Just to Feel | Complete

Chapter 29

Arielle and I have been at our desks since early this morning. Double and triple checking our assignments before handing them in. "I can't believe that this is the last assignment before it's all over", Arielle says as she nervously covers her eyes with her hands, "this is crazy!"

Her exaggerated nervousness somehow calms me. I push my chair away from my workstation, as I roll over to hers. "Did you honestly give it your all?" I ask her as I hold her hands. She nods a reply. "Then that's all that you can do, my friend. We need to do all that we can do and then wait for the final outcome. I wonder who will make the final decision? Will it be Dawn or Mr. Kepler? I heard that the selected intern will become a full-time member of Dawn's team. There's apparently a new magazine that they want to launch and the selected intern will be working with the new team. I really think that you stand a great chance of getting the final position, Arielle. Your work is impressive and faultless. It also helps that you worked on your school newspaper as the editor. My money is on you being chosen as the final intern." Even though I want the final position more than anything, I know that Arielle stands a better chance. Journalism runs in her family, and it shows in her methodical research and vast knowledge of the publishing industry.

"Thank you for the kind words, Mia, but there's something I need to tell you." Arielle looks around, grabs me by the hand and leads me to a quiet spot where we won't be disturbed. My eyes are burning a hole in her as I wait for her to tell me her important news. Noticing my look, she holds up her hands in protest and says, "Okay, I'll spill the beans! I'm withdrawing from the running for the final intern position." I'm shocked as the words leave her mouth, but more so because she doesn't seem sad about the bomb she just dropped on me.

"I don't understand. I thought you loved it here and wanted to stay." I'm so confused right now. This isn't making any sense. Why would she do this?

Arielle takes a nervous breath. "I'm not leaving the company. I just won't be an intern on the journalism side." Now I'm completely confused. What is she talking about? "I wish you could see your face right now, Mia. You must be thinking that I'm cuckoo to want to walk away from this opportunity, but I'm not walking away from this opportunity... I'm walking towards a better one. I haven't told you this, but my real passion lies in illustration. When I applied for the intern position, I also applied for a full time Illustrator vacancy here at Kepler Publishing House... and... I got it, Mia! I've been offered the Illustrator position and I just met with HR to inform them that I'm accepting." Arielle's face is beaming. I've never seen her this excited or happy.

"Wow, I'm so surprised! For once I don't know what to say." Arielle lunges towards me, wrapping her arms around me. "I'm so happy for you. I'm not sure why you didn't tell me about the Illustrator position before, but I can see that you're extremely excited about getting it." She's beaming as we pull out of our hug. It's good to see her so overjoyed.

"I was scared to tell you for in case I didn't get it. I didn't want to be embarrassed." She smiles as she takes my hand and pulls me back to our work area. We arrive back just in time to see Dawn and Mr. Kepler call the interns into the boardroom for a meeting.

As we follow Dawn and Mr. Kepler into the boardroom, I immediately think of lambs being led to slaughter. Is this really it? Are we about to find out who they've chosen? Dawn and Mr. Kepler stand patiently at the front of the boardroom, waiting for us as we all take our seats, and await the reason for this meeting being called.

"Hello, everyone", Mr. Kepler says with a big smile on his face. "Goodness, what an incredible few months we've had together. We would firstly like to congratulate Arielle Hurst, who has accepted a position in our illustration team here at Kepler Publishing House. We know that she is going to be a wonderful addition to our team. She is therefore no longer in the running for the intern position." Arielle blushes when her name is mentioned, and shyly look down at her hands nervously folded in her lap. Mr. Kepler's phone rings and he and Dawn leave the room.

We wait for them to return as James, who's sitting next to me, leans over and whispers in my ear, "They fired Dylan this morning. One of the modeling agencies opened a case of indecent exposure and rape against him. He was apparently caught with one of the under-aged models in the casting room... by her father of all people! The casting director found the father beating Dylan senseless and was able to eventually pull the father off of him. To make matters worse, it looks like it's also not the first time Dylan's done this. There will most probably be more than one charge opened against him as more and more models are coming forward with complaints. What a piece of garbage! He's lucky I didn't get my hands on him. He's lucky he didn't hurt someone I know or care about..." James shakes his head as he bangs on the table. James is speaking so loudly that all the interns have heard what he has to say. Arielle opens her mouth to respond to this revelation when Dawn and Mr. Kepler return.

"Apology for the disruption", Mr. Kepler says as I notice a flash of anger on his face. "There are now only four of you left in the running, as Dylan has also been ruled out." Looking around the room I see stunned looks on the faces of the interns. None of us saw this coming. Well, at least our odds just got better.

"The remaining four of you have not made our job in selecting only one of you easy at all." Dawn beams with pride as she addresses the remaining four of us. "I've spent all morning reading and rereading all story submissions you submitted during your internship. After doing so, I realised that there is one of you who stands out a little bit more than the rest of you. This person shows extreme promise for an amazing future here at Kepler Publishing House, and we would be foolish not to offer this person the final position."

I quickly glance around the room and see Mary's chest puff out a bit, Harry stretches his legs as if ready to stand up, and James leaning back in his chair.

The next thing I know, everyone is clapping...