Saint Palisade's

[ 5 ]

"ALL I'm saying is that it's a little convenient for you to get this internship just when you joined St. Palisade's," Ben's dad brushed the dust off of Ben's white oxford's shoulder.

"Dad. I barely even tried on my application when I went to Branson. You know that." Ben slung his casual tan leather backpack over his right shoulder full of paper and pens.

"But you're making it sound like you had no qualifications. You were in EMT training. You took biochemistry as an elective." Ben's dad argued.

Ben shook his head and grabbed an apple on the way out. "It doesn't matter. I have it now, so I'm happy. And you should be too. Bye, love you." And with that, Ben shut the door and unlocked his dad's beaten-up 2010 Rav-4.

He sighed as he pushed the key into the ignition. He let his head fall against the headrest and gripped the steering wheel. He sighed again and backed out of the driveway with the apple in his mouth, and shifted again to drive to get away from the hellhole he called home.

———

"Veronica White. An honor to have you here." Eric Dilt was visibly scared. He was sitting upright, leaning forward, and awkwardly smiling at Veronica.

Veronica, in contrast, was bored. Her eyes bounced around the room, focusing on things like his dying plant, the photo framed on his bookshelf, and the glass trophy on the far corner of his desk, hidden by his desktop.

"The honor's mine." Her eyes finally met Dilt's.

"You'll be meeting your partner as soon as he gets here, it should be soon. He's quite qualified in his own right. He's a motivated and hard-working student."

Veronica forced a smile. "Partner? I wasn't aware that there would be a partner."

"We figured you would like to have a partner since you're not exactly known for going solo." He answered, hopeful she would react positively.

Veronica sustained the fake smile on her face. "Of course," She said through clenched teeth. She was pretty sure that she felt her under-eye twitch. 

"Mr. Dilt? The other intern is here. Should I bring him in?" Veronica presumed that was his secretary asking him through his telephone.

He pressed a button. "Sure, they should meet before they start working together."

It only took a second before the secretary was knocking on Eric Dilt's door.

Dilt smiled at Veronica before responding. "Come in." His eyes lit up as soon as the door opened.

Dilt stood up to shake the intern's hand. "Mr. Kligg, an honor to meet you. This is your interning partner, Veronica White. Veronica, Benjamin."

Ben looked down and the smile fell from his face. Veronica took a second to recognize that it was the Ben from St. Palisade's and she tried to suppress her eyes widening.

Dilt stood awkwardly as the other two avoided eye contact. "I'm sorry," he forced out a curt laugh, "do you guys know each other?"

Ben tried to gauge whether or not Veronica wanted their acquaintanceship made aware to the CEO. Ben broke his stare. "Uh... no. Not really anyway."

Veronica slowly got out of her chair. "Not super well. But it won't be a problem." She stood at Ben's side, not letting her glance drift from the CEO's eyes. 

Dilt shared an uncomfortable look with his secretary, who had been standing at the doorway the entire time.

He clapped his hands together. "Great! Glad to hear it. My secretary here will show you to your offices and your supervisor for your tenure here. It was an honor to meet the Veronica White." His glance shifted to Ben, who was still awkwardly crouching to accommodate Veronica's arm. "And you too Ben, I'm excited for what you will accomplish here."