Maybe she would, Sarah mused to herself.
Ted just didn’t seem so gross anymore, for reasons she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Sure he was her mentor, but once they were done with the career training, maybe? She took a big swig of the Monster Energy drink she had on her desk, and pulled up the next card in her Pivotal queue.
When was the last time she washed her hair? Biff had long since broken up with her, and if she was considering getting back into dating, she might need to take care of that. It was just so much work. Being a girl just took so much effort. Not that she really did a lot of it anymore, but still pulling on a bra in the morning, coordinating outfits, makeup, losing valuable time she could be programming.
The good news was that she wasn’t alone. Melissa felt the same way. At least, she looked like it. Sarah glanced over at her friend, tapping away at the terminal next to hers. Melissa had ditched her contacts for a pair of thick rimmed glasses, her hair matted down to the side in a greasy half-bun. It was kind of awesome to have one of your best friends assigned to the same career as you.
“Hey Mac, are you taking #3064?” She said, her voice more nasally than Sarah remembered. Everyone had been calling her ‘Mac’ lately, a shorthand for ‘McMillan.’ Could be worse, she mused, they were calling Melissa ‘Smitty.’ Melissa still wasn't sold on being a programmer, but she didn't really have much of a choice anymore.
'Mac's' current project was squashing bugs in the Career Center software. Apparently, it was acting a bit unpredictable — randomizing assignments, overcorrecting the ones that were assigned already, assigning people who didn’t even sign-up. It was kind of a mess. Especially when people had a hard time changing their minds once they were placed. Sarah was glad it didn't affect her — she couldn’t imagine a life not being a programmer. The machines beeped. The good news was that the Career Center had Mac and Smitty on it. At least the projects that they could understand. There was so much to learn! PHP, COBAL, .net, Python, GraphQL, she wanted to devour it all -- no matter how obsolete the language might be. "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."
Card #3064 was one of these. Sarah scanned it quickly. Someone she used to hang out with all the time, Amber Levine. Apparently, she didn’t end up as lucky with a placement as Sarah or Melissa. A 'bug' in the software.
“Aer you feenished with zis?” Came a voice from behind Sarah. Was that Karyn Black? She couldn’t tell. Exaggerated accent aside, it sure didn’t seem like it. While Sarah had always thought of Karyn as kind of a milquetoast girl, hoodies and jeans, she knew she also had a bit of an aggressive, sarcastic attitude too. And this girl reaching over her to grab the other empty cans was neither of those. She sure did look like her though. A twisted, overly-sweet, French cupcake version of her. The girl minced away, delicately dropping the cans into the nearest recycle bin with an almost practiced grace, folding her hands back at her apron. Sarah burped.
The thought left her mind nearly as soon as it came. Why worry about Karyn, with all this work to do? Card #3064 - Amber Levine. Let’s see…
