The Internship (Stuart Twombly)

Chapter 1

Taking a deep breath, Juliette approached the place that she believed would make her dreams come true. She hauled a blue luggage roller behind her and a monogrammed tote bag dangled from her left arm. She smiled to herself, taking in the sight of the glorious Googleplex, before pushing the entrance doors open and meeting with an official. After dumping her stuff in the dorm luxurious dorm rooms, she made her way to another entrance of the building, where she was greeted by a man who told her everything she needed to know.

The man, who introduced himself gregariously as Sid, gave her a lanyard with a name-tag attached to it, a personalized Google company pen, and a propeller cap sporting the famous basic colors of Google. At first, she was skeptic, but eventually just put the hat on blithely, trying to make the most fun out of the situation. Julie was then led to the main Google space by the means of signs that read "INTERNS THIS WAY" with vibrant arrows. She spun in awe as she studied the marvelous interior. Her eyes glistened with admiration.

She then found herself at the base of a huge set of stairs and bleachers with colorful chairs and beanbags. A cheery worker informed her to find a seat and to introduce herself to others around her, which didn't seem like that much of a challenge until she finally turned to face the people. Young men and women that crowded the bleachers conversed in intelligent and intellectual discussion and she abruptly felt a rush of insecurity. She was discernibly extremely smart, even though she would never admit it. She attended one of the finest schools in the country - in the world - and had amazing grades and an unbelievable IQ. But everyone around her looked so intimidatingly brilliant.

She browsed the crowd for someone to associate with, but scrunched her mouth to the side when she saw everyone already in seemingly exclusive groups. Scratching the idea of looking for someone to talk to, she instead looked for an empty spot and sat in a vacant area towards the front.

A man who looked to be of Indian descent picked up the microphone and everyone began to settle in different spots. A tan girl with curly black hair pulled into a side ponytail and a patterned dress talking with an olive skinned guy who, Juliette had to admit, leaned more on the chubbier side, took the open seat next to her.

"My name is Roger Chetty, and I am head of the Google Intern Program. Welcome to Google." He introduced. "This will not be your average internship - oh, no. You will do what we do, and we will watch how well you do it."

Juliette looked behind the man and examined the people sat behind him as he continued.

"You represent the finest schools, your intelligence achievement is well noted," He stated, "but to excel at this internship, you're going to need far more than brain power. What you're going to need is Googliness."

A wave of light laughter erupted from the people around you, and Julie too etched a smile at the fun term.

"Nothing funny." Chetty shook his head. "Googliness; the intangible stuff that made a search engine into an engine for change. Now, you will be divided into teams. By the end of this summer, only one team will be guaranteed a full time position. The other ninety-five percent of you will not."

Juliette bit her tongue as she silently prayed in her head: please let me be part of that five percent.

"Now you've been split up into several seminars to acquaint you with our campus and culture. Seminar descriptions have been emailed to each of you. I would wish you luck, but it is not luck that you will need. Get to work!"

From there, she was ushered to a totally separate building. Checking her phone for affirmation, she made her way to the main building for the First Impressions Seminar. In the room with modern glass walls, she took a seat in the third row towards the middle. An empty chair separated her from another guy who looked to be around her age sporting a beanie and black rimmed glasses. Juliette wasn't going to deny it; he was very attractive. His eyes were fixed on whatever was on his phone as his screen's reflection shone on his glasses. Up at the front, Chetty was preparing his discussion.