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“Grunt work,” one of them says.
“Haneul hasn’t come up with a groundbreaking piece of technology in years. Getting desperate for new ideas, I bet,” someone else scoffs.
I see Elijah fold in on himself a bit. I can tell he’s not comfortable talking about the company, nor having the company spoken about. What a weird conundrum to not care, but to also care a lot.
“Look, I get the sense that they think this is a throwaway project too. But, I’d like to prove them wrong. I know this Haneul internship was not easy to come by. So let’s show them why we were—I mean, um,youwere the best of the bunch,” I say.
Nobody moves, nobody speaks. That’s either a good sign or a really bad one.
“What about a hackathon?” Elijah says. The room quiets. I can’t tell if they think the idea is outrageous and they’re rendered speechless, or if their interest is piqued.
I, myself, am enamored by Elijah’s voice and his air of self-assurance. I mean, I’m, um, impressed by his ballsy idea, even though I have no idea what that means. “A hackathon?”
“It’s when you get a bunch of programmers in a room and give them a problem to solve, or an assignment to complete. They work around-the-clock for a set amount of time and then present their solutions,” Elijah explains. “It could be really awesome. We could blow their minds with this thing and give some young programmers a chance to do something cool too. Maybe we focus on gaming, like, have them come up with a new game concept. And maybe the winner could have it produced by Haneul.” Elijah’s voice grows louder and his animated hands betray the excitement he’s clearly feeling by the idea. He throws a glance my way, like he’s suddenly realized all eyes are on him and is anxious about what we’ll think of his idea. I give him a small smile, hoping he knows how much I appreciate his enthusiasm.
“I just heard they’re announcing next year’s game titles at the Sky High Convention. Maybe we can get the hackathon winner onto that list,” I add.
To Be Determined. Male. 13+.What if this hackathon helped determine that game title? Minus the limitation of “male.” I have no intention of putting on a program that doesn’t give opportunity to anyone and everyone.
“Elijah’s right,” Jason says. Of course, when a guy makes a suggestion, he’s a genius and he’sright. No one seemed to be that excited when it was my idea to do something groundbreaking. Figures.
But honestly, it’s already clear that Elijah is a natural born leader. People listen to what he has to say.
I mean, even I agreed to this bonkers idea of his to trade places, right?
“Okay, let’s do it,” I say, pulling out the only empty seat. Elijah, currently at the head of the table, gets up, gathers his things, and moves to the chair I was going to sit in. He nods his chin at his now vacated spot. I want to decline—I’m not here to force myself as the leader down anyone’s throats—but I appreciate the gesture.
“This binder of info is all we have to start with, and it’s pretty sparse. That said, we’ve been given a bit of a blank slate to do what we want. I’ve never planned a hackathon. But—” I look around at everyone seated with me “—if we can pull it off, it’ll look great on our résumés, it’s an impressive talking point in interviews, and we’ll have the experience of having worked on something bigger than I think any of us have done before. And it’ll be a big win for Haneul Corp too.”
I hoped for everyone to cheer at the end of my little pep talk, but I’ll settle for the few nods and smiles I get from my peers. It still feels like a step in the right direction.
I realize that other than Elijah and his friend Jason, I don’t know anyone else’s names. “Oh, and just by way of formal introduction, I’m Jessica, as I mentioned. I’m from Cerritos, California, and I’m, well, I’m going to Cerritos Community College next year before deciding on where to apply for transfer.”
That intro will get easier one day, won’t it?
“Rich kid,” someone mutters under their breath, but loud enough that I can hear it. I freeze at the words, the accusation. Heat makes its way through my body, and I feel the burn of it as it reaches my neck.
They think I’m going to junior college because I’m taking some kind of easy way out. That money affords this choice for me. But it’s the complete opposite. I want to tell this room of my peers that I’m not a rich kid. I didn’t buy my way into this role. Okay, so technically, I lied my way in. But I need this as much as the rest of them, if not more. I have to work harder than anyone else just for thechanceto get noticed and even then, I had to deceive everyone to do it.
My eyes turn to Elijah. His head is down, shoulders slumped, like he’s trying to hide. I don’t know why I thought he’d say something, defend me even. But I realize that although the “rich kid” comment was aimed at me, it was actually meant for him. Heisthe rich kid. And maybe for the first time in his life, it’s not a compliment.
Someone clears their throat, breaking the silence. “Yeah, okay, so I’m Jason. I’m from SoCal too,” he says. He’s the type of guy that puts everyone at ease, I’m coming to find, and his words release the tension gripping at my shoulders. “We must’ve been on the same flight over here.”
I give a weak smile and nod, trying to convey my gratitude to him in a look. Jason gives me a barely noticeable lift of the chin.
I glance over at Elijah and he’s watching the silent exchange between me and Jason. His lips are tight, eyes narrowed.
“I’m Grace,” the girl next to Jason says, and we go around the table making introductions. I repeat each person’s name in my head three times along with whatever bits of information they share to be sure I remember everything.Grace, Grace, Grace studying law. Roy, Roy, Roy from Iowa where there are surprisingly a lot of Koreans.And so on.
“I’m Elijah. I’m here for the summer from Korea.” And he leaves it at that.
I smile his way, but his head is still down and he doesn’t catch it.
“Nice to meet all of you. Okay, well, there’s not a lot of helpful information in here so that can either be a good thing or a bad thing. Let’s divvy it up, review the info, and prepare a quick presentation of what we have to start with. What are the expectations, the cost, the metrics and then share with the group as a whole so we can then strategize how we move forward in planning and execution.”
We go around and split the topics based on interest and expertise: marketing to Soobin who reviews spicy romance books on TikTok with over a million followers, design to Henry who builds websites for small businesses in his free time, finance to Jason who apparently has a love affair with spreadsheets, and so on.
“And that leaves logistics to me,” I say.
