The Internship -Justin Bieber-

Chapter 7: The big surprise

Ivory Bell: 

When I came into the studio today, I wasn't expecting a whole bunch of interns to be excitedly seated in one of the conference rooms at the studio. Everyone was buzzing and whispering about the possible reason for Ms Mallette's request to have us all gathered during precious work hours.

I spotted Jonah up at the front of the room with a few other Junior Designers at the studio. He sees me and sends a smile my way as he moves past the group towards me.

"Glad you made it on time, I was worried you might have shown up late or something." 

I shake my head, looking around the room again. I notice Savannah was sat all the way in the front, her back straight as she kept her eyes on the front with a few of the other interns around her whispering in confusion and excitement. They didn't know what this about either, I'm assuming. 

"Care to give me a hint on what this is about?" I question. 

Jonah sends a sly smirk my way, subtly shaking his head no. There's a sort of amused look in his eyes. "My lips are sealed." He pretends to zip his lips, locking it before he threw away the imaginary key. Pouting, I shake my head at him and decide to move aside and find a seat among the crowd of interns. 

After what feels like forever, Ms Mallette emerges to the front, catching everybody's attention. Her presence is so captivating that she doesn't even need to say a word to have the whole crowd give her their attention. 

"Hello, everybody," She seems a little less uptight today. "You all must be wondering why I've arranged for all of you wait for me in here and that is because I have some important and exciting new for you all." Her cool gaze skims across the room, the serious look in her eyes never fading.

"Every year, at the end of internship program, I host a fashion show to discover new designs that I think would be worthy in the upscale world of fashion. The outfits that will be featured in this show will be by all of you, of course. The interns." A large gasp escapes from the crowd. 

I can't believe the words she just uttered. Was this even real? Ms Mallette was going to host a fashion show where we, interns near the bottom of the fashion food chain, would include our own, original designs.

"Of course, there will be a lot of work and long nights ahead of you all. There are also certain rules for this fashion show that must be abided so keep in mind that this is a real event, not some low budget show hosted by your parents. This is real. The press will be there and I will be inviting lots of important people." Ms Mallette continues.

My heart rate quickens. I have to enter. I need to do this.

-

The rules were simple, according to Ms Mallette.

Every intern can enter their designs for the fashion show. These designs have to be original and any signs of copying or stealing designs would result in automatic disqualification. On top of that, she would not bat an eye on retracting our internship. 

Further more, we need to find our own models to represent and wear our clothes, meaning we had to find models that didn't work for Ms Mallette. And finally, our supervisors can't help us with creating the actual design, but we are allowed to ask for opinions. 

The rules seemed fairly simple, I just had to work on finding some models who are willing to walk the runway wearing my designs. Someone asked if we had to hire actual models and Ms Mallette responded that everything mattered for the show, that meant the way the models strut and show off the clothes matters too so unless we want someone tripping and being confused on the run way we should high someone who has experience with the model industry. I mean its not like Marco would walk in a fashion show, but the idea made me laugh. Guess that's not going to happen, luckily for him.

The best part of this whole thing was that the winner of the fashion show wins a week long trip in Milan with Ms Mallette to view the Fall Milan Fashion Week and then to spend the next few months in Paris at her fashion studio down there to be introduced and to work with big named designers. 

She also ensured that the winner would get a good position in the fashion industry and continue  our work in France for the next few months with Ms Mallette herself to help out. This was a big deal to us all. The whole idea was exciting to me for the fact that I've never been outside of the United States. In fact, moving to New York was my first time leaving my home state. 

My mind was already buzzing with ideas for the fashion show. Its planned to take place in late August, which practically gave us little to no time to plan any of this. If I wanted to do this right, I have to start planning right away.

I spent the entire day practically bouncing from one place to another. The whole studio seemed to be buzzing with energy as every intern was excited for this amazing opportunity. 

When I got home, I called Marco right away, demanding that we met up at Marcello's for dinner. This called for burgers and some fries at the best pub ever. I was just too excited for this. I'm finally getting the opportunity to show my designs. The next few months are going to be extra busy.

Marco agrees to meet me at Marcellos. He shows up in his usual orange baseball cap and black jeans. He's wearing a denim jacket over his dark t shirt, but it's his tall height and orange cap that makes him stand out in the crowd.

 My best friend makes a face as he approaches me, as if he's just tasted something sour. "Why are you so happy?" 

I can't hide the big grin on my face. "Because Ms Mallette is hosting a fashion show for all the interns and the winner gets to work on their original designs with other big named designers and you even get a trip to Milan and France." And I've already started to go on a huge ramble, explaining everything to him.

In the middle of it, Marco stands up and walks away which finally brings me to shut up. That is his way of saying "you talk too much and I want food."  He soon returns with two burgers and some curly fries, dropping them right onto the table.

"You done?" He asks. I nod, reaching for a curly fry and he sighs in content before taking a seat. "Good. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you, but you're just too bubbly and you know how I am." He shrugs.

He doesn't need to explain. Marco's grumpy demeanour and occasionally rude manner doesn't faze me. It's just who he is and I understand him, even if it wouldn't seem like it considering how different we are.