Emotional Wreck
After learning and practicing more in my private time, I decided to look for a company to go through an internship session with. I applied to so many, which rejected my letter, but among all the rejections, I got one out of them. I was excited, but it required me to relocate. It was a stepping stone for my dreams to come true.
I wasn't the only one under the mentorship of Mr. Kennedy, a tall, nice man who was our mentor. Jane, a plough-dark girl with bright blue eyes, was under him. Judith, the girl with the best curves, was also among them. She had a killer shape—my kind of ideal shape. Flat tummy and a big C curve at her backzone. We started together at once, and once a week we had a presentation to make. There was room to pour down your ideas.
"You have to do more deep work; it's not going to be the usual," Mr Kennedy instructed the three of us. He was talking about a problem posed by the company. He brought it to our knowledge, so he will get the opinions of everyone to tackle the issues. I had read and researched over the past few weeks, until the day of the presentation.
"Mia, what do you have for the presentation? Jane asked just a day from today. I started from scratch, explaining everything to her, and she bubbled with smiles.
"What about you? What do you have for the presentation?" She gave me her own opinion. Judith was in the same room as us, but she kept calm throughout. After work, I usually go home with Jane. When I got home from work, I remembered I left my laptop at the office. I needed to do some touch-ups for my work in preparation for the next day's presentation, but with the help of my phone, which wasn't as helpful as using my phone. I resolved some of the tasks I intended to do. The next day, my hands were sweaty, and my heart hung deep into my stomach. I couldn't eat breakfast because I couldn't find my appetite. I was anxious about the presentation.
When I got to the office, I switched on my laptop to do some work, but it was blank and staring back at me.
"I left this in the office, working very fine. What happened now?" Jane ran over to where I stood, talking to myself.
"What is wrong?" She asked with a worried face.
"My laptop doesn't want to go on," I lamented to her.
"Wait, let me take a look." I took a step away from her. She tried all the skills she had on the laptop but just kept staring back at us.
I began to panic; tears clouded my eyes. This shouldn't happen at this time. How was I going to fix the laptop? The presentation was about an hour, and my PowerPoint was saved in the system; I didn't save anywhere else. I just couldn't hold back the tears. The time, energy, and resources put into this were all a waste.
"Is that okay, Mia? Just raffle something before the presentation begins." I just couldn't think at that point; my head was spinning into twos, and the presentation was going to be grazed by the CEO of the company coupled with other board members. It was a huge deal for me. I got my phone, which wasn't efficient, and did some rehearsal. This was my work, which I struggled so hard to do. Though I had it packed in my head, the graphics will appeal more than talking about them.
Judith was the first present, followed by Jane, and then I, who was going to be the last to present. During Jane's presentation, I saw my work in all her presentations; my designs and graphics were used by her. How could she be so heartless to do this to me? I thought she was my friend. When it got to my point, I laid down my ideas; the finish edge I did on my phone was what had an edge to what Jane presented. I was glad it was accepted by the board.
After the meeting, I confronted Jane, "How could you do this to me? I thought we were my friends.
"You always act like you're better than everyone here; Mr. Kennedy always commands you like we don't exist." I couldn't believe the words coming from Jane. I was disappointed. If she could do this, that means she was responsible for my damaged laptop. I could remember that day she kept gisting me on things, and I forgot to pack up my laptop, leaving it on the table.
I reported her to Mr. Kennedy, who punished her by giving her a 3-week suspension and making sure she repaired my laptop. For the presentation, our idea solved the problem for the company.
A nicely structured piece, @jeclyn60. A good #CNF with a nice arc. Some people are unbelievable at the lengths they will go to to one-up another and try to take the glory. I'm so pleased that you reported her and she got her just desserts. Although, I think she got off lightly! As far as your story goes, I would have liked to have seen more development of the struggles and challenges you experienced getting through your programming course, and some insight into what the issue and solution were for your company. More show than tell would have lifted the piece too! It also felt like the piece about the body shapes of the women you worked alongside, was an unnecessary digression from the main story and didn't add to the plot.
Thank you for sharing a story from your life with The Ink Well.
With your corrections I feel better each day. The best place to horn my writing skills. Thank you for the corrections. I will keep all at the back of my mind.
It's unfortunate that your colleague betrayed your trust and took credit for your work, but it's commendable that you stood up for yourself and reported the issue to your mentor. Thank God justice was served, and your idea helped solve a problem for the company.