Chapter 95: Coding interview

After dinner, Raine and Saoirse were busy cleaning the dishes. Jeffrey finally got started on some of his projects.

In his room were various photos and decorations. Some posters of his favorite anime and cartoons hung on the small as were various souvenirs and trinkets from family vacations.

His computer table was a brown wooden desk, the bulb of the lamp still on. Jeffrey dragged his bag from downstairs placing it at the foot of his bed.

a small calender sat on his desk, as were a few scattered papers, and a notebook. His journal or as his sisters liked to call it a "diary".

Jeffrey didn't write anything to sensitive down, last time he got a notebook with a lock on it his sister's took their hairpins and picked it open.

Jeffrey presumed that after watching a few movies and some books, they had an obsession with picking locks. So although they didn't get as far as picking any door or bike locks, none of the locks in the house were safe.

The bathroom door lock? Raine and Saoirse knew how to unlock it.

The backyard gate lock? They knew to to unlock that as well. Although they usually just hopped over the fence.

Jeffrey's poor diary lock? While they were learning to pick it, they accidently destroyed it learning that sometimes you didn't even need to pick a lock. Learning to dismantle it is just as valid an option to open it. a screwdriver, hammer, and two wrenches later Jeffrey's embarrassing moments were read by Raine and Saoirse.

Now Jeffrey was a lot smarter, instead of using a lock, he hid it in a secret compartment in a place they'd never think to look. A place high up, so it'd be difficult to reach. Inside a book neither of his sisters enjoyed using, a hallowed out math textbook he found lying around at school one day.

Jeffrey's sister's hated math. Unfortunately for Jeffrey, they always learned just enough to annoy Jeffrey.

"Jeffrey you forgot to carry the one", Raine said looking over his homework.

"Jeffrey what happened to x?", Saoirse teased him over a simple algebra problem.

"Hey Jeffrey you don't have to use the quadratic equation, just use...", oh wait that was his Mom.

Thankfully his Dad was just as terrible at math, although that was usually because he was too lazy to do it even though he was an engineer.

"I just let the calculator do it", Jeffrey's Dad explained, "All I need to know is the right equations and how to use it"

As soon as he said that Raine and Saoirse rushed to climb on him as his mom told him not to set a bad example for the kids.

Jeffrey saw some of the things due later in the week and like any responsible student, pushed them to the side and procrastinating them for another day.

Instead, Jeffrey was busy reading the latest book he was interested in "We live in Nanjing", a science fiction author called Heaven's Talismen. His uncle gave it to him as a gift the last time Jeffrey went to visit them.

After finishing the book, Jeffrey started to go over the textbook his Dad had printed from the internet. All along the side were notes of support from his mom in red ink, his Dad chose green to point out some important notes to read.

They were some of his parents old textbooks in college and the time they spend studying together.

His Dad also included a few of his personal drawing, quite a few of them being his mom. Jeffrey quickly flipped passed the pages. Even years and years after they had graduate college, Jeffrey was forced to eat dog food from his parents. Jeffrey had been the third wheel of many relationships, but this was a new low for Jeffrey. It wasn't just his parents, but his parents when they were young taunting him.

Jeffrey took a breath reminding himself of what his grandmother told him as they sat in her garden drinking tea, "life is long. You don't need to rush through life so quickly"

Afterward, Jeffrey's grandpa gave him $20 to buy some snacks for him as his sisters.

Time passed quickly as Jeffrey struggled through the material.

"var x = 0; int i < math.sqrt(t)..."

the text all started to smudge together like a wave of text swimming all over the page.

"Time to take a break", Jeffrey thought to himself.

Jeffrey closed the textbook, "Coding interview for Java 12th edition". Next to it were various drawings and maps of his website development, with various plans and questions to include his friends.