Chapter Two:
The next day started the same as the first. Maya drove to Google, grabbed something to eat, and went to sit in the hall where they would listen for their next instructions. When she got there she found Stuart sitting by the aisle with one leg lying across the seat next to him. Maya walked up to him.
"Hey." Stuart looked up from his phone at her and smiled before letting pulling his leg down and sliding over so she could sit.
"All yours. You look great, by the way." Stuart complimented her. Maya looked away for a second so she wouldn't blush. She wasn't sure why she got so easily flustered whenever he complimented her. She always took it in stride when her past boyfriends called her pretty, even before they were dating. And Stuart was just her friend.
Maya looked down at her outfit. She was wearing a white dress with floral print that ended mid-thigh, a green army jacket that looked almost like a blazer with the sleeves rolled up, and a pair of open toed, peach color wedges that matched the color of some of the flowers on her dress. She only wore two bagless on her left wrist, and a simply tear drop diamond necklace that her father bought her. Her hair was down in loose curls again.
"Thanks. You're looking pretty good yourself." She told him, making Stuart roll his eyes. "I'm serious."
"Yeah, sure. Anyways, I'm pretty sure they're separating us into teams today." Stuart changed the subject. Maya decided to just go along with it.
"Yeah, I figured. I overheard Chetty saying something about the first challenge being today, and those are group things, so..." Maya shrugged before taking a sip of her orange juice.
"I just hope we don't get stuck with those two idiots from yesterday." Stuart said.
"Eh, they'd probably be entertaining." Maya said.
"That's just because you're easily entertained." Stuart said, chuckling when Maya shoved his arm.
"I am not!" She protested.
"Maya you spent a good twenty minutes playing with the propeller on your Noogler hat yesterday, and you wouldn't stop giggling every time I made helicopter sounds. That's something that usually only appeals to infants." Stuart said bluntly. Maya rolled her eyes, but a guy started speaking over the microphone before she could reply.
"Welcome to day two!" The guy called out and the crowd cheered a bit. "My name's Sid, eight year Googler. You guys are new Googlers, thus you're Nooglers!"
"Now it makes sense!" Maya exclaimed while everyone else laughed at the man.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Stuart commented on the title. Maya shrugged before pulling out her phone, Stuart copying her.
"Okay. Now, this place is all about community and collaboration. So you'll be working in teams from here on out." Chetty came up to the guy and yanked the microphone out of his hands.
"You have five minutes. Pick your teams."
Maya simply moved to the side and sat on Stuart's lap without looking up from her phone.
From: Stuart
At 9:03am
Are you claiming me right now?
To: Stuart
At 9:04am
Obviously. I was just gonna put my feet in your lap, but I'm wearing a dress.
"CalTech. Nice. You're with me." Maya looked up from her phone to see a dark skinned guy with a british accent staring at her.
"Excuse me?" She said.
"I said you're with me. Let's go." He demanded. Maya let out a mocking laugh.
"How about you go fuck yourself, curly." Maya snapped before going back to her phone.
"My name is Graham." He told her angrily.
"I really don't care." Maya said bluntly without looking up.
To: Stuart
At 9:05am
What a dick.
From: Stuart
At 9:05am
On the bright side I think you really wounded his ego by brushing him off in front of the little posse he's creating.
To: Stuart
At 9:06am
Good. He would do well with taking it down a notch. Or ten.
"I was voted most likely to succeed out of my chess club." An asian guy was telling Stuart. Stuart looked at him for a second before going back to his phone.
From: Stuart
At 9:09am
These people are ridiculous.
To: Stuart
At 9:10am
Let's not be so quick to judge. Maybe they're just not good with first impressions.
Some guy ran up the steps of the bleachers and began talking loudly to the two old guys from the other day. From what she heard, he was a team manager and he would be in charge of the leftovers, which included her and Stuart.
From: Stuart
At 9:13am
If that guy keeps talking like that I'm gonna hit him.
To: Stuart
At 9:14am
He sounds like such a white boy tryna be gangsta.
Mauya jumped a bit and looked up when the guy yelled, "Let's get a team meeting go everybody! Come on, team meet time! Wonder twin powers activate!"
"You have got to be kidding me." Maya said, staring at the guy in shock as he walked off. Her and Stuart shared a look before she moved off of him and grabbed her bag. They followed the wannabe gangster to his office.
Maya sat on the end so she was resting the side of her body on the cushiony back of the couch and her legs were stretched across the seats, crossed at her ankles. Stuart plopped down by her feet while another girl sat by the computers across the room, the two old guys sat on stools, and the asian guy from before was seated in a normal chair.
"Alright," Their team manager said. "Let's get some Meet and Greet goin' up in this hizzy. I'm Lyle, and it's pretty much WYSIWYG- What you see is what you get. Been here at the Goog for four years. Working on seven projies in esto momento."
"Wow, seven projects." The blonde man said, sounding impressed.
"Hey, they ask I do's it. What can I say, I'm a people pleaser. Especially the ladies, my mercedes!" He said towards the other girl.
From: Stuart
At 9:34am
Is he trying to flirt?
To: Stuart
At 9:34am
God, I hope not. That was pathetic.
"So it's all good in Lyle's hood, ya heard?" Lyle continued.
"Uh, yeah. Is Lyle always gonna be referring to himself in the third person? Because if he is I might wanna punch Lyle in the face." Stuart said, making Maya snort before kicking his thigh.
"Play nice." She reprimanded him. Stuart sighed before going back to his phone, sending her a meme.
"Okay, tough but fair. Good note. Lyle's still a little nervous. Uh, first time manager. Lyle's a first time ma- I'm gonna stop doing it. I'll cut it out. Keep it to first and second person. Who's next?" He called out, taking a seat. The Asian guy stood up.
"My name is Yo-Yo Santos."
"Yo-Yo, how about a high five?" The dark haired man said, raising his hand. Yo-Yo flinched away, making everyone look at him. "Whoa! Easy, buddy. I come in peace."
"Jeez, Yo-Yo, did you get beat up a lot in school?" The blonde one asked.
"I was home-schooled by my mom." Yo-Yo answered.
"Did you get beat up a lot at home-school?" The dark haired guy asked. Maya resisted the urge to throw her heel at him for asking such a personal question.
"Discipline is a very important part of growth. But my mother was actually very nurturing. For example she selflessly provided me the milk of her bosom until I was seven years old." Yo-Yo said.
Maya slowly looked up from her game of Temple Run to stare at him.
"So it's like, uh, you're tying your shoes, you're climbing trees, you're blowing up fireworks, and you're right on mom. You got mouth on mom." The guy said, making a hand gesture as if her was holding a breast.
"Breast feeding leads to a higher IQ." Yo-Yo confirmed, not bothered by our reactions.
"Okay." The guy said, looking ready to change the subject. But his friend decided to comment.
"Actually the science isn't quite definitive on that." Maya quickly searched on Google and didn't even have to look at Stuart to now he was doing the same thing. "I was bottle fed and it never slowed me down. Vitamins are vitamins whether they come from a teat or a baba."
"Wrong." Maya and Stuart said.
"Sorry, what was that?" The blonde asked as they all turned to look at them.
"Wrong. The teat or baba thing, it's wrong." Maya answered.
"We just googled it, so you're wrong." Stuart finished for her. Everyone continued to stare at them. "Oh, yeah. I'm Stuart."
"Maya." She told them, not bothering to look up from her phone as she looked at the website. Lyle waved at them.
"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you, Stewie, M-Dogg. but you can't trust everything you read on the-" The blonde started.
"The Journal of the American Medical Association?" Stuart cut him off. "Sounds pretty trustworthy."
"It says that breast milk has more nutrients and that those nutrients are more easily digested and absorbed." Maya read out loud. "Your confusion's understandable, though. You were bottle fed."
From: Stuart
At 9:48am
And you told me to play nice. ;P
"They're right. That's right." Yo-Yo agreed.
"Oh, guys, where's all of this hostility coming from?" The dark haired guy asked.
"Where do you think it's coming from, you big tree?" Stuart snapped. This time Maya didn't say anything. As entertaining as she found those guys, she was severely annoyed that these two were on her team. Her chances of getting a job were slim to none with those two there. "Two fifths of our team are made up two old guys who don't know shit."
"Wow." The blonde one whispered.
"Okay, guys. I, for one, am very happy to have two strapping, mature gentleman on our team." The girl said, standing up. Maya raised an eyebrow, sharing a look with Stuart.
"Thank you." The blonde said.
"Oh, uh, I'm Neha Patel, and oh my god you guys would make the best Luke and Han."
Maya searched google images for those characters and compared them. Yeah, she could sort of see it. A little bit. If she squinted.
"Excuse me?" The blonde said, confused.
"Oh, Star Wars cosplay." Neha explained.
"Cosplay?" He repeated, still lost.
"Cosplay." Neha repeated. "Costume play. You know, where people dress up as their favorite anime or movie character. I'd be slave girl Leia. Yeah. Metal bikini top, metal G-string panty, high heeled leather boots. Of course I'm chained at the neck. Not too constricted, but just enough to make things interesting." Neha spoke in a low voice. Everyone stared at her.
"The neck constriction is interesting?" The dark haired guy repeated in shock.
"Yeah, a few of us get together and whatever happens, happens." She said. Blondie's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up, his mouth forming a small 'o'.
Maya stared at her. "You need Jesus."
Neha turned and glared at her while Stuart snorted and Lyle laughed before covering his mouth.
"Anyway," She said, turning back to the guys. "Work-wise your 'skills' aren't really relevant here, or really in this millennium, so stay ou of our way. We're gonna do this shit on our own."
From: Stuart
At 9:56am
Her 'skills' aren't relevant anywhere other than a street corner. Horny bitch.
To: Stuart
At 9:57am
LMAO! Metal G-string? Seriously? She was trying way too hard.
"Well I'm loving this friction, you know why? 'Cause that's how you get a fire started." The blonde said. "I'm Nick, this is my pal Billy, And despite what you may think of us, we're here just like the rest of you, just running down the dream."
"Alright." Lyle said, clapping his hands together as he stood up. "Team Lyle!"
They all stared at him.
"No, okay. We'll workshop that. It's in Beta. Okie Dokie. Let's go, our Translate Lecture is in fifteen minutes." Lyle announced.
To: Stuart
At 10:01am
We are so screwed.
From: Stuart
At 10:02am
Tell me about it.