The Guessing Game

The Nomination

Marnay walked briskly down the pathway known as Loverslane on Campus of North West University.

Her favourite bulky red Coca-Cola sweater kept her cosy in the morning breeze and the unruly wind played with her sleek, darkbrown hair.

Today she'd paired the sweater with frayed shorts and white Supergas.
Her best friend, Leah, always said that Marnays' laid back style was a good indicator of her personality.

She pushed her phone back into her pocket and trained her Hazel-brown eyes straight ahead as she strode through the streams of students toward the Studio of Campus Radio.
Having worked there as a presenter for the last two and a half years, she could almost navigate to the studio with her eyes closed.

She had just received a message from The production Manager - It simply stated that they needed her to drop by the studio ASAP. No further explanation.

She was slightly more excited than worried. The last time he had been so cryptic, he announced to her that she was lined up to interview SpitFire - one of the hottest new bands in SA just before the South African Music awards last year.
She had been surprised to learn that two of their band members attended NWU and they were apparently fans of her morning show.

She secretly hoped that this would be a follow up interview with them, because she was admittedly a big fan of theirs.
Of coarse this excitement had absolutely nothing to do with their drummer's gorgeous blue eyes or breathtaking smile, she tried to rationalise.
"He seemed uninterested and rude anyway." She grumbled to herself as she stepped through the studio doors. Suddenly more nervous than excited.

"Hi, Marnay!" Pieter Geduld, the producer looked up from his desk when she strode into his office. His brown eyes sparkling over his small round glasses. She couldn't help but notice how similar he looked to Denzel Washington with his neat blazer and fitted t-shirt combo. "Come and have a seat. I have something that I need to talk to you about."

"Hi, Pete. What's with the secrecy? Have you got another celeb for me to interview?" she asked.
Her voice sounding much more self-assured than she felt as she took a seat across from him at his desk.

"Well, yes, but I'll have to get back to you on that because it's not the biggest thing on our agenda right now." Pieter said as he put a small stack of papers on the desk in front of her. "Have a quick look at that." he said sitting back in his seat with a blank expression on his face.

"Wow, I'd hate to play cards against you with that pokerface... Should I be nervous?" She asked as she picked the stack of papers up and looked it over.
The letterhead read Liberty Media Awards.

"You could be, but I'd say you should much rather be proud." he said breaking into a smile just as her name on the bottom of one of the pages caught her eye.

NOMINEES: BRIGHT STAR OF THE YEAR she read the title of that paragraph and then saw that her name and the name of her show was also listed under NOMINEES: BEST DAYTIME CAMPUS SHOW on the next page.

"Are you serious?!" she gasped and looked up to find Pieter grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Congratulations, Marnay! You are our first presenter to be nominated in two LMA categories. I am very proud of you." he stood up and held out his hand for her to shake.

As she got up and reached her hand out, she noticed another familiar name on the list. " Hey, if Alumni counts, then we have a previous NWU presenter who also has two nominations." she said pointing at the list with her other hand. Her previous mentors' name was printed in bold.

"Well what do you know, you're right!" Pieter said.
"I'll send a message with our congratulations to Themba now. I've always said that you two are going to do big things." Pieter smiled again as he handed her a silver envelope that had her name on it in large, black cursive letters.

"This is your formal invitation to the Awards Ceremony. Have fun and make us proud." With that he turned to his computer again, ruffled his hand through his dark curly hair and started typing.

Glancing over at her again, he said: "I'll send you and email about when we'll be discussing the celeb interviews. Enjoy the rest of the day. "

Stepping out of the studio she felt like her mind was still reeling as she walked towards her first class of the day. She still had a few minutes before class started so she dialed her Mom's number as she stroled at a leisurely pace.

Her parents ran a large recording company and were very involved in several fundraising programs for children with disabilities meaning that they were almost always busy, but since she was an only child they always made time to answer her calls.

Once she found a seat at one of the tables in class with her Ipad ready to take notes, Marnay grabbed her phone and typed a quick message to Leah. The two of them shared an apartment, but studied different majors so they didn't see each other on campus often.

Marnay: "Coffee at our usual booth during lunch?"

Leah: "You know I'd never say no to a coffee! ;)"

The reply came almost instantly.

Marnay: "Great! See you then, enjoy class. X"

Leah: "Thanks, you too! X"

After class, Marnay had dance team practice. She was part of the modern dance club on campus and they normally danced for big events or concerts on campus. This would sometimes prove tricky when she was dancing and reporting for the radio station at events, but so far she was able to manage the balancing act.

They've just started practicing a new routine today for an opening to the Varsity Cup Finals.

She loved dancing so much.
It was the best feeling in the world when you know that you just smashed a really difficult routine. As she walked out of the gym, she could feel her muscles starting to ache. Luckily she wasn't scheduled for another class until after lunch, so she could go home and shower before then.

**This an original work of fiction. Characters and events in this fictional work are set within their own context and any similarities to reality unless specifically credited are purely coincidental. This literary work, plotline and characters are protected under Copyright.**

A/N:
Hey lovelies!
I'd love to get some feedback so please tap that little star if you like this story or tell me what you think by commenting below?
Many thanks!

Belle