Authors: Charlotte Swanpol
Chapter 2
The next day, the meeting with Professor Hamilton was all I was thinking about and I couldn’t shake off the trepidation that crept over me as another day of lectures came to an end. I packed my books in my bag and set off for the meeting. My nervousness grew as I approached her room and I stopped outside her door to take some deep breaths before knocking.
“Come in.”
The sound of the shout prompted me to open the door and step inside Professor Hamilton’s office.
“You got my message,” the older woman said with a smile.
“Yes,” I replied. “Bella told me last night after meeting you.”
“And did the wine go down well?” Professor Hamilton said with a smirk.
“Oh…, yes, it did,” I answered slightly hesitantly.
“Good,” she said. “Take a seat.”
I moved across to sit on the chair opposite her and said nothing as I waited for her to go on. She opened the top drawer of her desk and brought out some papers before looking across at me.
“What are your plans for the summer?”
“I’m intending to go home to my parent’s farm,” I told her.
“Would you be interested in giving up a few weeks of your vacation?” she went on.
“To do what?”
“Well, I have contacts with the media company Reed Commerce,” she told me. “They’re interested in hiring an intern this year for a four week summer placement.”
My interest was piqued at the mention of Reed Commerce. The billionaire boss in charge, Conrad Reed, built it up from scratch to become one of the most successful and influential media companies around. As part of the business studies course I was doing, we’d looked at case studies of the biggest companies, as well as the men and women that ran them. That included Reed Commerce and it was certainly one of the companies I planned to apply to once I finished college. A chance to get a foot in the door was definitely something to consider.
“Have you been asked to provide someone?” I asked.
“I’ve been asked to put someone forward from this college,” Professor Hamilton replied. “You were the name that sprang to mind.”
“Why?” I queried.
“You’re in the top five percent of your class,” Professor Hamilton said. “And from what I’ve seen of you, I know you are diligent and hard working. I think you would make the perfect candidate although there’s no guarantee you’ll be accepted. The company will go through a screening process to find the person they want.”
“What’s involved in that?”
“If you’re interested in applying, you’ll need to tell me what is involved,” she said and laughed. “This is the first time of going through this for me too.”
“I’m definitely interested,” I told her.
“Great,” she said and slid the papers she got from the drawer in her desk across the table. “That’s the details I have about the internship. The number on the brochure will get you through to someone called Mrs. Samuels. She’ll give you the details of what you need to do. Her email address is also there if you need it.”
“OK,” I said. “I’ll give her a call tomorrow morning and take it from there.”
Professor Hamilton got to her feet to signal the end of the meeting and I followed suit. She came around the desk and walked across the room with me.
“Let me know how you get on,” she said when she opened the door.
“I will and thanks for giving me the opportunity.”
The meeting ended as I walked away and I looked at my watch to see that it was just after four thirty in the afternoon. The impulse to make the call right away came over me and I decided just to do it. Walking to the refectory, I bought myself a coffee then went to sit at an empty table in the corner of the room. I realized my hands were shaking when I picked up the cup to take a sip and consciously tried to calm myself down.
Getting the details Professor Hamilton gave me out of my bag, I looked through them first although it was basic information about Reed Commerce that I mostly knew already. I found the number and checked the name before taking my phone out to make the call.
“Reed Commerce,” a pleasant voice said. “How can I help you?”
“I’d like to speak to Mrs. Samuels please.”
“Who shall I say is calling?” the receptionist went on.
“It’s Melissa Braithwaite,” I answered.
“Just hold the line please.”
There was silence for a few seconds before I heard another voice.
“Hello.”
“Hi Mrs. Samuels,” I started. “My name is Melissa Braithwaite. Professor Hamilton at the local college gave me details of an internship with Reed Commerce and asked me to call about it.”
“That was quick,” she replied. “We only discussed her putting forward someone yesterday.”
“We just had a meeting about it and I decided to get in touch straight away to find out what was required.”
“Well, Mr. Reed takes the internship seriously,” Mrs. Samuels replied. “That means he interviews the candidates himself.”
“OK,” I replied. “When are the interviews?”
“He generally asks the prospective candidates to visit his home to meet with him,” Mrs. Samuels went on. “I’ll need to speak with him to see when he is available. Do you have a number I can contact you on?”
“Sure,” I replied and gave her my number.
“Can you also send me a copy of your CV and a photo,” Mrs. Samuels went on.
“Umm…, I don’t really have a CV,” I admitted.
“Just produce something showing your school grades, what you’re studying at college and any other experience you think might be relevant,” she told me. “My email should be on the details you received from Professor Hamilton, so just send the CV you produce and a photo to me.”
“OK, I’ll do that,” I agreed.
“I’ll speak with Mr. Reed and get in touch with you once something has been arranged with regard to a meeting.”
Her last comment signaled the end of the conversation and we said our goodbyes before hanging up. I finished my coffee and decided to just go ahead and prepare the details she wanted straight away. The college computer room wasn’t too busy and I easily managed to get a machine and sat typing for around thirty minutes to produce what I thought was a reasonably professional looking CV. I printed it off and gave it a read through.
There were a couple of errors that I noted, so I made the changes then opened a browser page to log in to the website where I stored my photos. I found the one that I thought showed me in my best light then logged in to my email account. Five minutes later I’d composed a message and attached the CV and photo to it. I gave it one last read through then clicked the button to send. It was all I could do for the moment, so I put the possibility of the internship out of my head and went to my dorm room.
There was no sign of Bella, so I just dropped on the sofa and switched on the television. I flicked through the channels to find something to watch and eventually settled on a movie. Forty five minutes after starting to watch it, I was disturbed by the ringing of my phone and got it out my pocket. The racing of my pulse began the second I saw the number was the one I called that afternoon and I was quick to make the connection.
“Hello.”
“Hi Melissa,” the voice on the other end of the line said. “It’s Mrs. Samuels from Reed Commerce. Thanks for getting your details to me so quickly.”
“No problem,” I responded.
“I passed them on to Mr. Reed and called him,” she went on. “Would you be available to meet him tonight?”
“Tonight?” I let out in a surprised voice and sprang to my feet.
“Yes,” Mrs. Samuels said. “He’ll be at home in the evening for the next two nights, but then is away for a couple of weeks. He was keen to meet you before leaving.”
“Yeah, sure, I’m free tonight,” I let out.
“Great, I’ll let him know,” the older woman went on. “The meeting is at eight o’clock.”
“What’s the address?”
“Do you have a pen and paper handy?” Mrs. Samuels asked.
I was quick to find them and wrote down the address I was given. My pulse was racing faster when I hung up and stared at the piece of paper in my hand. Things were moving a lot quicker than I anticipated and from sitting in Professor Hamilton’s office only a couple of hours before, I was now about to get ready to go and meet with one of the most successful and richest men in the city.
“Shit,” I let out. “What the hell will I wear?”
A glance at my watch showed it was now after six and I was quick to go to my wardrobe and start flicking through the hangers. My usual student outfit of jeans and t-shirt wasn’t going to cut it for an interview, but there weren’t many alternatives. I was putting on the one smart, black dress that I owned when Bella came in the room.
“I thought you were off men,” she commented straight away.
“Huh?” I queried when I didn’t understand her.
“You look like you’re getting dressed up for a date,” Bella went on.
“No!” I exclaimed. “I have an interview.”
She frowned as she moved further in the room and dumped her bag on a chair.
“An interview with who?” she asked.
“Professor Hamilton set me up with the chance of a four week internship at Reed Commerce,” I told her. “I’m meeting the man in charge tonight.”
“Is your plan to flash your legs at him in the hope it will get you the position,” Bella let out in a teasing tone.
“Shit…, is it really too short?” I asked. “I don’t have anything else that will work for an interview.”
“You look smart,” Bella said. “But you also look kind of sexy to be honest. If I was a guy I know where I would be looking.”
“Should I change?”
“I thought you didn’t have anything else,” Bella commented.
“I don’t,” I let out in a despairing whine.
“Then just go for it,” she encouraged me and giggled. “It’s called using your attributes, isn’t it? The guy interviewing you might be dazzled by those impressive curves.”
A glance at my watch now showed that it was after six thirty. If I was going to make it to Conrad Reed’s home on time there was really no choice but to go with what I was wearing. I walked inside the bathroom and opened the cabinet above the sink to grab a brush. The mirror on front of the cabinet got me a view of my reflection as I ran the brush through my long dark curls. I considered putting on some makeup, but eventually decided not to bother and took one last look at my appearance.
“It’ll do,” I said then walked out of the bathroom.
I quickly slipped on my only pair of heeled shoes, grabbed my bag and walked to the door.
“Good luck,” Bella said.
“Thanks,” I replied and turned to smile at her before leaving.
The nearest stop for the bus I needed was a ten minute walk away and it was around fifteen before one appeared. There weren’t many passengers on it and I managed to grab a seat right at the front. The hem of my dress hitched up my thighs when I sat and made me even more aware of just how short it was. I squirmed around as I tried to drag it down, but there was still plenty of bare skin on show.
Chapter 3
The journey lasted around thirty minutes, which gave me plenty of time to get a street map out of my bag and check the exact location of Conrad Reed’s home. It was in a part of the city I wasn’t altogether familiar with and that was brought home to me when I got off the bus. The surrounding properties looked like mansions and they only got larger as I walked in the direction of my destination. I needed to get the street map out of my bag only once to make sure I was heading the right way and my eyes opened wide when I got to the correct address.
“This is something else,” I let out under my breath when I looked through the massive gates to the property beyond.
It looked big enough to be a hotel and the ivy-clad front façade gave the building an impressive appearance. I moved to the intercom unit on the gate post and saw that my hand was shaking as I reached out to press the button.
“Yes,” a tinny-sounding voice came through.
“Oh…, hi,” I replied. “I’m here to see Mr. Reed. My name is Melissa Braithwaite.”
“Just one second.”
I assumed they were checking that I did in fact have an appointment as the wait stretched out, but the voice eventually sounded out again.
“Come on in.”
The sound of a buzzer was followed by the click of a small pedestrian gate unlocking. I stepped through and made sure to close it properly before walking up the gravel drive to the front of the building. There was an elderly man waiting at the open door for me and I smiled as I approached.
“If you come inside,” he said. “I’ll take you to Mr. Reed.”
He waited for me to step through the door before closing it and moving off. I looked around as I followed and couldn’t help being impressed by my surroundings. My heels clicked on the dark marble floor as I walked across it and I glanced up to see the sky through a large glass domed ceiling. The elderly gent moved through a door to a wood paneled hallway. I took in the beautiful paintings we passed and even though I didn’t know much about art, I assumed that each of them probably cost a small fortune.