Finding Stardust

"You didn"t need to bring me anything," Grandma Lin said. She knew Emma did not have much money, and the girl even had to work part-time, giving private tuition, to be able to pay for her trip to Paris.

"I want to do it, Grandma," Emma said, hugging Grandma Lin. "This music box is not expensive."

Oma Lin stroked Emma"s long hair and smiled broadly. "Thank you, Dear... Ah, I also have something for you."

She broke free from Emma"s arms and went into her room and came out carrying a thin blue scarf that she had knitted while Emma went to Paris.

"What"s this for, Grandma?" asked Emma, ​​not understanding.

"This is a birthday present for you," said Grandma Lin, wrapping the scarf around Emma"s neck. "I knitted it while you were away. Happy birthday!"

Emma hugged Grandma Lin again. "Thank you very much. This is beautiful."

***

Emma was watering plants on her balcony attentively when her cellphone rang, and she saw an incoming call from Haoran. The girl then put down the watering can and picked up the phone.

"Hey .. Stardust. What are you doing?" Haoran asked from the other end.

"I"m watering plants. I already bought several programs to study computer science and was reading various materials before attending the summer programs at NTU. What are you doing?" Emma asked.

"I am looking at some of the packages I ordered. I didn"t expect them to arrive so quickly," Haoran commented casually. "When you have time, I will be very happy to have you here and watch them being installed together."

"What is being installed?" asked Emma, ​​not understanding.

"The radio and antenna equipment for our Moon Bounce project," Haoran said. "I ordered them when we were still in Paris. Today some of the equipment has arrived. When you"re not busy, you can come here, and we can see them installed and we can check stuff together."

"Ahh ... good idea," Emma said. "I can come tomorrow after my course at NTU."

"The boys and I will leave school at 1:00 p.m. What time do you finish your cla.s.s?" Haoran asked.

"3 pm. I can go straight to your place," Emma replied.

"Fine. See you tomorrow then," Haoran said.

"See you tomorrow."

Emma took several intensive Computer Science courses for 1.5 months during the school summer holiday. She went there five days a week and self-study on weekends. While Haoran and his friends, who insisted on improving their grades, attended summer cla.s.ses in school and retook their exams to be eligible for Cla.s.s A. So, they had to go to school every day for half a day.

Emma still tutored them twice a week after she finished her own cla.s.ses in NTU. Haoran was right when he said they would be very busy during this summer holiday.

***

Emma had registered herself in four cla.s.ses at once, namely Networking, Programming, Database, and Operating Systems. Each cla.s.s taught her different things, which would enable her to understand how the system works, learn the programming language, and all the things she needed to know to be able to understand and hack all the systems in the world.

Each course lasted three hours, 2x a week. The staff who received Emma could not believe it when the girl said she wanted to attend all four at once. Usually, students learned one at a time, and it took a long time to master it, but Emma insisted that she could master all four at the same time.

Because she was a genius, Emma had no difficulty in following all the materials given. She read all contents she could find about those subjects, so that when she went to cla.s.s, she could immediately understand.

Wednesday was her first cla.s.s on Databases. In the other cla.s.ses, there were only a few girls, but in this cla.s.s, Emma was the only one. She was also the youngest. So, when she entered the cla.s.sroom, she stood out immediately.

All course partic.i.p.ants were male and older than Emma. There was only one partic.i.p.ant who looked like he was the same age as Emma. Since the seat next to him was the only one that was empty, Emma decided to sit there.

"Hey ... I think I saw you in another cla.s.s before this one," the young man commented, holding out his hand to introduce himself. "I saw you this morning in the Operating System cla.s.s."

Emma frowned and tried to remember. Ah ... maybe this young man was right. The Operating System cla.s.s was quite big, with many partic.i.p.ants. She didn"t pay much attention to them to realize they were in the same cla.s.s.

"Oh, did you?" The girl nodded. "Yes, I was there."

"You seem very interested in computer science. Me too. Unfortunately, my father won"t let me study Computer Science in university ... so I took this course to console myself," said the young man again, still holding out his hand. "I"m Allan."

"Oh, is that so? I"m Emma." Finally, Emma returned the young man"s handshake because he seemed very polite. Emma felt rude if she continued ignoring his handshake. She then opened her laptop. "Which major in the university are you taking?"

"Medicine, at NUS," the young man answered with a smile. "I will start in the next semester. Before I become too busy with school, I wanted to have fun. That"s why I am taking this course."

"That"s a good idea," Emma replied. She began opening the materials she was reading yesterday and studied it while waiting for their instructor to arrive.

Allan, who understood that Emma wasn"t too keen to talk, finally let the girl be busy with her laptop. Occasionally he glanced at Emma, who looked very serious.

Very interesting girl, he thought.

Emma looked very beautiful, but her appearance was serious, and the fact that this beautiful girl was so interested in computer science made many course partic.i.p.ants secretly adored her, including Allan. They rarely saw a very attractive geek around them.

"h.e.l.lo, everyone. My name is John, and I will be teaching you today. Welcome to the Database cla.s.s. We will start by learning SQL. Has anyone ever heard of SQL?" The instructor arrived a few minutes later and immediately started the cla.s.s.

Emma paid attention seriously to the cla.s.s and didn"t interact much. She immediately tried to understand and apply everything she heard in the cla.s.s. Her fingers swiftly opened all the programs taught by the instructor and practice.

Allan, who was sitting next to her, looked amazed at her speed when Emma worked. Even though he was very curious, Allan did not bother her at all with questions about how Emma could learn so quickly.

After cla.s.s, Emma hurriedly packed up her bag and left the cla.s.sroom. She wanted to arrive at Lotus Garden immediately to see the antenna parts and radio equipment for their Moon Bounce project. Allan, who saw her walking out, quickly followed her.

"Hi, Emma ... Wait a minute," the young man voiced as he walked her steps. "I"m very impressed to see how fast you are following the programs. It seems like you"ve been working with those programs for a long time. Where did you learn?"

Emma shook her head. "No. I just learned this week."

"Really ... is that so?" Allan asked in amazement. "Then, you are very talented!"

Emma smiled faintly. "I"m a genius."

"Oh .." Allan looked somewhat surprised at Emma"s words that she uttered so casually. The girl claimed to be a genius without a change of att.i.tude at all. As if for her, admitting to being a genius was no different from saying that she liked pizza. "I see. I believe you are a genius. So where do you go to school now? A genius student like you might have gone to college early and is now studying for your post-graduate or maybe even Ph.D.?"

Emma shook her head again. He began to feel annoyed by Allan"s enthusiasm. "I"m still in high school. I like my current school. Excuse me; I have an appointment with my friends."

"Which high school?" Allan asked curiously. He furrowed his brows when he tried to remember something. "Wait a minute ... I think I"ve seen you somewhere."

Allan held Emma"s hand and hurriedly opened his cellphone. His furrowed brows instantly turned smooth when he saw some pictures on social media. "Aha ... I know you! You go to St. Catherine"s, right? Then you are my junior."

Emma glanced at Allan"s cellphone and found photos of Bianca and her friends in Paris. In the background, she found herself chatting with Alex. Her image was a bit blurry there, but people could see it was her when they were in close proximity like she was with Allan now.

Oh ... Was this guy Bianca"s friend?

"You went to St. Catherine"s high school?" asked Emma.

The young man smiled broadly. "That"s right. I was actually the head of the student council. Have you never seen me?"

Emma shook her head. "No. I don"t go out much in school."

"Ahh .. no wonder." Allan seemed happy to find a beautiful junior in his favorite course. His summer break would surely be fun before he had to go to university and study to become a doctor. "I"m happy to meet you here."

"I"m glad to hear that. Excuse me, I have to meet my friends immediately. We have an important appointment," Emma finally said to excuse herself.

"Where are you heading to? I brought my car. I can drive you," Allan said excitedly.

Emma shook her head. "No, thanks. Bye!"

A taxi had pulled over for her, and Emma immediately entered. She had been used to taking a taxi to Haoran"s house because there were no public transports near Lotus Garden. Allan just looked at the girl leaving with an attentive expression

"What an interesting girl," he muttered to himself.