Do It Jakey! //Jake Kiszka

Chapter 21

The professor is looking right at her, and Julia knows she is blushing. She looks around confused, she doesn't understand. Why didn't she know about all of this? And what does he want from her? She feels Susan's hand on her arm, inviting her to stand up. "come on, J!", she hears again Austin from behind her. She slowly stands up, and as she walks to the stage still confused, she can still hear her friends. "go, J!", Peter shouts. Mike whistles. She turns around shooting him a death glare, and they all laugh. She takes the three steps to get on the little stage, and then just stands there, not knowing what to do.

Professor Duncan smiles looking at her. "she looks scared", he says into the mic, making everybody laugh. Julia smiles. "I'm not scared, just confused. What is this?", she asks.

"there were two students who particularly shined in this class". He talks looking right at her, and she starts feeling a little too exposed. "one of them is Zach, we already know about him".

"the other one is you, Julia". And she can't believe it. are they electing another best student? How can they do that? "we can't have two best students in the same place, you know that. but Professor Keaton", he says motioning to the woman, "came up with an idea, talking to her coworkers. You know she collabs with NASA, don't you?".

The question is for Julia. She nods, she knows that. Professor Keaton, apart from teaching in college, has a job very similar to what she would love to do one day. She doesn't know if she is understanding correctly, but she brings a hand to her mouth impulsively.

"we came up with this idea, offering another student the opportunity of a little job. It's only temporary, you'll have to show off your abilities and work hard to keep it. it's not like the internship for Zach. It's much more different, to be honest, it could be harder. But it's right there with Professor Keaton".

When he stops talking, Julia isn't able to move. She only hears Dave. "THAT'S MY SISTER!", he yells standing up, and earning the looks of everyone else around him. Julia turns to him, her mouth still covered by her hand. She is so happy he is there.

"you know, Julia", the professor talks again. "they were looking for a bright young student to fill a place as a researcher. You were one of the few students this year interested in that, and we decided to give you that opportunity".

She feels her legs weak, tears come to her eyes. It is really happening? Or is it all just a dream? She has to crouch down not to fall. There are people around her who are clapping their hands, shouting things. But she can't really hear them. She feels a hand on her waist, helping her stand up. She looks up and Dave smiles looking down at her. He holds her tight and a tear falls down her eye.

"I'm talking on behalf of every single teacher you had during these years", Professor Duncan begins again, "you have the ability to do that. to have that job. Zach is a genius, everyone agrees with that. you are not, no offence with that. But you see beyond and behind things. You ask questions, and you question yourself. There were rumors about how crazy your study plans were", and Julia hears her friends laughing. How many hours have they studied all together at Mike's house? Even some sleepless nights, when the exams were just too much. But she enjoyed every single second of that. "we all know you study a lot, but you do that because you are passionate and you like what you study. There is something magical in the way you make things sound so simple and beautiful".

As another tear runs down her cheek, Julia thinks about Jake. And about how many times he said the same thing. "some days ago, I remember when you took my exam, the oral part", the Professor continues. "You were writing on the boards, proving me a theorem I've asked you. we didn't discuss the proof during the lessons, but I asked you to try and do it on the spot. You started, made a mistake, went back. this happened a few times. We stayed in that room for hours, and I was just watching you writing down, white on the black board. Once you succeeded in that, you wrote 'yeah' on the board, do you remember that?".