What Goes Around...

Part Three

Chapter Three

"So," Freya knew that talking to herself was the first sign of madness, but she was used to her own company. Always had been. Looking in the mirror she grimaced at what she saw, greasy hair, pallid skin, even her glasses were dirty. Pulling them off she cleaned them in the soft fleece on the inside of her hoodie, then replaced them, staring at her reflection once more.

"So, your career has gone up in smoke. You've got three options." Taking a marker pen she started to write on the glass, directly on her reflection. She had spent so much of her life with plans, targets, strategies to manage the next exam or project that had been on the horizon, that she realised a large part of her lethargy, her sense of not fitting into life, maybe due to her lack of direction and structure. She was good with targets, good with plans, loved working on problems.

This time it was her life that needed the work, her lack of a plan that was the problem.

In her clear sloping print, she started to write.

OPTIONS 1. Go back home. 2. Stay with Oscar, find job and claw back independence. 3. Move on to somewhere completely different.

Changing pens to green, she then started to outline the pros and cons under each heading. Within moments she'd created flow charts with various colour and codes linking the three headings. All the while she talked aloud, trying to make sense of her roiling mind. She couldn't see herself going home, though in all honesty it was the safest and easiest option, causing the least disruption to anyone. The thought of somewhere new was daunting, she'd been protected by education for so long that she wasn't sure she could do this alone. Whilst she didn't see much of Oscar, the biggest positive to the situation was that she had him looking out for her. Under option one she wrote three words - TAIL BETWEEN LEGS. Because going home to her parents would seem like she was giving up on life on all they'd given her, all they've done. Under option three she'd written - SCARY AND ALONE.

It left option two. Staying here.

Like a mathematical equation she'd written OSCAR/SUPPORT>ANNOYING MC. Mitchell Cooper. Because that was her biggest worry, he'd already looked at her as though she was mud on his shoe, she annoyed him by just being there, she conveniently ignored how rude she'd been to her. Circling the word ANNOYING five times in red, she replaced the pen lid then opened her laptop.

If she found a job, then she could move somewhere else in town, and then she'd have the contact with her brother without annoying his annoying landlord. The perfect compromise?

Half an hour later she groaned, slamming the lid of the computer. She had nothing to put on her CV. At fourteen she'd graduated High School, and from that point she'd been ensconced in what was the safe environment of Further Education. First four years at Oxford, then she was head hunted by MIT, arguably the greatest Education and Research facility in the world. During that time she hadn't had as much as a bar job. She may be in the top three percent on any IQ test offered, she may have the best yearly undergraduate scores ever seen in Oxford, but she couldn't offer one piece of evidence to support any job application.

She was overqualified in lots of things, but a small town in upstate New York had little use for someone with a doctorate in Quantum Mechanics of Molecular systems in Ecofuel and a Masters in Chemical Engineering. The longer she'd been in fulltime education, the more specific her education had become. And now she was one of the most experienced eco fuel developers in the world. Until it all fell apart. And it all meant nothing in small town USA.

She changed from her joggers and hoodie into a pair of jeans and a dark shirt; she grabbed a bag and set out to find a job. It couldn't be that hard, could it?