Once classes were over for both us, we headed back to the campus bus and back to our apartment. Luckily, Elizabeth's father was the overprotective type and seeing that his little girl and her best friend was going to the same school, he generously placed us in one of his apartment complexes. Let's just say that Elizabeth was from a significantly well off family. And they were like parents to me, since from the time I could remember, I was constantly being moved in the orphanage system. Until my 18th birthday, I was to live with a stranger's family but when I turned 18, I permanently severed ties with the orphanage system and I haven't looked back since.
Elizabeth's family, despite their wealthy exterior, didn't care if I had no parents or other family because they considered me as a daughter and treated me as such. I would always be included in family dinners and vacations, and it was a plus since Elizabeth and I were close by friendship anyways.
"I am beat," I mutter, flinging myself on the nearest couch.
"Not yet, you're not. We have to apply for the internship," Elizabeth reminds me, "According to the flyer, it ends in five days."
"Why so short?" I question, "Other internships give you at least a month or so."
"I assume it's because the internship is in-school, and so it shortens the time the students have to apply. There are, after all, a limitation on how many students can attend this school and who are freshmen," she replies, opening the website on her laptop.
"Ah, here it is. I'll do mine first, and tell you what questions to prepare for, okay?" she says, and I nod.
"This is sure one brief application," she says, scrunching her eyebrows.
"What's wrong with it? Is it broken?" I say, yawning.
"No, but it only has a few questions and that's it, you just hit submit and you're done," she says.
"My kind of application huh?" I say, "Easy and quick."
"Here, your turn," she says, handing me her laptop. I sit up to take it, before clicking to form a new application.
Okay, so the usual suspects were there like name, grade, expected graduation date, interested major, and current address from where you attend college. Then, came the really interesting questions like what are your hobbies, something unexplainable that happened in one's life, and a fond memory. "Interesting questions right?" Elizabeth says.
I nod, "Yeah, really weird."
For hobbies, I said I liked to watch movies, play phone games, listen to good music, and to read. For something unexplainable in one's life, I wrote about the time I thought I set a tissue on fire, but it turns out I didn't and that I must've dreamt it. For a fond memory, I recalled the time I signed the contract to permanently remove myself from the orphanage list and ultimately left that miserable hell hole. Then, I skimmed over my words and hit submit.
"Done?" Elizabeth says, and I nod, handing her computer.
"Guess, we just have to wait," she adds, "On that note, I'll start to prepare dinner."
"But it's 4' o clock," I say, confused.
"Exactly," she says, winking and heading to the kitchen.
I give her retreating back a confused look and decided to get some homework done, which was usually pretty easy if I remembered what the professor talked about. I simply had to insert the answers. This was a weird talent I had, that I could remember what my teachers said and so the tests and homework weren't that difficult since it seemed like I already knew how to do them all. This helped me a lot since I became an anime addict during the late years of middle school and so with my free time, I was a brilliant binger.
After half an hour of completing my assignments, I decided it was time for a lengthy break and took out my laptop. A lot of the stuff that I owned were mostly gifts from Elizabeth's family but last summer, I got a job at a local firm and was able to save enough to buy this laptop for myself. I was very proud of that fact.
Turning on the popular anime, Seven Deadly Sins, I began to rewatch season 1 again until the new season comes out in the fall. I was so excited. "Is that Seven Deadly Sins again?' Elizabeth comments from the kitchen.
"Yep," I reply, mumbling to the theme song.
"How many times have you watched that?" she says.
"Dunno, I forget," I reply.
"You're obsessed," she remarks.
"Sure I am, but you obsess over King and Meliodas, so who's really obsessed?" I say, and she replies with a 'shut up.'
I laugh at her response. It was nearly three weeks ago when I walked into her room and she was trying to hide posters of King and Meliodas from the Seven Deadly Sins anime. Elizabeth might be making fun of me, but it was no doubt she was an otaku fan.
A new email pops up from the corner of my screen and I stop to look at it. It was from the official school email address. It was regarding the internship, apparently, the first round of group interviews were already created, with Elizabeth and I in the first group. "Hey, Liz, we're in the interview round," I tell her, reading her the email from the school.
"Well, damn, that was fast. We submitted it like three hours ago," she says, "And the interview is the day after tomorrow, what an efficient internship committee."
"Yeah."
-
The next day passed as quick as summer vacation, and soon it was the night before the group interview. Apparently, Liz was first and then me. We were supposed to go into some shady room where the "scout group" was equipped with more interesting questions more likely.
"I'm so nervous," Liz says, grabbing onto my arm for the umpteenth time of the day.
"You'll do fine," I encourage her, "Just answer how you like. And make eye contact, add a smile every few words."
"I know that, but I'm still freaking out," she insists, wiping her sweaty palms on her pants, "Is my outfit okay?"
I look at her clean silk shirt, professional pants, and brand new black flats. I nod, "Yep, you really took the dress code seriously, even though it was business casual."
A lady came over to us, cutting into our conversation as she ushered Liz away. "Good luck," I mouthed to her, as she nodded unsteadily.
"Hey, are you excited?" A tap on my shoulder made me turn around to see one of the girls from the other day, one of the gossip girls.
"Not particularly, I just want it to be over," I say, shrugging.
"Hey, where's your spirit? This internship is going to change our lives," she says with excitement, "And if the presenters like last time is the quality of guys in the academy, then my life is complete!"
I smile at that, "So what was your reason for joining?"
"Oh you know, to help people and all that," she says, smiling uncertainly.
"Sure," I say, plainly.
It was mostly clear that she was here for the guys, it seemed like nobody knew what the actual goal of the internship was. Most internships were all about helping society and saving people, but there were specific like to help the environment or to help wildlife. However, from the lecture from yesterday, it seemed like the internship was based on disproving or proving myth which had no correlation to "helping" society.
I sigh, and this is what Liz calls "spiraling." My thoughts take over and I overthink and complicate things, she really hates it when I do it to her food when I'm trying to figure the ingredients she uses.
"Next, Mila Ellis, please report to the front," some lady on the speaker called out.
"Good luck," the girl I was talking about called out as I walked away.
I head to the front to see the lady who dragged Liz away. Her pissed off expression told me she really loved her job, and she gripped my shoulder in a tight grip. "You, Mila Ellis?" she asks gruffly.
I nod, and she drags me to a metallic door. And we wait until that door opens and out comes Liz, she looked a bit happy with her performance. She gave me a wave for good luck until I was shoved into the room. Immediately, I tensed up as I realized the room was completely empty, but I felt like there were people there and their stare was making me uncomfortable. You know that feeling when you think you're alone, but you feel like someone was staring at you, even though nobody was physically there? Yeah, that was what I was feeling currently.
"Hello?" I say, walking to the center of the room, where there was a lone chair with a bottle of water.
"Hello, Ms. Ellis, please take a seat. You are welcome to take the water bottle on your way out," a disembodied voice said from a speaker that I could not see in the room.
"Um, okay," I mutter, taking a seat, "Are you gonna come out?"
"No, Ms. Ellis, it's best we keep anonymous or else you may alter the truth," the voice explained.
"What do you mean by that?" I say, "you mean I might lie if I see you face to face, like a typical interview?"
The voice chuckles, which sounds a bit sinister since there was nobody to focus my eyes on to see where that sound was coming from. "We will ask a series of questions and you will answer, and then you may leave after. Is that clear, Ms. Ellis? Any questions so far?" the voice explains.
"Um, wasn't this supposed to be a 'group' interview? So, why am I the only one here in this room?" I say, getting a bit irritated at the fact that I felt like a specimen under a petri dish.
"Correct, how inquisitive you are, Ms. Ellis," the voice says.
A trickle of sweat dripped down my back, "Are you by chance Erik from the other day?"
Silence for a couple of seconds before the voice chuckles, "You truly are very perceptive, my dear."
"And you are truly are creepy," I mutter under my breath.
"What was that, my dear?" A hint of irritation coated his voice but faded back into professionalism.
"Nothing," I say too quickly, "Can we go on with the interview then? The setup is starting to make me uncomfortable."
"Of course, my dear," the voice says, all cheerful again, "Now, tell us about yourself."
"Well, I'm an orphan. I don't remember much of my childhood," I say, "I have a best friend, whose family treats me like a second daughter. That's about it, I guess."
"I see," Erik says, "And who did you say was your best friend?"
"Elizabeth Saunders," I say.
"Oh, the previous applicant, am I correct?"
"You are."
"To be frank, I didn't expect you to apply after you boldly claimed that you would not," Erik muses, "Why apply then?"
"With some encouragement from Liz, I mean Elizabeth, she helped me look on the positives of taking on the internship as an opportunity to explore something new," I say, "Also, I'm extremely interested about the Elder Library since I am an avid reader. Along with the unique food items in the academy's cafeteria, I think that allowed me to see how much of a once in a lifetime opportunity the internship really is."
"Noted," Erik says, "what do you think you will do if you get accepted?"
"I think I might visit the Elder Library, as I said before," I answer truthfully, "there are books that I'm sure aren't available in the school library."
"And the classes, have you taken a look at them?"
"I haven't," I say, "But if they are the Santa one, they are bound to be interesting."
"Great, any questions for us," Erik concludes.
"Actually, yes. What were the goals of the internship?" I say, "It was a bit vague last time."
"Vague?" he says, surprised, "Why it's to help society and the people in it."
"In what aspect? Environmental concerns? Disease? Long term sustainability?" I question, "because although the myth and reality concept is interesting, how can it help society?"
"I see your concern, but to be clear, there is a relationship. Though you might not see it, if you're accepted you will soon understand what we meant," he responds, "Ah, and there goes our time limit. Be sure to monitor your email for results. Thank you for coming, Ms. Ellis."
"Sure," I say, filled with more questions. Did he just cut me off?
I walked out of the door, feeling the stares of the other applicants as I made my way to a certain blonde.
"How'd it go?" Liz asked, handing me a bottle of iced green tea.
"It was so weird," I say truthfully, "Their questions have nothing to do with our capabilities but were like what we would do with the internship and stuff like that."
"Really? Those questions seemed normal to me, but the setting was a bit odd," she says, "It was just a chair and some random voice."
"Yeah, that was beyond strange," I say.
I sigh, "Well, that's over. We just have to wait. Did your interview, if we can even call it that, go smoothly?"
"I think so," she shrugs, "It seemed my responses were pretty decent."
"Shall we skip class, and get some lunch instead?" she suggests, and I agree. It was more than likely many freshman classes were going to be canceled because of the interviews regardless.
As we left the campus, I couldn't help but be wary of the growing uneasiness in my stomach. It felt like something was going to happen, whether it be bad or good, I couldn't really tell.