Chapter 9 - Sigma dominates

~Tesla University, women's dorm~

Sarah woke up by her phone beeps. Her application which monitored hacking events was notifying her that one such event was announced.

Excitedly, she grabbed her phone and checked. Company SysTech was organizing a hack event for their new PC Management product, starting at two o'clock that afternoon.

Sarah immediately went online and registered for the event. As usual, she didn't use her real name. She registered under an alias, "Sigma". "Sigma" is alias that Sarah uses when she engages in hacking activities.

She checked details of the event and was pleased that monetary awards are substantial. It's not that she needs the money, but more money means that more prominent online figures will join the event. Ending up as #1 on a list containing all those famous hackers, is a pleasure Sarah can't compare with anything she experienced so far.

Sarah was in good spirits while getting ready and heading to cafeteria for breakfast.

~Tesla University, cafeteria~

Sarah got her breakfast, took a seat at the table in corner of the cafeteria and pulled out her laptop to find out more about the PC Manager product which is the focus of the hacking event that afternoon.

It didn't pass much time, when Sarah noticed two young ladies taking a seat at her table. Sarah raised her head and met their piercing gazes. Sarah was confused, 'Who are these two?'

Seeing that Sarah looks baffled, one of two newcomers spoke, "You are Sarah, right? I'm Mimi, and this is Megan." Mimi was full of herself, and her way of speaking was arrogant.

This didn't mean anything to Sarah. She still looked at them, expecting them to explain why are they invading her personal space while acting hostile? She didn't need to wait long.

"We came to tell you to stay away from Aiden", Mimi continued, "He is definitely out of your league". Megan was nodding in agreement.

Sarah was surprised how straightforward they are. She found the whole situation upsetting and entertaining. Sarah smirked. "Really?"

Mimi's face darkened, "Don't act all high and mighty just because he noticed you. We are watching you. Stay away!".

Sarah chuckled, "Is that all?"

Mimi stood up angrily and gritted through her teeth, "For now!". Mimi walked away and Megan followed, both held their noses high as they almost stomped out of cafeteria.

As much as Sarah has a strong appearance, she does not like this type of drama. Sarah could not help but think, 'Do they really see me as a love rival? I never did anything to show my interest in him. And Aiden definitely does not look interested in me.' Sarah knows that no matter what she says or does, she can't change what Mimi and Meghan think. She decided to ignore them. If they don't attack her, she does not want to concern herself with them.

Sarah was in a bad mood as she headed for her morning lecture.

…

After lecture was done, Sarah rushed to get lunch so that she can get back to her room in time for the event.

~Tesla University, women's dorm~

Just as Sarah entered her room, she got a text message.

[Aiden]: "UI document is updated and waiting for 3 PM."

"Oh, shoots!", Sarah exclaimed when she saw the message. She was so excited about the event that she forgot about her meeting with Aiden that afternoon.

Sarah started typing a response, and then quickly deleted it. 'What should I say?' Part of her wanted to meet with him, but this was an event that she can't miss. She remembered Mimi and Meghan, and that firmed her resolve to cancel her meeting with Aiden.

[Sarah]: "Sorry, sorry… There is an event I can't miss today. We need to reschedule our talk about UI design."

She looked at her phone for few minutes, expecting a response, but nothing came back. It was almost time for the event to start, and Aiden still didn't respond to her text. She decided to focus on the event.

Organizers confirmed the process as: participants find a potential issue with PC Manager and report it. Organizer has a team ready to confirm the issue found. If it's valid, and not duplicate, the participant who found the issue gets an award. The more complex issue found is, bigger is the reward.

List of top 5 contributors will show name (alias) and total amount awarded during the event.

Sarah loves these events. Besides nice money reward, she gets to see her alias "Sigma" as #1. She is very competitive, there is nothing better than being ranked as #1. Even with her studies, as much as she does not care about those score rankings, she always smiles whenever she sees "Sarah Hill" on #1 position.

Event started at 2 PM sharp. Sarah's fingers were flying across the keyboard, it seemed that it was a race between her thoughts and fingers, which one will work faster.

~Tesla University, men's dorm~

Aiden was looking at the message from Sarah where she says that they need to reschedule their talk. He was in a bad mood. 'What event?'

He was thinking of her conversation with Vivian in Café and remembered that there also she talked about the event, and how Omega took over her prize at the last moment. Aiden also participated in an event previous evening, 'If what she said is correct… the one who was in first place until last few minutes of the event was working under alias "Sigma". That means that Sarah is hiding under alias "Sigma"!'

'Is there another event today?', Aiden pulled his laptop and checked current events. He found the event that started at 2 PM that day. It was almost 3 PM, if he joins, the other participants have one hour advantage.

But he wanted to confirm that Sarah is "Sigma". If he finds that "Sigma" is in the event, that will make his assumption carry more weight.

Aiden joined the event and saw that "Sigma" is #1 with a large gap between her and #2. His lips curved into a smile. 'Young lady needs competition… but she has too much of an advantage." Aiden decided to distract her.

~Tesla University, women's dorm~

Sarah is pleased with herself. She is ranked #1 with $2500, while #2 has only $650.

She paused her fingers and stretched her body, before sitting back into the chair to find more issues. 'These old geezers need to crash and burn!' She laughed to herself.

Sarah was distracted by a text message.

[Aiden]: "It's not nice to cancel on such a short notice."

Sarah looked at the time. It was few minutes after three. 'Oh, no!' She thought that Aiden went to the common room and noticed her message only now. She felt guilty.

[Sarah]: "I'm sooo sorry. I texted you earlier. It's not my fault you got to see it only now."

[Aiden]: "If it's something urgent, like canceling on short notice, you should call and not text."

Sarah thought how what he said makes sense. Now she felt even more guilty.

[Sarah]: "Sorry, that is the most I can do, and hope you accept the apology."

[Aiden]: "You should make up for it."

[Sarah]: "How?"

[Aiden]: "Make me an offer."

[Sarah]: "Coffee?"

[Aiden]: "You think that is enough?"

[Sarah]: "What do you want?"

[Aiden]: "What are you willing to offer?"

Sarah was puzzled. 'What does he want?' She wondered, 'Is this flirting?' Sarah was surprised that part of her wished this to be flirting. Sarah was spacing out, lost in her thoughts.

[Aiden]: "The longer you delay with a response, the more my imagination runs wild."

[Sarah]: "How outrageous!"

[Aiden]: "That depends on what you were thinking about…"

Sarah felt that her whole face turned red. His text was definitely suggestive, how come it came back to her? Or maybe she did have some thoughts about him, and that is why she thought that his text was outrageous… Sarah was not sure how long she was dazed, staring at her phone, but when she looked at the PC screen, she saw that she is #1 with $3750. 'One more issue got approved!' she silently celebrated seeing that her reward is increasing. Her face fell when she saw Omega at #2 with $1800.

'You got to be kidding me!' She fumed.

She forgot about her phone and focused back on the event. She can't allow Omega to take over her #1 spot again.

Event ended with current standing of Sigma with $8200 and Omega with $7300.

Now there is half an hour wait until all reported issues are examined, and organizers announce final standings.

Sarah knows that there are three more issues she reported pending confirmation. She is quite confident, despite small gap between her and Omega.