Girl Geeks: The Hackathon

by Alex Miles

  Hamsa’s mouth fell open in shock and a few crumbs trickled out. ‘Uh … why?’

  ‘Your mum has kindly offered to take our class on an excursion. As part of the Hackathon, she’s invited us to her workplace.’

  ‘What does your mum do?’ asked Niki, from the other side of the room.

  ‘She’s a software engineer or something,’ said Hamsa casually. ‘But she clearly didn’t pass any of her tech skills on to me … or my dad, for that matter.’

  She looked over to check Zoe’s reaction. They’d never discussed their parents’ jobs before. And right now, Hamsa feared it’d be like adding another point to the list of things they didn’t have in common.

  ‘Hamsa’s mum, Anika, works somewhere called a “co-working space”,’ explained Ms Atlas. ‘It’s where different startups share an office, and Anika’s colleagues have offered to help mentor us.’

  Sal’s hand shot up. ‘Will we have a non-uniform day for the excursion?’

  ‘Sure,’ said Ms Atlas.

  While Sal, Wai-Ling and Michelle planned their outfits, Hamsa sunk lower in her chair. ‘This is so embarrassing.’

  ‘It’s not that bad,’ said Zoe. ‘At least we’ll have a day off school.’

  ‘I guess,’ said Hamsa.

  ‘Plus,’ added Eve, ‘we’ll have a whole uninterrupted day to work on our startups. How cool’s that?’

  ‘Not cool at all,’ said Michelle. Sal and Wai-Ling laughed.

  Hamsa busied herself with another bite of her wrap. She was actually looking forward to working on their startup, but she didn’t want her friends to know that. They’d shown zero interest in the Hackathon since it had started.

  Before long the bell rang to head outside.

  ‘Yes!’ said Eve, packing away her lunch bag. ‘Ms Atlas said we could use the tablets in the library to prepare for tomorrow’s Halfway Hack.’

  ‘Boring,’ said Zoe under her breath.

  Hamsa looked at Zoe and back to Eve. She wished that she could work on the Hackathon, but what would Zoe think if she did?

  As they went to put their lunch boxes back in their bags, Hamsa realised there was a way that she could keep everyone happy.

  ‘Oh no,’ she said, pretending to be disappointed. ‘I just remembered I have soccer training today.’

  ‘What a shame,’ said Eve. ‘No worries though.’

  ‘Yeah, catch you after lunch,’ said Zoe.

  As they walked off, Hamsa smiled to herself. This was the perfect plan.

  Hamsa spotted Niki, Eve and Maggie sitting near the play equipment. She checked the coast was clear, then walked over to meet them.

  ‘What happened to soccer training?’ Eve asked.

  ‘It was cancelled,’ said Hamsa, even though training hadn’t been on in the first place. Hamsa figured that if Zoe thought she was at training, she wouldn’t be mad for them not hanging out at lunchtime. She quickly changed the subject. ‘I thought you’d be in the library.’

  ‘We were,’ said Eve. ‘But we were allowed to sign out the tablets so we could make the most of this sunshine.’

  Hamsa looked back over her shoulder and scanned the playground. ‘Should we go sit inside instead, so we’re … um … out of the way?’

  ‘Of what?’ asked Niki.

  Of my friends, thought Hamsa, worried they might walk past and discover that she wasn’t at soccer. ‘Um, you know, away from noisy distractions … or my annoying younger brothers – they play around here sometimes – or from birds that might poop on our heads … or from –’

  ‘It’s better here in the sun,’ said Niki, firmly.

  Hamsa took one last look around and reluctantly sat down. ‘I guess. What’cha up to anyway?’

  Eve wriggled over to make space for Hamsa. ‘Maggie’s working on the wireframes, Niki’s researching which website we can build our prototype in –’

  ‘Nearly nailed it,’ said Niki, without looking up from her tablet.

  ‘And I’m playing around with some designs,’ said Eve.

  ‘Can I see?’ asked Hamsa.

  Eve closed her notebook. ‘They’re nowhere near finished. In fact, they’re pretty terrible.’

  ‘C’mon,’ said Hamsa. ‘I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.’

  Eve sighed. ‘Okay, but let me explain it.’ She flicked through a few pages in her book. Maggie and Niki were listening in too. ‘I know we’ll need an app icon, but first I wanted to play around with a theme. We still have loads of packaging at our house from the move, so I tried block-printing with the bubble wrap to show the ocean. It’s probably lame, but there’s something I like about it – maybe it’s the texture or the fact that it’s not symmetrical.’

  ‘And being made from plastic is a perfect tie-in,’ added Hamsa.

  ‘It’s not finished yet, and it won’t work as the icon itself, but it could be a background element or something.’

  ‘Wow,’ said Hamsa. ‘How’d you even think of that?’

  Eve pinned back the stray hair from her ponytail with an orange clip. ‘I don’t know. Did I mention it’s not finished?’

  ‘Yes!’ the girls chorused.

  ‘Love it,’ said Niki, inspecting the designs before getting straight back to her tablet. ‘I knew you’d be the perfect hipster.’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Hamsa, playfully pumping her fists in the air. ‘Hipsters to the front.’ She looked over to Maggie, ‘What’s that?’

  ‘It’s a wireframe,’ said Maggie, showing Hamsa her tablet. She had the browser open on a program they were using to plan their app. Other than the tools in the sidebar, the screen looked simple with white boxes that had writing in them.

  Hamsa met Maggie with a blank stare. ‘I have no idea what that is.’

  Maggie cleared her throat. ‘Neither did I until yesterday, but it’s so easy to use.’

  ‘Wireframing is working out what the user will see in the app,’ explained Niki, without breaking from her work. Her fingernails, painted purple, were speedily tapping in the background. ‘You drag and drop those boxes into place so you can work out what goes on each screen.’

  ‘Turns out it’s helpful to look at boxes first to get the user experience right, before we get too hung up on making the design look pretty,’ added Eve.

  ‘Cool,’ said Hamsa. She sat back and crossed her arms in front of her. ‘You’re all so good at this.’

  ‘We weren’t when we started,’ said Maggie.

  ‘Well, Niki was,’ said Eve. ‘But Maggie and I had to pick it up.’

  ‘And look at you now!’ said Hamsa. ‘You’re killing it. And then look at me – totally dumb.’

  ‘No, you’re not,’ said Eve.

  ‘Hello!’ said Hamsa. ‘You don’t see me designing icons or building wireframes or doing … whatever it is Niki’s doing. It’s like you don’t even need me in the team. I’m one of those silly outsider things like on Maggie’s PB&J graph.’

  ‘An outlier?’ asked Maggie. ‘You’re not an outlier.’

  Hamsa pulled the cuffs of her jumper up over her hands. She felt the same way about Zoe’s group too. It was like they didn’t even miss her when she was gone.

  ‘Maggie’s right,’ said Eve. ‘You’re one hundred per cent part of the team. You were the one who made the whiteboard at my house and got our ideas started. You’re the one who’s checking in and making sure we’re all on track. And you’re the one who’s going to present this awesome idea at the Halfway Hack tomorrow and get everyone as excited about it as we are.’

  ‘Here,’ said Maggie. She ripped a few pages out of her notepad and handed them to Hamsa along with a pen. ‘Work on the pitch.’

  ‘What’s the point?’ huffed Hamsa. ‘I’m going to be rubbish.’

  ‘Imagine if it were me pitching,’ said Maggie. ‘I’d freeze. You’ll be awesome though.’

  ‘Hate to admit this, but they’re right,’ said Niki, breaking from her work for a moment to look at Hamsa. ‘I never thought I’d be invit
ing you to talk more than you already do, but you’re good at it. You’ve got this energy that none of us have.’

  ‘Really?’ said Hamsa. She couldn’t remember the last time someone told her she was good at something. ‘I have ideas sometimes, and my mind goes crazy fast and my friends look at me like I’m a hornless unicorn.’

  ‘You shouldn’t put up with that,’ said Niki. ‘If you like doing this stuff, who cares what your friends think?’

  Hamsa shrugged. She knew she shouldn’t, but deep down she really did worry about what they thought. Would they still want to be friends with her if they were into totally different things?

  The rest of lunchtime flew past with the girls working hard, stopping along the way to share their progress, ask questions and debate who had the best taste in music. The more time Hamsa spent with these girls, the more relaxed she felt. She even forgot that she was supposed to be hiding from her friends.

  Eve checked her watch and closed her notebook. ‘I’ll scan these into the computer when I get home and play around with some fonts and wording. Which reminds me. We need a name before tomorrow!’

  Music started belting out across the speakers, signalling the end of lunchtime.

  ‘No,’ groaned Hamsa. ‘I want to stay here forever.’

  Niki buried her head even further in her tablet. ‘I’m not moving until I crack this bug.’

  ‘What about the name Plastick?’ suggested Maggie as she packed away her things. ‘As in, PlasTICK.’ She drew a tick in the air with her finger.

  ‘That works,’ said Hamsa. ‘After all, it is about reducing plastic use and rewarding yourself for doing it. Good one, Maggie. I reckon that’s –’

  Hamsa stopped short, her mouth went dry. On the other side of the playground, she saw Zoe, followed by the rest of her friends.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Eve, looking over.

  ‘Nothing, I’ll catch you in class,’ said Hamsa. She grabbed her notes and hurried away, leaving her team and the best lunchbreak she’d had in ages firmly behind her.

  Later in class, Hamsa was sitting with Eve, Zoe and her friends. She peered over to see Eve putting the finishing touches on the popcorn box she was drawing. The box was overflowing, with popcorn spilling out all over the page.

  Hamsa wrote her a note and passed it to her under the table. Eve opened it and smiled when she saw it said: Popcorn? Yum! She scribbled something back and handed it to Hamsa.

  Caramel popcorn! I ate this all the time with my friends in the States. Miss it so much .

  Hamsa smiled at Eve, wishing there was something she could do to help her friend feel less homesick.

  ‘Wow,’ whispered Zoe, leaning over and pointing at Eve’s sketches. ‘Is there anything you’re not good at?’

  Eve blushed, covering up her book.

  ‘I told you,’ said Hamsa with a wink. ‘Hipsters to the front.’

  ‘What’s that mean?’ asked Zoe.

  Ms Atlas looked over with her eyebrows raised in a start-listening-or-I’ll-separate-you way. Hamsa was grateful for the distraction, worried that Zoe would think their Hackathon team was stupid.

  After wrapping up the history lesson, Ms Atlas gave them a two-minute brain break.

  ‘Is your team ready for the Halfway Hack tomorrow?’ asked Zoe.

  ‘I think so,’ said Hamsa.

  Wai-Ling huffed and plonked her elbows on the table. ‘This project is so dumb.’

  ‘We’re enjoying it,’ said Eve, looking at Hamsa to back her up. Hamsa busied herself with her pencil case, pretending not to hear.

  ‘Our team still haven’t chosen an idea,’ said Zoe. ‘You have such an unfair advantage.’

  ‘How’s that?’ asked Eve.

  ‘Because you’ve got mega-geeks in your team,’ said Zoe.

  ‘I’m not a geek!’ said Hamsa quickly.

  ‘Not you,’ clarified Zoe. ‘I mean Niki and Maggie. At least finishing the project is one plus side for hanging out with people that LOVE computers so much.’

  Eve looked at Hamsa, like she was waiting for her to stick up for the girls.

  ‘Yeah, it was helpful, I guess,’ said Hamsa, avoiding Eve’s gaze. ‘We’ve got this idea about plastic use.’

  As Hamsa rabbited on about their startup, Eve went back to drawing. She looked angry, and was shading with such force Hamsa was sure the pencil would snap in half. She saw Maggie and Niki sitting together on the other side of the room. Of course they weren’t geeks, and of course Hamsa wished she had the guts to tell Zoe how great they were. But if Zoe knew how happy she was around those girls, would she even want to be friends anymore?

  When the bell rang for the end of the day, Eve couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Hamsa followed, pulling her aside in the corridor.

  ‘Sorry, about before,’ said Hamsa, nervously shifting from one foot to the other.

  ‘You really threw Niki and Maggie under the bus. I don’t get it,’ said Eve. ‘You’re a totally different person around Zoe’s group.’

  Hamsa couldn’t look Eve in the eye. ‘I know. But they’re my friends. It’s hard to speak up to them.’

  ‘I thought Maggie and Niki were your friends too?’ said Eve.

  ‘They are,’ mumbled Hamsa. ‘I mean, I never used to think so, but I guess they are now.’

  Eve slung her schoolbag over her shoulder. ‘Anyway, do you need help with the pitch before the Halfway Hack tomorrow?’

  ‘No, I’ll be right. I can practise with my parents tonight. My mum’s pretty excited about the Hackathon.’

  ‘You never mentioned your mum’s job until today,’ said Eve.

  ‘Because it’s boring and geeky and probably involves being smart and staring at a computer all day and I’m not like that. I bet your mum is way cooler and …’ Hamsa trailed off, realising she’d never asked Eve about her mum. ‘Sorry. You don’t talk about her ever.’

  ‘She passed away,’ said Eve.

  Hamsa’s heart sank. ‘Oh, Eve, I’m so sorry.’

  ‘It’s okay. I was really little.’ She quickly changed the subject. ‘I’m glad your mum can help. Sing out if you need anything.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Hamsa. ‘And, Eve … please don’t tell the others what happened with Zoe.’

  Eve paused a moment, before shrugging. ‘Fine, whatever.’

  As Eve walked away, Hamsa felt relieved, although she didn’t feel any less guilty for how she’d treated Maggie and Niki.

  ‘You coming?’ Zoe called out.

  Hamsa nodded, remembering that they’d planned to walk home together. She grabbed her backpack and raced to catch up. But as she left school behind, she couldn’t shake the icky feeling that she’d let her Hackathon group down.

  ‘Who’s going first?’ called Ms Atlas. Hands shot up across the classroom.

  Ms Atlas had come in early from lunch, pushing all the tables to the back of the room and arranging rows of chairs. She’d set up a microphone at the front near the screen and had streamers of 1s and 0s hanging above their makeshift stage. She’d told the class that the numbers were binary code, like the code that was used in computers.

  ‘Ezra, up you come,’ said Ms Atlas.

  The class cheered as Ezra stood at the microphone with his hackers and hipster standing at the other side of the screen. One of them had a tablet, ready to click through the slides they’d prepared. Hamsa watched them closely, grateful that her team wasn’t the first to pitch.

  ‘Before we start,’ said Ms Atlas, ‘remember that we’re only halfway. Your startup won’t be perfect or finished, and that’s okay. We have our workplace excursion tomorrow, which I know you’ll learn heaps from. Today is all about giving each other a high five and practising a pitch before we do the real deal next week. Good luck, and may the force be with you.’

  Ezra cleared his throat as the class fell silent. ‘Um, so, do I just read through the slides?’ he asked with a wobble in his voice. He pointed at the screen beside him with their title slide for TALKthING.


  ‘You could,’ said Ms Atlas warmly, ‘but a pitch is about getting people excited about your idea, so try having a little fun with it.’

  Ezra nodded, taking her advice on board. He steeled himself, then looked out at his classmates. ‘Newwwww phut. Kanamu-do yakeeeee,’ he said in a deadpan voice.

  Not a single person moved.

  ‘Weeeyeky, ieo ioe needle needle noodle.’

  ‘What the?’ said Hamsa. She heard sniggers coming from the back of the classroom, but she was too intrigued to take notice.

  ‘I guess you’re wondering what I’m on about,’ said Ezra.

  The class nodded. Ezra waved at one of his teammates, who flicked through to the next slide, showing the ‘What, Who, Why’ for their idea.

  ‘Our startup is an online language generator, something that helps you create new languages for every prehistoric beast, futuristic creature or mythical “thing” under the sun. Like dragons, for example. Or cybots.’

  ‘Dragons can’t talk,’ said Sal, smirking.

  ‘Says who?’ Niki looked at Sal with her eyebrows raised. Sal glared back.

  ‘Niki’s right. We don’t know that they talk, but imagine if they did. And imagine if you knew how to talk back. That’s what TALKthING can do,’ said Ezra. ‘You simply enter your creature type, the sentence you want to say, and the generator spits out the translation.’

  Hamsa’s eyes sparkled, thinking of the possibilities and who she’d like to chat to.

  ‘I love it,’ said Ms Atlas. ‘How are the hackers going?’

  ‘Lucy has done loads of research on how to make this work. We’ll use an online template to build the website, then add a plug-in that randomly generates different strings of letters depending on what creature type you’ve entered. Over time, this will create a dictionary of the translations generated.’

  ‘Is he talking dragon again?’ whispered Hamsa. ‘I have no idea what any of that means.’

  ‘Me neither,’ said Eve.

  ‘I get it,’ said Niki. ‘It’s actually really easy to make.’ Her hand shot up. ‘Have you thought about adding a voice command so you can hear the pronunciation? There’s a plug-in – I’ll show you how to install it.’