Flora’s Guide to a Second Chance at Love and Life

The clacking of keys filled the room, making it sound like she was deep into some intense gaming session. But that was far from the truth...This belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.

Eilies and Cynthia exchanged a look, deciding it was best to keep quiet. Frustrated, they compared Flora's source code with their own and started making revisions. With Flora's code as a guide, they quickly wrapped up the rest of their work.

By 6 p.m., they had sent the completed website to their teacher's email, right on schedule.

Class began at 7:30 p.m. Students trickled into the computer lab. Flora, Eilies, and Cynthia slipped into the last two rows just as the clock struck time, their late arrival leaving them no other choice.

"I've received and reviewed your website assignments. Most of you did pretty well, but Flora's work stood out," Mr. Abbott, the web design instructor, announced as he walked to the front of the room. His voice was calm, giving nothing away: "Flora's project exceeded my expectations. She used advanced techniques that aren't usually in a beginner's toolkit."

The class felt a shift in the atmosphere.

Mr. Abbott pressed on, "Flora, be straight with me. Did you buy this code online?"

His tone was already softer than the frustration he had felt when he first saw the code. Even a junior in computer science might struggle to produce something so polished. Flora, a freshman in the medical faculty who was just starting with DW and hadn't even mastered the basics, seemed an unlikely candidate for such a feat.

The quality of the submissions varied widely, but Flora's was in a league of its own. Mr. Abbott could handle the learning curve, knowing everyone starts somewhere, but he couldn't accept the idea of someone buying their way through.

Flora stood, her gaze unwavering, "I didn't."

"Teacher, you've got it wrong. Flora didn't buy the code! She wrote it herself and even helped Eilies and me with our work!" Cynthia chimed in quickly.

Mr. Abbott's expression softened, "Come up here, Flora."

Flora made her way to the front with a calm demeanor.

"I have a website here that needs designing. All the materials are on the desktop. I'm not asking for perfection, just something decent. If you can do that, it'll prove I was wrong, and I'll apologize." "Don't take my earlier tone to heart," Mr. Abbott added, acknowledging his previous harshness. In hindsight, he realized he had no solid reason to suspect Flora initially. But the sheer excellence of her submission had lit a fire of suspicion and anger he hadn't been able to control.

Flora didn't say a word, taking a seat at the workstation instead. Mr. Abbott stood by, watching closely.

"Why don't we project this on everyone's screen?" someone suggested.

The class quickly agreed, eager to see an expert at work and maybe catch some drama.

With Flora's consent, Mr. Abbott mirrored her screen to all the computers in the lab. Everyone's screen now displayed what Flora was working on.

Flora browsed through the materials, getting a feel for the client's needs, before launching the design software. As she started coding, Mr. Abbott frowned slightly. Normally, you'd outline the whole framework before diving into the code to avoid getting stuck midway.

"Flora, you-" Mr. Abbott began to offer some advice but stopped short, his eyes glued to the screen.