Game On!

Middle is the New Beginning

By some comical fate of the universe, Shaz seemed to be in all of my gen-ed classes. The only time I had a break from seeing him was in my class with Rasheed, ethics, and data structures. 

On Tuesday, Shaz sat right behind me in physics and typed loudly on his laptop. Wednesday, he and I both ended up at the same spot in the student center eating lunch. Thursday, he pretended like he was a sweat in English class. By Friday, I had had enough. 

I scowled at him across the room and cursed him under my breath in the seminar class all freshmen had to take. He seemed to be innocently doodling on his iPad, oblivious to everything else around him. The audacity of this man would never cease to amaze me. 

Whatever. I had an interview with Emily Stanford after this class for the team lead position, and I had to prep as best as I could. I rehearsed what I'd say to different interview questions I googled. I did a little snooping thanks to Rasheed and found all the people that were also interviewing for the spot. 

Camila Perez--sophomore, computer science major, and incredibly witty. She already had leadership positions in two other clubs; she was the president of a cultural club for spanish speakers and a secretary for a robotics club. I wasn't too worried about her. Emily and the board will see that she's too busy to lead a team. 

Michael Nguyen--senior, comp. media major, and the most quiet person I'd ever not heard speak. I wasn't worried about him either. He was too shy to be in a leadership spot. 

The person I was worried about, though, was Shaz. Although he didn't have much coding experience, he was charismatic, and he had a member on the board already on his side. I guess I did too, but I didn't underestimate that he could manage to convince other board members to vote for him. 

The bell snapped me out of my inner scheming. I closed my laptop, tucked it in my bag, and turned to leave (I always sat on the end of a row so I could leave quickly), but before I could make it out of my row of seats, Shaz's shoulder shoved me back while he sprinted up the stairs. 

He muttered a 'sorry' under his breath, but I knew he didn't mean it. What a jerk. I huffed, slung my bag on my shoulder, and headed out of the building. On my way out, I checked Emily's email to confirm the location of the interview. The Nexus? Where was that?

I glanced around my building. How was I going to find where this was and walk to it in fifteen minutes? 

"No way, pong girl?" 

I turned around and spotted short black hair and a cute sundress. 

"Hey! Sorry, I don't have time to talk right now," I said. "I have to find this building in fifteen minutes."

Anika took a peek over my shoulder at the name of the building, then laughed. "Are you trying to find the student hub?" she asked. I stared at her and blinked a few times. She just shook her head with a smile still on her face and pointed to the building in front of us. I made an 'o' shape with my mouth. 

Sure enough, on top of the doors leading in, huge silver letters spelled 'Nexus Commons.' All that stressing about seeing Shaz and failing the interview must've made me cluelessly oblivious. Ironic. 

My cheeks flushed, and I shook my head. "Oh wow... please pretend you didn't have to remind me of the location of a building right in front of me," I said. Anika laughed again and took up my arm while walking me to Nexus. Geez, did she think I was too braindead to walk on my own? I'd probably think the same thing if I was her. 

"I'm about to grab some lunch so we're headed in the same direction," she explained like she read the confusion on my face. 

I breathed out. As long as I didn't do anything that brainless in front of Emily, I felt decently prepared. I could do this. I straightened my clothes, took a deep breath, and entered Nexus with Anika flanking my side.