The Outsider (Outsider #1) ✔️

Chapter 18 : Internship Offer

Dusk stepped into the platform and froze for a moment, as the crowd in the entire room turned to look at her. Almost all the camera drones turned to focus on her, the dazzling white lights moved from all directions to focus on her, excluding everyone else.

Dusk turned back in panic. She wanted to get off the stage and go hide somewhere. There was no way she could face the crowd of business leaders, newspersons and even celebrities who were looking at her, expectantly. She had no idea what they wanted her to say or do, but she was sure she would mess up out there.

Fortunately, Susco seemed to have anticipated her move. As Dusk poised to run off the stage, she came up the steps, blocking Dusk's escape route. Unless Dusk jumped of the front side (which was already full of people), she couldn't leave. Susco was trained in handling panicked students, so she held Dusk's hand in a smooth movement, and pushed her on to the middle of the stage. To the audience, it looked like Dusk had turned to pull Susco on to the stage to share her moment of glory.

Seeing her 'selfless deed', the crowd broke into a thundering applause, as the MC moved into the lights, directing his microphone at Susco.

"Who have we here? May I know your name please?"

"Hello, I am a student counsellor from Uni-Viva, Susco, here as a friend, guide and chaperone for Ms. Hale. Glad to meet all of you! And on behalf of the University, I would like to thank you for showing your appreciation of our star student!"

The MC turned to Dusk, "Ms. Hale, thank you for coming to our event tonight. I understand you are from Arcadia. How do you find the change from your hometown to our city?"

Dusk managed to part her parched lips, but no words seem to come out of them. She tried to calm herself but instead she felt her heartbeat shooting up. She just hoped she wouldn't faint or something. She gulped a few times as she looked around. Finally, she managed to say 'Hello', which came out like a squeak.

Susco, still holding her hands, is if to give her courage but actually to ensure she wouldn't bolt, signalled to the attendant behind her back and got a bottle of water. She handed it to Dusk and said "See, I told you that salty spicy tidbit was a bad idea. Here, drink some water first."

Dusk gulped down a few mouthfuls of water and handed the bottle back to Susco. She looked around again, desperately trying to calm herself down. It would look badly down on her hometown and on the province if she couldn't get herself together. Suddenly she spotted Luke Jones standing in the crowd. He met her eyes and gave a thumbs-up of encouragement. He mouthed something that looked like "Doing Good, Here for you".

Susco poked her discretely in the back with her elbow, indicating she needed to say something.

"H... He... Hello everyone. I am D...Dusk Hale." Once she was able to say one sentence, her confidence started to rise.

"I am from Arcadia, from a small village called Longburn. It is a pure desert country. In Ci'gazze, on the other hand, we can drown in water if we are not careful! So, yes, the change is massive. I can walk from one end of the village to the other in less time than it took me to come from the university to this place ... That is the second difference, and number of people! I think the people in this room would be about half of the total population of my hometown. And then ... of course, what you have at Uni-Viva is amazing, somethings I never even imagined possible."

The MC smiled, liking the answers.

"So, how did you adjust to the life in the university?"

Dusk knew that she should be saying something good, "Well, it is difficult for an ordinary rural girl like me to adjust in a place full of the best our country has to offer. I have met professors who are amazing experts, I have met amazing genius students. Normally, I would have been terrified, but I have received so much help and assistance from my Dean, from my counsellor here, that before I knew it, this is home for me."