Waking up after a late night was never fun. Of course, Sophia knew it was her fault. She'd been so caught up in watching reruns of Miami Ink that she'd lost track of time, not falling asleep until close to two-thirty in the morning - four-and-a-half hours before she had to get up.
So when her alarm blared "Pocket Full of Sunshine" she just about threw it against the walls (Sophia made a note to herself to find a less annoying song to help get her up and moving). The only thing that made her almost human was a hot shower and a cup of coffee, courtesy of Google.
When Sophia had finally dragged her feet into the room she was to meet her team in, she found Lyle, Yo-Yo, and Neha already seated. The intern rubbed a palm against her eyes in order to help wake herself up as she entered, sitting down on the first chair she could find.
"Hey! It's Sophia," said Lyle, walking up to the very exhausted woman. "What's shakin', bacon? You ready for another exciting day at the Goog?"
If he'd come up to her at any other time of the day, Sophia would have been more open, more forgiving. But, unfortunately, it was early in the morning, and she was so not in the mood. "Lyle. If you value your life, don't talk to me, don't look at me, and don't touch me," she growled.
When Sophia and her brother use to live under the same roof, he learned very quickly not to mess with her until she was fully awake. He use to say that she was like a wild animal because if you wanted her to accept and warm up to you you'd have to wait for her to come to you. This was especially true during Sophia's teenage years.
Lyle, having not expected this kind of reaction, held his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright. I can wait." Luckily, Lyle turned and walked away, leaving Sophia alone. Good. If she was going to perform the first challenge today with her team, they were going to have to give her a few minutes to calm down, to wake up.
As her teammates talked, Sophia sipped her espresso as she stared straight ahead, thinking about the past week's events as they waited for others to arrive.
Even though a week had passed, no one made any improvements in getting along. In fact, it seemed to have gotten worse. Neha still held a childish grudge against Sophia for the 'conversation' they'd had during the meet and greet Lyle held. Sophia didn't blame her, but still. It was stupid that Neha had to be such a bitch about everything her time at Google had thrown at her. No one liked being unwanted, but here they were and here they'd stay until the end of summer.
Yo-Yo wasn't as shy or timid as Sophia had first expected. However, he still wasn't as outgoing or daring as the other members of his team.
Stuart still remained in his own cyber world, never looking away from his cell's screen for more than a few seconds. His attitude and sarcastic remarks were still as annoying and irritating as ever.
Nick and Billy still weren't having much luck in being accepted as full members of 'Team Lyle'. Sophia felt sorry for them. She knew it wasn't easy for people their age to find jobs, especially in this kind of field. But she couldn't put all the blame on the others. She hardly talked to Billy and Nick at all. The only times she really talked to them was during or after group seminars and, on occasion, during lunch.
The only person who tried to really make an effort was Lyle. Bless his heart, he really was trying to make a difference, tried every day to bring the group together.
Sophia, well, the only progress she made was being disliked by the other interns from not only her team but the other teams as well.
During the next twenty minutes, the other members - Billy, Nick, and Stuart - arrived. Unlike Stuart, who looked just as exhausted as Sophia felt, the older interns entered with an energetic attitude, eager to begin the first task they'd be given.
"Yeah! Let's get this show on the road!" exclaimed Billy.
Sophia's body tensed as she gasped in shock. "Don't. Touch. Me," she snarled through gritted teeth.
"Oh, come of, Miss Sophia. What's wrong with a little-" Billy's sentence cut off when he received an icy death glare in response, warning him to back off or face the consequences.
"Whoa! Whoa! It's okay. It's all good. No one has to lose their head," said Nick as he and Billy held their hands up in surrender.
Sophia, seeing that her message was received, turned around, eyes gazing into her dark liquid. "Sorry. Just don't touch me until I'm awake ever again."
"Understood. Understood."
Not even a minute later, one of the main computers beeped, drawing the interns in like moths to light. Once positioned in front of the screen, Lyle clicked the button which opened the email. Mr. Chetty appeared on the screen, the words Debug the Code hovering above his head. The background he stood in front had multiple codes which scrolled behind as he spoke, "Good morning, interns. Today marks the first of several challenges through which your teammates will show their merits. While internally documenting a product, a number of Googlers reported a bug which disabled their audio. All two-million lines of that cord are in the source files. You're job: find the bug."
The video closed, returning to the screen which was displayed before the message.
None of them wasted a second, immediately jumping in to the challenge given to them. As Sophia's teammates began listing off ideas on how to solve the puzzle, they each took a dry erase marker and begin writing notes on the glass walls. Since this was Sophia's area of expertise, she felt comfortable with this challenge.
As Sophia and the others began writing down the codes and theories, Billy and Nick began rambling on and on about things that were extremely irrelevant to what they were working on. Sophia recognized that they were just as a part of the team as she and the younger interns, but by gosh, their chatter was totally distracting, making it difficult to concentrate.
Finally, it got to the point where Sophia couldn't take it any longer. "STOP IT!" she screeched louder than she meant. Not only did it get the attention of everyone in the room but those who were outside of the room, too. Taking a deep, shaky breath, Sophia rubbed the back of her neck and turned to face Billy and Nick. "Listen. I'm glad you guys are trying to help, but my gosh, your conversation and ideas have nothing to do with what we're trying to figure out. Like Lyle said, 'We're looking for a bug, not a password.'"
"Yeah, and that's a sharpie you're using, genius," added Stuart, tone dripping with aggravation.
Billy, who'd been writing down his and Nick's theories on a section of glass, looked at his work, horrified once he realized what he'd done. "Oh. That's my fault." Billy licked his thumb and began frantically rubbing the black ink, trying to get it off.
"That's not going to work, dude," said Sophia, shaking her head. "Okay, listen. In order to find and kill the bug, we need to scan the user logs and review the code until we find the programmer's mistake."
"It's the only way to figure this out," said Neha, agreeing with Sophia.
"But what if it's not the only way?" argued Billy, thinking that there was another way to tackle it. Nick pointed at Billy and said 'go', sending his friend into a long and unnecessary explanation. "You said that someone programmed this. That means that some person in this building wrote that code."
"A human being!" exclaimed Nick, getting into Billy's theory.
"Let's just give him a name and call him Tony."
"Tony."
"Let's just say that Tony likes to. . . kayak."
"Kayak."
"All of a sudden, Nick and Tony become friends. They're throwing a few beers back, and we're doing some kayaking with my main man, Tony. They're out on the open water, and the next thing you know they're gabbing about audio bugs!"
What the heck?!
Sophia began to rub her temples, eyelids shut. This was not happening. Instead of trying to fix the problem, Billy and Nick were talking about useless information. Even if they could find the programmer it would be too late to even talk with them.
"Actually, that's a great idea," said Stuart, as if he'd been blown away.
Sophia looked at Stuart, a look of confusion and frustration covering every inch of her face. "Um, I'm sorry. What?" said Sophia.
"Finally!" said Nick in relief, glad that someone finally agreed with them.
"Yeah! Dark and Stormy's feeling us," said Billy.
"Yeah. I'm feeling you big time, buddy," said Stuart.
"Perfect!"
"In fact, why don't the two of you guys, right now, go and find the programmer."
Oh. Now Sophia understood. Stuart was trying to get rid of them so they could continue working without any distractions.
"Right. Great idea. Who's our man?" asked Nick, ready to find out who their 'man' was.
"His name is. . . Charles Xavier," answered Yo-Yo.
Sophia raised an eyebrow. Wouldn't they know-
"Charles Xavier. Got it."
Nope. They don't.
"He's a professor at. . . Stanford," added Neha. "Yeah. Just a few minutes away, actually."
"Guys," said Lyle, trying to get his group to stop.
A part of Sophia felt glad that Lyle had a good heart, but another part of her wanted Billy and to leave.
"And he's in a wheelchair," said Stuart.
"Got it!" said Billy before he began repeating what he'd been given. "Stanford. Wheelchair. What else?"
All at once, Yo-Yo, Neha, and Stuart began talking over each, saying other traits that 'Professor Xavier' had ("Oh! He's bald!" "Might be with his friend, who wears a metal helmet." "He's got a British accent.")
"British! My area. Let's go," said Nick as he left.
"Okay. Keep searching. Remember. Think fly, think bug, and I promise you this'll intersect with gold bloom," Billy reminded the group before turning and following Nick.
Once they were out of sight, the younger interns got back to work. Sophia, however, remained still, stunned by how they'd handled the situation. "You know, that was kind of mean, guys."
"Well, if you thought so, you should have said something," snapped Stuart without taking his eyes off of his work.
Sophia opened her mouth to give a smart remark, but closed it when she realized he was right. Shaking her head, Sophia resumed her task. She needed to focus if she wanted her group to win.
~N~O~O~G~L~E~R~
Four. Freaking. Hours. Later. And they still hadn't figured out how to catch the audio bug.
Staring at her laptop's screen, Sophia tried to see if she could notice anything that she'd missed for the past few hours. Nothing. Still nothing. Sophia groaned and leaned back in her chair, placing her hands over her eyes. How hard could it be to find something as simple as an audio bug? Her dad taught her to fix bugs before she could even talk!
"Yo to the yo. Where are we at?" Lyle asked Yo-Yo.
"Confirmed that there was no package lost, almost been checking on whether the inscription has the wrong certificate," the Asian male reported.
"I'm sorry, almost?" said Neha in disbelief. "You're either done or you're not. You can't be 'almost' pregnant."
"Yeah. Hey, she would know, guys," said Stuart.
Neha, pissed at his remark, bumped up the attitude. "You know what? Why don't you Google 'asshole', asshole."
"She's right. You're not doing good enough." Yo-Yo began picking at his eyebrows, flinching each time he successfully pulled a hair out of his skin. "Get it together, Yo-Yo."
"Yo, dude. What are you doing? Stop pulling out your eyebrows," demanded Sophia. If he didn't stop, he was going to end up looking like a naked cat.
"No! I'm punishing myself for my inferior performance."
"Infer- Yo-Yo. You didn't do anything wrong. You're just a bit behind."
"Exactly why I must punish myself."
"Well, that's good. That's great. We've got crazy over here," - Stuart pointed at Yo-Yo - "crazy, mid-age crisis mom over there," - he motioned his hand towards Sophia - "and crazy-horny over here," he finished, nodding his head towards Neha.
Having none of Stuart's insults, Neha said, "Let me guess. Big dick, 'cause little dick?"
"Does your mind immediately go to a penis joke, or is that all the time?" Stuart fired back.
"Oh! Was that not witty enough for you, 'cause I'm too busy working."
"No, that's fine. I just want you to acknowledge the fact that I'm more capable."
"That's what you're worried about right now?"
"Yes, that's what I'm really worried about right now," was Stuart's sarcastic reply.
"You're more worried about snarky banter than you are about winning," said Neha, trying to get the last word.
"Well maybe I'm just-"
Sophia, having noticed the panicked look Lyle was wearing and how Yo-Yo was still picking at his eyebrows, finally had enough. "Enough!" she barked, getting her team's attention. "You two are so busy arguing about something ridiculously stupid that you've forgotten that we have a job to do. You're not the only ones whose jobs are at stake here. Now, let's find this bug, get rid of it, and win. Okay? Does that sound good?"
Instead of getting the response she wanted, her plan backfired when Stuart said, "Oh, so you're now in charge? That's great, you know, since you seem to have done absolutely nothing."
Now, instead of staying out of the fight, she was in it. "Excuse me? I am an Information Technology major at OU. I've worked with computers since I was six-and-a-half years old, so don't you dare imply that I'm incapable of doing something as simple as debugging a computer, you arrogant, little-"
As if it were perfectly timed, the computer they had gathered around earlier for Mr. Chetty's message dinged. This succeeded in where Sophia or Lyle couldn't. Gathering around the computer, the team waited for Lyle to open the message, already fearing the worst.
Upon opening the message, Mr. Chetty appeared, the same background scrolling behind him as before, the title of the challenge still above his head. "After five hours of hard work, I would like to congratulate Mister Jefferson Hans' group for finally cracking the code and riding the system of the audio bug. Do not think that just because your team won that you are guaranteed a place here at Google. To those of you who lost, figure out why you've failed and fix it before it's too late."
The screen went blank.
Sophia and her team continued to stare ahead, shocked and frustrated that they'd lost.
"Great. Just great. We lost. Great job, guys. If we keep this up, we're bound to not end up with a job," said Stuart, sarcastically.
And just as fast as the message had ended, the dreary interns gathered their things before leaving. As the others left, Sophia remained where she stood. She'd lost. They'd all lost. If they had just stuck with the task they might have actually won.
Looking at Lyle, Sophia's face softened. "I'm sorry about that. I shouldn't have gotten involved."
Lyle, who was taken out of his thoughts, looked at Sophia and shrugged his shoulders. "It's fine. It's cool. It's all good in the hood."
Sophia wasn't convinced. She was upset, everyone was, and so was Lyle. She opened her mouth to say something else but closed it, thinking carefully about her next words. She finally came up with, "Do you think it's time for lunch? I'm pretty much starved."
~N~O~O~G~L~E~R~
"Wait. So you're, like, some kind of vegan?" said Stuart when Sophia answered a question Lyle had asked.
"Vegetarian. And no. I'll eat any animal by-products as long as no animal was harmed or killed to provide me my meals," said Sophia as she began picking at her veggie salad.
Despite the argument they'd been in only minutes ago, they'd calmed down enough to tolerate each other. Besides, they were stuck with each other until the end of the program. Might as well get use to each other, right?
As Neha began another conversation, two familiar shapes wandered up to their table.
"Hey! Did you guys find 'Professor Xavier'?" said Stuart, amusement filling his face.
"Yeah, we found him," said Nick.
"Yeah. Thanks so much for that, though. That was really great team spirit," said Billy, not amused. "Mind sliding over here?" As Billy went to sit in the empty place next to Stuart, he slid across the bench, taking up both places.
"I'm sorry. It doesn't look like there's really enough room for you," said Yo-Yo.
Billy and Nick's faces dropped once they realized that their own team didn't want them to join.
"Have a great. . . lunch," said Nick.
"Yeah, see you around."
As the older men walked away, Sophia felt horrible. It really was like high school all over again, only this time she was on the other end: the bullies. That thought alone was enough to send her blood boiling. Scrunching her face in anger, Sophia spat, "What the heck is your problem, you guys?!"
"Isn't it obvious? They don't belong. Heck, they can't even crack a simple audio bug. How do you expect them to pull their own weight?" said Stuart, his voice full of hostility.
"Are you kidding me right now? Yeah, they were making it hard to concentrate earlier, but that doesn't mean they're any less valuable to the team."
"Well, then you should have stopped them from going to meet 'Professor X'."
Okay. That's it.
Banging the table with her fists (and ignoring the pain that met them), Sophia grabbed her tray and left. "You know what? You're all a bunch of dicks."
As Sophia rushed away, she heard Stuart fire back, "Look who's talking, douche wad."
Without looking over her shoulder, Sophia gave him the bird.
~N~O~O~G~L~E~R~
"Hey. Mind if I join you?" asked Sophia, having finally found Billy and Nick.
The two men gave her sarcastic looks as Nick said, "Oh, sure. Why not? If it'll help you ruin our chances at getting hired, then be our guest."
Sophia felt guilt grip at her heart. Stuart was right. She really was a douche wad. As she sat down in the empty chair, Sophia began to apologize. "Look. I'm really sorry about how I treated you and Billy earlier. I was just. . . . Gah, I don't know. I just was so focused on winning that I neglected to include or stand up for you. I really felt horrible. Honestly, I did. I promise I won't pull a move like that again. Just, please, don't look at me like that."
It took a moment or two, but the older men eventually gave in.
"Alright. We'll forgive you, Miss Sophia. But only this time," teased Billy.
Sophia let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Thanks." A series look came over Sophia as she asked, "Do you guys seriously not know who Professor Xavier is?"
"If you're referring to the one we met, yes."
"And he was a total dick," added Billy.
Sophia grinned. "You really don't know who- Wait, you actually found someone who looks just like Professor X?"
Before either of them could respond, a small group of people passed by the table. A boy with dark hair and a British accent spoke for them. "Look at this! William, Nicholas, person I don't know" - he referred to the other man who sat in the chair to Sophia's left who was busy typing away at his laptop - "and girl with a freakish appearance."
"Wow. Rude much?" said Sophia, arms crossed over her chest as she glared at the dark-haired man.
"Does it look like I care?" The boy looked at Billy, his eyes covered by a pair of huge, tinted sunglasses. "Figured I'd find you here at the cool kids table. Looks like a confederacy of outcasts here. Heard you and Nick here had a trip to Palo Alto, home of the Silicon Valley and also the X-Men, apparently."
"Where are you going with this, Graham?" asked Nick.
"Oh! I just wanted to let you guys know that we won the bug challenge."
"Yes, good sir. We know. They announced it via video email."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I miss that they here to help your team with the challenge?"
Sophia glared at Graham from underneath her eyelashes. "You know, you're so full of crap that I don't know if I should beat the snot out of you or slap that smirk right off of your face."
"You know, I'd feel worried for you if you actually had a good team, but you don't. Wanna know why? Because your 'team' sucks balls. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually want you to do good. It's just that you are so horrible. You're, like, the worst group of people I've ever seen in my whole life."
"I wouldn't worry about what we're going to do and what we're not going to do. We'll be just fine," said Billy, coming to Sophia's defense.
"Alight. Keep telling yourself that. See you three all-stars at the Instrumental fields for the next challenge I'll win." And with that, Graham patted Billy's shoulder and led his silent group away from their table.
"Sports! That's something we know about."
"Something we know a lot about, baby," agreed Billy. "Look at me. For real."
Sophia, who already knew what they were playing, gave them a look that read, 'really, now?'
Billy, having noticed this, asked, "What's with the look? Do you really think we don't know our sports. Look at us. Look. At. Us. We're two fully grown men who live, breath, and eat this kind of stuff up."
"Really? So you know what Quidditch is?"
Billy and Nick, having been taken aback, shared a quick look between themselves before Nick asked, "What the heck is Quidditch?"
Sophia sighed and shook her head as an amused smile graced her lips. These two had a lot to learn if they were going to succeed in the next challenge.
~Edited 07/16/14~