Forbidden Literature

3| Orientation

"You know we have orientation in like, five minutes right?" I said through the bathroom door to Sara who was doing god-knows-what with her phone.

I changed out of my old clothes for a simple white v-cut shirt that enhanced my natural tan along with red shorts. Normally I don't wear shorts, but for some reason I was burning up in this hotel. Maybe it's just nerves? I should probably add an extra swipe of deodorant just in case my suspicions are correct.

"I know! I know, I just . . . want to send a picture of the hotel to Kenji while my camera was working," Sara sounded flustered behind the door.

I thought about what she said.

"So you're sending him a picture of the bathroom?"

She was quiet for a second before I heard the sound of her shutter going off on her phone. "Yeah! This sink is awesome. He would love it!"

I rolled my eyes. I'm not even going to pretend to go along with her antics.

"Well could you hurry up with the sink pictures? I don't want to be late our first day," I said straightening my name-tag on my shirt. It sort of felt like freshman orientation at Bulfort all over again. Hopefully this time I won't trip and flash everyone.

"Oh don't get your panties in a twist, we will make it!" she promised.

We didn't make it.

Once inside the ballroom I practically threw myself on the closest chair not realizing it was already occupied. The frazzled girl from the announcement ceremony—Alyssa maybe?—looked at me as if I was crazy. Not that I blamed her. Quickly I said my apologies and settled for sitting on the floor next to her rather than on her. Still, I tried to fish out an empty seat but anything open was either too far away or I'd have to climb over mountains of people to get it. It was just too much work so I opted for the floor; at least it was carpeted.

I could have sworn I heard a throaty chuckle nearby, but I was too distracted by the place to care.

The ballroom at this hotel was slightly smaller than at the university I noted, although the decorations are more advanced. The ceiling was higher with intricate details sketched on the marble base. Dripping from the ceiling was a massive chandelier the size of a small car. So far this was probably the fanciest hotel I've ever been to. A marble water fountain caught my eye nearby. Scratch that, this is the fanciest hotel I've ever been to.

There were fewer people in the room than back at Bulfort, which made sense because there were more applicants than winners. Plus, they had their families with them at the ceremony so that doubled the amount of people there. Well, most applicants had their family there, I noted glumly.

Now it was just us, the participants, and the faculty. Nobody else, give or take a couple of hotel staff.

My attention was brought up front to the person behind the podium who I could only assume was the director or speaker for the convention. She had on a rose colored business suit that drowned out her blonde, maybe white, hair. But that wasn't her most prominent feature; even from here I could see she had an amble chest. Much more than me, but it was covered up under her blazer. I had seen her face in my pamphlet before, although I'm not sure what for.

I leaned over to frazzled-girl to ask, "Who is that?"

I couldn't help but notice her jump slightly when I spoke. "Umm, well t-that's June Harrington," she said pointing to the lady in the front a little shakenly. "She's the host and a daughter of Reagan Harrington, the former CEO of the company, so she's g-giving the greeting. She's about to hand out our schedules for the day."