It's the end of the year, and teachers from several high schools in the district have decided to plan a joint field trip. All the students from the magnet programs of three schools pile into busses and head to a science museum with cutting-edge technology and researchers lecturing on topics like tissue regrowth and 3d-printed arms.
Not that any of that is new to Zack, a sophomore from Alderwood High. He had been to the museum a few months ago to see a new DNA processing system that allowed more efficient studying and manipulation of genetic material. Rather than ooh and ahh like his classmates, he brought laptop and sat down near the robotics section of the museum, programming a game that would end up making thousands of dollars from ads on mobile.
Along strolled a girl, probably a freshman, who looked lost. Zack looked over the screen of the laptop to make sure she wasn't looking at him for something, and then went back to coding. Having never seen someone not wowed by the museum before, the girl approached him.
"Hey."
Zack looked up disdainfully. "Hello."
She peered around Zack's screen and furrowed her brow. "What's all that?"
Zack sighed, realizing he would have to talk to her. "I'm coding a game for mobile."
She looked impressed. "How do you do that?"
"Well, you have to program in what you want things to look like, then define what tapping where does…"
For about ten minutes, they went on like this, with the girl asking questions and Zack becoming less and less reluctant to talk to her. She seemed genuinely interested in what he was doing.
"I'm Zack, by the way."
"Oh, I'm Rose. I guess I didn't introduce myself."
"Do you want to go get something to eat? There's a little food shop downstairs, and I wouldn't mind stretching my legs."
"Sure."
For the rest of the day, Zack acted as a tour guide, showing Rose all of the best exhibits and explaining anything she couldn't understand from the placards. When they walked out to the busses at the end of the day, Rose's group rushed to her and surrounded her, asking her where she had been. Zack just smiled and got on his bus.