“Oh.”

“And we coders need to stick together. Especially ones with part-time jobs.”

“You’re working too?”

Duh.

“Came in a few days ago and stayed with a friend so I could get in some extra hours before the program starts.”

“And you like it?”

“More and more each day.”

His grin made Delia’s stomach flip. She pushed through the feeling—as she’d learned to do. Delia didn’t date. Too many unknown variables.

Eric’s smile began to fade, and his brow creased. “Oh, hey, hope I didn’t sign up for too many hours and steal them from you.”

It took Delia a moment to understand what he meant. “Oh no, I didn’t apply. I only put in for—” She gestured to the sign above her.

“The Hot Pocket kiosk.”

She nodded.

“You actually applied for the Hot Pocket kiosk? Instead of computer troubleshooting?”

She half nodded, half shrugged. His confusion made perfect sense since the computer kiosk job paid nearly double the Hot Pocket one.

He suddenly started nodding. “You’re one of those.”

“What?”

“Smart-smart. Figure you’ll let your brain rest, is that it?”

Not at all. She didn’t apply because she figured everyone out here would be smart-smarter than her.

“Smart-smart, Delia,” he said again. “Because pea milk lattes may make you think otherwise, but this, this is going to get in-tense.”

*   *   *

Despite its name, the Mountain View campus didn’t have a mountain in sight. The grounds were as flat as the farmlands around Littlewood. Except here there were palm trees. Everywhere. They hardly looked real. They looked like they were from another world. One Delia couldn’t believe she was actually in.

The campus, compact yet filled with green space, revolved around the student center. It was the hub of the Mountain View wheel, with long white stone paths radiating out like spokes. Clearly marked with guideposts, each led to a cluster of buildings surrounding a grassy quad. A simple, easy-to-navigate design that eased Delia’s stress level.

Her and Eric’s shifts ended at the same time, and they walked to the dorms together. They discovered they were both at ValleyStart thanks to the scholarship program, which funded half the cost, had each only signed up for Pulse in the past few months, and shared a love of Python and skepticism for Swift, one of the hot new programming languages used by companies like Airbnb.

Just as they neared the two-tiered terra-cotta fountain in the middle of the grouping of white three-story dorms topped with red tile, Delia’s stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten anything since the fried egg and toast her dad had made her that morning. Time change or not, could it have possibly just been that morning?