supplementary package to the board,
“Gabriel, can you please come home? Or just give me the new code. My application materials are in there, and if I don’t get them today, I could lose
the campus job.”
Vivi? You’re home? Wait for me, I’m on my way.”
But he never came.
06:32
Chapter 2
“Vivi? You’re home? Wait for me, I’m on my way.”
But he never came.
Professor Davies called me several times, her voice increasingly apologetic. Finally, she delivered the bad news: the system had closed, the staff
had gone home for the day. There was nothing more she could do.
I sat numbly on the floor outside Gabriel’s apartment until the sky was pitch black. He never showed.
Around ten o’clock, his phone finally connected when I called.
But the voice that answered wasn’t his. It was Cora’s.
“Vivi? Is something wrong?” she asked, her tone casual. “Gabriel’s in the shower right now.”
My world tilted on its axis. For a few seconds, I couldn’t breathe.
“It’s nothing,” I managed to choke out.
I hung up, blocked his number, and took the lipstick out of my purse. On the clean white paint of his front door, I scrawled a message.
SO LONG, SCUMBAG!
5
On the way back to campus, I called a senior from my program who had moved to Havenport.
“Hey, Sarah? Are you guys still looking for interns?”
الله الله الله الله انا سلام
الوا الله الله الله الله الله الله
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all
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Wwl da Mijk it in Watai Hl ill ill all my way! WW w g
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“Vivi! You should have called sooner, we just filled our last spot. But listen, a former colleague of mine just started his own company. He’s despera-
te for good people. Want to give it a shot?”
“Yes, absolutely. I can be in Havenport for an interview tomorrow.”
Sarah laughed. “What happened? I tried so hard to get you to come out here for an internship, but you said you had to stay in New York for your
boyfriend. Did he finally let you off the leash?”
I twisted the hem of my shirt. “We broke up. And the campus job fell through…”
“Hey,” she said, her voice instantly kind. “Out with the old, in with the new. His loss.”
The next day, I was on a train to Havenport. I went straight from the station to the address Sarah had given me. She’d told me her ex–colleague
sold pearls, so I was picturing a middle–aged woman in a small, cluttered shop:
I was wrong. The company was located in a sleek, modern startup incubator. And the person who interviewed me wasn’t
handsome young man with kind, intelligent eyes.
Maybe it was Sarah’s recommendation, but the interview was surprisingly relaxed. He offered me the internship on the spot.
Within a few days, I had rented a small apartment and settled into my new life in Havenport.
a
Woman at all, but a
Sarah’s former colleague, my interviewer, was named Leo. He was the founder and CEO of this small but mighty company. The office was young, energetic, and everyone se
seemed to be a master of multiple trades. I quickly realized how little my university education had prepared me for the real world. I felt like I was drowning in industry jargon I’d never heard before.
My only solution was to carry a notebook everywhere, scribbling down every new term and concept. At night, I’d stay up late, researching and teaching myself, trying desperately to catch up.
One afternoon, after lunch, I was huddled in a quiet corner of the break room, studying my notes, when a message from my old roommate popped
up
[Vivi, the list for the new student life coordinators was posted. Why aren’t you on it?]
She sent a link. I clicked on it, my heart sinking. Even though I knew it was coming, seeing it in black and white still made my nose sting. I blinked, trying to clear the blurriness from my eyes. And then a name jumped out at me.
Chloe.
After I was disqualified, Chloe from my year got the position? Quiet, unassuming Chloe, whose grades were completely average?