Worlds Apart

Chapter 14

Max knew that learning astrophysics was going to be hard, but this was just insane.

She had hoped that seeing some of the work done by Oracle Corporation would help her get a little better of a grasp on the subject, but so far, it hadn't seemed to help at all. She knew it had only been nine days since she'd started learning the subject and six since the Expo started, but typically anything science related came relatively quickly to her, so she expected to make some progress - any at all - in the time she'd spent learning it. Maybe there was a reason that her brother became an astrophysicist instead of her.

Dropping the files onto the bench seat next to her, Max rubbed the bridge of her nose and leaned her head against her hand, letting out a sigh of frustration. Why couldn't all science be easy? Why couldn't astrophysics come as easy to her as engineering had so that she wouldn't have to sit outside behind the building on her lunch break trying to wrap her head around the stupid subject?

One of the things she loved so much about programming and engineering was that for the most part, everything was finite. Everything had an answer if you looked hard enough for it. But with astrophysics, most of what Max needed to know was purely theoretical. She knew that what she was looking for could be achieved, because her brother had achieved it, but how he had gotten there, Max had absolutely no clue. How had he taken a look at all of this information and just known what to do with it? If there was one thing she'd learned from this whole ordeal, it was that astrophysics required creativity and an imagination, and Max had neither of those things. She had gotten a C in her middle school art class for a reason.

To put it bluntly, Max needed a break, which was why when her phone buzzed, she didn't care who it was on the other end; she was just thankful for the interruption, regardless of what it was. When she pulled her phone out of her pocket and noticed that it was Pepper, that was just an added bonus.

P: Hey, I would've called you to tell you this but I know you're working and I just wanted to be the one that tells you before it gets out, but Mr. Stark sort of just made me CEO of the company!! :D

Max genuinely smiled for what was probably the first time that day. Of course she knew this was going to happen at some point soon, but she was flattered that Pepper thought to tell her first. Or, at least, she was probably one of the first people to know. Either way, to know that Pepper thought of her at all when wanting to share good news made her feel amazing inside. With everyone she knew and loved being in another dimension, feeling that type of closeness with someone again was like a breath of fresh air.

Obviously Max couldn't respond back with anything that wasn't shock towards the news, so she improvised as best as she could, taking a couple of minutes to really think out her response before hitting send.

M: OMG WHAT?? You mean of Stark Industries?? That company??

Max almost immediately received a response back.

P: Yep! That's the one! :D

M: When did that happen?? And how??

P: It's kind of a long story so I'll tell you if you want to call after work today, but the short version is that Mr. Stark was looking to name his successor and decided that he wanted it to be me!

M: That's just...I'm speechless! That's so awesome! Congratulations, no one deserves this more than you <3

P: Thank you so much! Listen, I've got to get back to work now, but as soon as we're both off today, we've got to call; I feel like celebrating!

M: Yeah, definitely! Aren't you sick though? Shouldn't you be resting?

P: Yes, but it's not everyday you're appointed CEO of a billion dollar company :D