A Royal Internship | Complete

Chapter Seven

I woke up the next morning feeling like I had a hangover, even though all I'd had to drink was some soda. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and could feel they were puffy from the crying. My pillow, stained with mascara, told a tale of how my night had gone.

I rolled over to see a glass of water on my night table. Janet must have left it for me, because I didn't remember getting it. I drank it all before picking up the note sitting beside the glass. All it said was that Janet had ordered pizza and there was some left for me in the kitchen.

I didn't have the energy to go get it, so I just snuggled down into my blankets and went straight back to sleep.

I was rudely awakened by a very loud cracking sound. Thinking, for a moment, that the house was about to come crashing down on top of me, I rolled off the bed and, wrapped in my blankets, tried to dive under the bed for cover. Like that would help.

When I was finally awake enough to realize the house was not crashing in, I got up, shook off my blankets, and looked out the window to see what was going on. But everything seemed normal. I guess it must have been a dream.

I knew Janet was working and, given the sudden noise, it was probable that someone was just in the house. I hope. I pulled my robe down off the back of my door and wrapped it around my pyjamas and then made my way to the kitchen, hoping for some of that leftover pizza I was promised.

I didn't hear any more strange sounds on my way there, so it seemed safe to sit down and eat. I grabbed a glass of water and pulled three slices of pizza out of the box before sitting down at the table. I flipped over the paper to find the puzzle page so I could fill one in while I ate.

"Uh, oh." Janet shocked me when she spoke from behind me. "Does this depressing look mean your internship news was bad?" She sat down beside me and put her hand on my shoulder.

Internship news? What time is it? It's past eleven and I haven't even checked my phone! Without a word, I ran out of the kitchen and into my room. I fumbled with the charger and my fingers slid all over the place, unable to open the lock screen. Finally, after a shaky breath, I carefully typed in my password and got the phone to open.

There were a lot of notifications, but one was definitely from Mr. Thompson. Well, the email said it was from Mr. Thompson, but his assistant probably wrote it. I pulled a headband on to keep the hair out of my eyes and walked back down the hallway while I waited for the message to open.

When it finally did, I felt the air escape my lungs and my phone slip out of my hand, landing with a sharp crack against the hard kitchen tiles. I was really lucky that thing wasn't in six pieces by now.

"Well, what did it say?" Janet ran over and picked up my phone. "Did you get it?" I'm sure by that point she was reading the words 'we regret to inform you' and knew the answer as well as I did.

"It said no." I sunk down into the nearest chair. "I was so sure it would say yes. I mean, how could they not like me?" My mind felt like it was completely empty and also way too full at the same time. How could I have failed? I never fail. At anything. See? I always knew Josh's help would be no good.

"I'm sure that's not it, Genevieve." Janet closed out of the email and scrolled the rest of my notifications, talking to herself as she did so. "Oh, look, here's one from the financial aid office. That should cheer you up."

The way her face dropped as she read said the opposite.

"I didn't get the scholarship either, did I?" I groaned and put my head in my hands. "I'm never going outside again."

"Yes, you are." She stood up and went to the fridge. "But first, we're going to wallow."

When she came back, she handed me my half-finished carton of ice cream and a spoon.

"Thanks." I accepted the spoon she offered. "That's probably a good idea."

"There'll be a way to fix it." She smiled at me and opened the lid. "There always is."

Over the course of the next hour, we had polished off more than the tub of ice cream while Janet poured over my financial information. She'd made me pull it out so we could figure out how much money I needed to pay for law school.

"I've done it!" she shouted, almost losing her grip on the pencil she was using to do her math. "If you follow my budget--" she narrowed her eyes at that part--"and we get you some kind of full-time gig this summer, then you'll only need about ten hours a week during the school year. Not great, but certainly doable."

"Yeah, sure." I pretended to look at the math she was showing me, but it just wasn't interesting. "But that's not even the whole problem."

"Then what's the whole problem? Isn't the job to pay for school?"

"Yes," I sighed. "But it was also for a fantastic line on my resume. Who wants a law intern next summer who was a doggy daycare worker this summer? I don't have a rich uncle to give me a job, I needed this one!"

I would have carried on for probably half an hour if we hadn't been interrupted by the smooth voice I now recognized as belonging to Janet's cousin, Clarence. "You must have applied for other internships, then, if it's that important. Why not just wait it out?"

How is he here right now? I go years without seeing him even when Janet needs him and now he walks into her kitchen in the middle of my pity party? So annoying.

"See?" Janet shook her head at me. "I told you it was a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket."

"Well, it looked like a good basket!" I protested. "And it worked when I was picking universities."

"You only picked one law school to apply to?" Clarence opened the pizza box and took out a slice while he talked. "Good thing you don't live with my father."

Janet's eyes got very wide at the mention of Clarence's father and she started walking towards Clarence, eyes wide and finger pointed towards his chest.

He looked down at her. "Oh, no!" He backed away, shaking his head. "I know what you're thinking and it's a terrible idea!"