr. Abbott could handle the learning curve, knowing everyone starts somewhere, but he couldn't accept the idea of someone buying

gaze

code! She wrote it herself

expression softened, "Come up

to the front with a

are on the desktop. I'm not asking for perfection, just something decent. If you can do that, it'll prove I was wrong, and I'll apologize." "Don't take my earlier tone to heart," Mr. Abbott added, acknowledging his previous harshness. In hindsight, he realized he had no solid reason to suspect Flora initially. But the sheer excellence of her submission had

seat at the workstation instead. Mr. Abbott stood by, watching

project this on