MAYA’S COUNSEL

Two days. Anya had survived two full days of knowing the secret, and she was starting to feel like her brain was splitting in two. By day, she was Sameer's project partner, forcing smiles and making polite conversation about code, all while screaming internally. By night, she was Nyx, staring at a blank screen, the competitive fire in her belly completely extinguished by a flood of confusing emotions. How could she plot the downfall of her rival when he was also the guy she was hoping would ask her to study with him?

The breaking point came on a Wednesday afternoon. She and Sameer were presenting a progress report to Professor Verma. Sameer, in his usual quiet way, was brilliantly explaining their complex data structure. As he spoke, he unconsciously picked up a pen and started doodling on his notepad.

He drew a small rocket ship.

Anya felt the air leave her lungs. He was doing it right there, right in front of her. It wasn't just a one-time thing; it was his signature, his tell. The professor was nodding, impressed, while Anya was having a full-blown existential crisis. The urge to stand up and shout, "He's Zero!" was so overwhelming she had to dig her nails into her palm.

She barely made it through the rest of the meeting. The moment they were dismissed, she practically ran back to the dorm, bursting through the door like a hurricane. Maya was sitting on her bed, headphones on, completely absorbed in a game.

Anya didn't say a word. She just walked over to where the grey hoodie lay in a heap, picked it up, and threw it at her own bed with a cry of pure, unadulterated frustration.

Anya: "Arrrgh!"

Maya ripped her headphones off, startled. "Whoa! Hostile much? Did the hoodie look at you funny?"

Anya: (pacing back and forth) "It's not the hoodie! It's the person who wears the hoodie! It's the person who doodles rocket ships and beats me in national competitions and then asks me if I've seen the latest episode of Starlight Odyssey!"

The words came tumbling out, a frantic, nonsensical rush. Maya just blinked, her expression unreadable.

Anya: "You're not going to believe this. You are going to think I have completely lost my mind." She stopped pacing and faced her friend, her eyes wide with a mixture of panic and despair. "Sameer is Zero."

She waited for the explosion. The gasp, the shock, the denial. Instead, Maya just looked at her calmly, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Maya: "Yeah. I know."

Anya's brain, already overloaded, came to a screeching halt. "You... what?"

Maya: "I know," she repeated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I've known for weeks. Since the night my laptop died and I borrowed his."

Anya: (sputtering) "You knew? You've known this whole time? You watched me agonize, you watched him give me his hoodie, you watched us at the competition, and you didn't say anything?!"

Maya: "And interrupt the greatest real-life romantic comedy ever produced?" she said, a grin finally breaking across her face. "No way! Anya, this is television-level drama! The nerdy girl falls for the quiet genius, not knowing he's her sworn online nemesis? I've been eating popcorn and watching this whole thing unfold. It's been amazing."

Anya stared at her, completely dumbfounded. Her own personal crisis was Maya's primetime entertainment.

Anya: "Maya! This isn't funny! This is a disaster! What am I supposed to do?"

Maya's expression softened. She patted the spot on the bed next to her. "Okay, okay, you're right. Sit down." Anya reluctantly sat, and Maya turned to face her, suddenly looking surprisingly wise.

Maya: "Look, you have two options. One: the boring option. You can confront him. You can lay it all out, have a big, dramatic, awkward conversation, and see what happens. There might be tears. There might be yelling. It'll probably be fine in the end, but it's messy."

She held up a finger. "Or... there's option two. The fun option."

Anya: (skeptically) "Which is?"

Maya: "You have all the power right now, Anya. He has no idea you know. You hold all the cards. So, you can use that. You can treat it like the ultimate 'Capture the Flag' game. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out Sameer. Not Zero. Sameer. Why does he hide behind an alias? What's he really like? You get to be the hacker, but this time, you're not trying to beat him. You're trying to understand him."

Anya was silent, the idea slowly sinking in. She had been so focused on the anger and the betrayal that she hadn't considered the possibility of... strategy.

Maya: "Think about it," Maya continued, warming to her subject. "He's not a villain. He's just a quiet guy who happens to be a genius. And you, my friend, have a massive crush on that genius. The rivalry is just a weird, complicated, nerdy part of it. So don't let the hacker you hate ruin the guy you like. Go debug the boy."

The advice was so absurd, and so quintessentially Maya, that Anya couldn't help it. A small, genuine laugh escaped her lips.

Anya: "Debug the boy?"

Maya: "Exactly! It's the most ridiculous romantic problem in history, and you're the only person on earth qualified to solve it."