Arlington

Chapter One

Walking down the busy sidewalk, I weave in front of a few slow-moving tourists and continue my way home. Listening to my professor's lecture again as I walk, I try to ignore their excessive amount of 'um's' and 'like's.' The teacher is young and still doesn't seem comfortable teaching in front of a large lecture hall, or even explaining the material. Understanding the material is entirely different when you have to teach it to someone else.

Trying to maneuver around another group of loud, photo-taking travelers, my shoulder knocks into someone roughly. Spinning slightly, I see a tall man in an expensive wool coat, with incredibly vibrant green eyes. We make the briefest eye contact before he goes back to his conversation with the man next to him. Turning back around, I think about the two and try to figure out why the leaner one with blue eyes seemed so familiar to me. Shrugging it off I continue home.

Staring at my computer screen blankly, I blink a few times before groaning out loud frustrated. Pushing my glasses to the top of my head, I look around the room tired. My attention focuses on the millions of molecules bouncing around the room, some at much higher velocities then others. Turning my gaze downwards, I look carefully at my hands and try to decipher where my arms end and where the rest of my environment starts. Getting annoyed with my curls, I reach backward, and grab my shorter brown hair and pull it into a ponytail. I hate when my hair hangs in my face, the movement is oftentimes very distracting to whatever I am supposed to be working on. Knocking my glasses back down onto my face, I push them up my face carelessly with the back of my hand and get back to work.

I switch from my computer to my textbook and notepad. I continue taking notes until I feel as if my eyes are going to bleed from the pain of skimming over pages and pages of information, trying to retain some semblance of the knowledge I need for class in the morning. I close my eyes and push my glasses on top of my head. As I rub my eyes, I try to relieve the burning sensation but to no avail, everything just seems to continue to burn angrily.

"Avi, dinner's ready!" I hear my dad call out. I try to finish the page quickly.

"Aviva, your food is going to get cold," my dad's voice says from my doorway. Glancing up quickly, I see he is still dressed up from work.

"Sorry dad, I was trying to finish this," I say.

"You are just like your mother sometimes, you always try to squeeze one more thing in," my dad muses, and I shake my head at him.

"I'm coming," I say climbing off of my bed; leaving a ring of study materials behind.

"How was your day?" I ask my dad, and he runs a hand over his buzzed black hair. He had just gotten it cut the other day and it already looked longer.

"More boring legal things," he says loosening his tie.

My dad has always been a phenomenal lawyer, he continues to study and go through law materials in his free time. He even made it on one of New York's top ten list of lawyers last year and is in the running again for this year. But I can tell he has no passion for his job anymore. Ever since my mom died my dad has lost his luster for anything law related. But he continues to work in this field because he makes good money doing it and he can support the two of us while we live in the city and I go to college.

"How was your day sweetheart?"

"Today was my busy day, I had four classes back to back," I say.

I had to take twenty-one credits a term if I wanted to graduate on time with a double major in electrical and mechanical engineering. I picked up the second major after my first year at school. My advisor still tells me I am crazy for trying and that I would be here an extra year because of it, but I knew I could finish on time; taking twenty credits is normal for me at this point.

"Have you heard back from that company you want to intern with?" My dad asks

"No, but I didn't get the mail today," I say pushing my food around my plate.

I applied for a summer internship at Caspian Technology a few weeks ago and I still haven't heard back from them. I am beginning to think that I won't ever hear anything back. To be fair there are hundreds to thousands far more competent applicants then myself. A letter of rejection still seems customary and like professional etiquette, but what do I know I've only had one other internship. Some days I just avoid getting the mail because I don't want to be rejected by the company that I have been looking up to since I was fifteen.

"Oh, then what is this?" My dad asks pulling out a large silver and blue envelope.

"Is that?" I ask in shock, before bolting to my feet and snatching it out of his hands.

Slicing the envelope open with my butter knife I pull a few sheets of paper out and start reading. I sit there in shock trying to process exactly what I am reading. Is this the answer I have been so anxiously waiting for?

"What does it say? It's a big envelope which usually is a good sign," my dad says leaning across the table.

"Dear Aviva Arlington, we at Caspian Technology are excited to inform you that we have selected you as one of our five candidates for our summer college interns. In addition to this, every year we choose one student to be the team leader to keep the summer project on track. We at Caspian feel that you are the most suited for this role," I read off.

"You got in and then want you to lead the team!" My dad yells standing up. He walks around the table and pulls me into a bear hug. I l hug him back just as enthusiastically and I can feel how big he is smiling at me.

"I knew you would get it," he says pulling away. He uses his pinky finger to gently push my glasses up my face. Scrunching my face up at him, he just smiles bigger.

"Your mother would be so proud, and I am very proud of you," he says beaming.

"Thanks, Dad," I say giving him another hug.

"Anything for you Avi," he says softly.

"I should go finish my homework," I say begrudgingly.

"Okay, I can clean up dinner tonight," he says before turning to pick up the dishes.

Going back into my room I plop back into my spot in the center of all my books and notes. Pulling more papers out of the envelope I review all of the information that I needed to before putting it aside and going back to my studies. Next week is final exams and I still have a lot of information to review before then. I have five exams that I need to take to officially finish this semester.

The next morning, I take the subway to school as per usual. Arriving on campus I walk to my first class of the day and take a seat in the front and pull out my note-taking materials before relaxing into the old creaky seat. I don't know anyone in this lecture, it's not even for my major, so I don't really have anyone to talk to before class. A collective gasp makes my head turn slightly and I listen to the conversation going on very closely behind me.

"You heard me right I will be one of the five college interns working for Caspian Technology this summer," a male voice behind me says. I can't help but be unamused by how conceited he sounds.

"I was chosen out of thousands of applicants," he continues to brag.

"Do you know who else got in?" A female voice asks.

"No, I don't, that information wasn't listed. But I am sure if I called them up, I could get the names," he continues. I resist the urge to roll my eyes at him.

"Hey Ava, didn't you apply for that too?" The same female voice asks. I didn't know there was an Ava in our class.

"Ava, I'm talking to you," the voice continues, and I dare turn around.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!"

"My name is Aviva and yes I did apply," I reply confused about how she knew that or who I was. She looks vaguely familiar, maybe she is friends with Jacie.

"Have you heard back from them yet?"

"Yes, I got in and I will be the lead for the team I am working with," I say with a shrug.

"You are going to be the lead for our team?" The pompous boy asks me surprised. How have I not noticed his terrible attitude before? He must not speak a lot in class...

"Yes, is that a problem?" I ask with a sharp tone, slowly losing my patience with his pretentiousness.

"No,"

I turn back around in my seat as the professor walks into the room. The lecture goes by painfully slow as I can feel heated stares penetrating my back. I do my best to ignore them and continue to take notes. Once the professor is done, I pull out my hand scanner and scan my pages of notes into its database. I plug it into my computer and transfer my files to my notes on my computer. I scroll through my now digitized notes satisfied before cleaning my stuff up and leaving the room.

I walk to my next class at a more leisurely pace because I have a fifteen-minute gap between my next class and the previous one. I take in the few trees on campus that are now a vibrant green due to the summer quickly approaching.

"Aviva!" A voice calls out, but I ignore it.

"Aviva Arlington, I know you can hear me," my friend's voice calls out.

"Jacie you know I have a class to go to," I call back.

"Could you slow down a bit," I hear her huff next to me.

"This is barely a stroll!" I say laughing.

"I have short legs!" She snips playfully at me.

I didn't need to glance at Jacie to know how tall she is, she is exactly four foot eleven and a half. Which means she is tiny compared to my five-foot-six frame. She pulls her long blonde hair back into a quick braid as we continue across campus. I can feel her warm brown eyes staring into me as we walk in silence. I won't be the one to break the quiet, so I wait patiently for her to say what is on her mind.

"So, the buzz around campus is that you and Randy both got into the summer intern program for Caspian," she says excitedly.

"Yes," I reply as we walk into the classroom.

"When did you find out and why didn't you tell me?" She asks me in an upset tone.

"I found out last night shortly before I went to bed, I didn't text you because I didn't know what you were up to," I say lying through my teeth. I have been avoiding a lot of contact with Jacie recently and didn't want to have to call her late at night.

"You could have texted me this morning," she says poking my shoulder rather aggressively, she is trying to be playful in her anger, but I know I hurt her. Trying to ignore her the teacher starts lecturing and I space out.

I enable my scanner's voice to text feature and let it record what the teacher is saying as I take notes beside it. The notes are more of a formality to remember things than to actually take notes. I glance to my right and see Jacie taking notes very dutifully. Her tongue is sticking out a little bit and her nose is scrunched up some as she tries to pay attention to the information coming from our professor. I always found it hard to pay attention in this class because Jacie sits right next to me.

Class ends quickly, and we part ways as I head home. I opted to stay and live at home while finishing my schooling to save money, I only live half an hour from campus, so it hasn't been worth the hassle of moving everything yet. Thinking back to how busy my study schedule is I become more determined to finish everything. I only have five days to study for finals and I still have at least ten chapters to review for my different classes. I don't really have a social life at this point between being a double major and a commuter, but I can socialize later, I have the rest of my life ahead of me. The only thing I am focusing on right now is passing all of my exams and prepping for this internship.