Page 134 of Places We've Never Been

CHAPTER 33

The room I walked into was small. A couple bookcases and file cabinets filled the space and a woman sat at a desk. She smiled a friendly smile.

“Hi, I’m Norah. I’m so happy to be here.” I looked around for a chair but didn’t see one. Was I supposed to stand the whole interview?

The woman held up a finger and pointed to her ear, where I could see an earbud. “Yes, I see. You have until December.”

“Sorry,” I whispered.

She pointed across the room and clicked a button on her phone. “You can go on in.”

“Go on in…?” That’s when I saw the door on the far wall.“Oh.”

She smiled again but not in an understanding way that assured me that everyone had done the same thing, but in a way that let me know I was the first. Then she continued her phone call. I bowed my head a bit and walked to the closed door. I offered another knock, then let myself in.

An older woman sat behind a laptop. She wore a pantsuit andhad white chin-length hair, styled in a sweeping fashion across her forehead. She looked like a candidate running for Senate, not necessarily the dean of a gaming college. The tie around my neck seemed to tighten, reminding me that I probably looked that way as well. I patted my hair, which I had pulled into a low ponytail, and cleared my throat. “Hello, Leslie—” Istopped abruptly. Why had that come out? “I mean, Dean Collins. Sorry. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you as well. Come in, Norah.”

I realized I was lingering by the door. I stepped all the way in and closed it behind me.

“Have a seat.”

I gave a curt nod and walked forward. I could do this. I was ready.

I am a professional. A serious professional with experience and talent.These were the words I repeated over and over in my head as she looked over the folder she had open in front of her and I clutched my sketchbook in my sweaty hands.

“How are you today, Norah?”

“I’m good.”

“I like your suit. Very professional.”

“Thank you.”Take that, Willow.

“It’s not often I see the students dressed up.”

“I’m sure it’s the last time you will see me like this.”

“I’m sure of that as well,” she said with a little chuckle. “So tell me a little about you.”

“I love animation, I love gaming, and I’ve been working oncoding.”

“Everyone here loves those things. Tell me something I might not have already guessed about you.”

“I’m optimistic and do well in school.”

“What do you do outside of gaming?”

“I do a lot of gaming,” I said with a smile. “And drawing. But we’re taking an RV tour right now. We’ve been on the road for a couple weeks. We’ve hiked and floated rivers and watched geysers erupt.”

“And have you discovered anything new about yourself on this trip?”

She was asking for something new when she hadn’t even learned about the original yet? “Um…” Had I? I’d discovered that the right circumstances could make a liar out of all of us. I’d discovered that I’d been wearing even more of a mask than I thought for the last four years and that maybe I didn’t even know the real me anymore. But that’s not what she wanted to hear. “That I really like nature,” I said. “More than I realized.” That was true too.

She nodded slowly and I had no idea what was going through her head. She pointed to my sketchbook. “Did you bring me some samples?”

“Yes, of course.” I passed over the book, hoping there weren’t sweaty outlines of my hands on the cover.