Stop Running Away

Chapter 7

Normally, doing a presentation would not scare a shit of me because I am confident with my work. I work hard on every detail so I know what I am going to say.

But not this time, apparently knowing Lauren might be here is doing no good to me. Only thinking of her presence makes me freak out as hell.

Now we are in an empty classroom next to the lecture hall where we will give our final presentation. It is 2:50 pm. We are supposed to go inside at 3:00 pm sharp, and we are the third group to present. Each group has 40 minutes to finish the presentation and 10 minutes to answer questions.

I am so worried things would go wrong and I might fail to answer any one of Lauren Campbell's tough questions regarding my part.

"You need to stop pace back and forth, Vic. I cannot concentrate right now." Caitlyn sats at a table right in front of me with note cards in her hand. I can tell she is nervous as hell.

"Sorry," I force myself to sit down, but still anxious. But the last thing I will do is mess up Caitlyn's mind. She is always nervous about public speaking.

"What happened Vic? This is so not you. Do not tell me you are nervous because of Lauren Campbell." Ryan is working on something with his laptop, he is responsible for adjusting all of our group's electronic devices.

"I am really on pins and needles right now." I lower my voice and whisper to Ryan's ear. I shake my head, trying to digest the anxiety in my system.

"Vic, listen to me, A, Lauren Campbell may not be present because she is super busy. B, even she is here, there is nothing you should worry about. We all know how good you are at this. And our group work is outstanding, we have got this, you have got this. Now it is the moment to impress them and show your abilities, all right?" The expression on Ryan's face is pretty serious. I am a little surprised by his little motivational speech. I realize that now he has become a grown man, not the same classmate who used to hang out with us from time to time. I am proud of him and grateful for his encouragement.

Thanks to one of my few friends, Ryan. His words are imbued with courage and strength. Now I guess it is time for me to be mature and responsible, so I say, "I am ready. Let's do this!"

Our group is being arranged at the back of the lecture hall to wait for our turn. There are so many rows of seats between us and the judges. This place is full of people. I cannot see what is going on in the front row. And I have no clue if Lauren Campbell is here. I have no idea why there are so many people in this fucking lecture hall.

Finally, it is our showtime. Caitlin high-fives Ryan and me. "Break a leg!" I tell Caitlyn and adjust the collar of her blazer. She is the first to go.

When Caitlyn starts, I realize that she is clearly in shock. She is looking in my direction with a wryly face. I frown, worried about if there is anything wrong. Luckily, in just a flash, Caitlyn turns her head back as if nothing happened and resumed her presentation.

Caitlyn does a really good job. Her pace is moderate, voice is clear. She did not miss any part that was supposed to be talked about. But I don't why she looks bothered when she comes off the stage. She passes the projector remote to me, and looks me in the eye, she says: "Just do it as usual, and do not look at the audience. I trust you."

As I walk up the steps, I still think the only reasonable explanation for Caitlyn's behavior is Lauren Campbell. Lauren Campbell may really be here. To be honest, I am kind of hoping Lauren would show up after talking to Ryan this afternoon. Hence, Caitlyn's worry is unnecessary.

However, when I am about to start, I am stuck.

I am more than shocked. I forget what I am supposed to say and almost forget why I am here. I just stand stiff on the floor right in front of my professor, my peers, and the audience. And of course, right in front of Lauren Campbell. Yes, she is actually here.

Only my stiffness right here has nothing to do with Lauren Campbell, but with the guy who seats right next to her, Oliver Parker.

I slowly turn my head to look at Caitlyn, she gives me the look like she is about to cry. She uses both of her hands to cover her mouth in case she makes a noise. Ryan's eyebrows are screwed together. He clearly has no idea what is happening here. He just waves his hands to me, indicating I to say something.

Right, I must not be bothered by Oliver. I look at the huge searchlight in the middle of the auditorium, trying to pull myself together. Now is one of the most important moments of my life. I cannot afford to screw it. I quickly catch my breath, look away from the light, nod to Caitlyn and Ryan, and begin my presentation by turning a slide with the remote control.

It actually went pretty well. I was not stuttered, and I was confident. I guess not making any eye contact with any audience helped me survive the presentation. I was afraid to meet Oliver's eye or even the possibility, that if I did, I would forget what I was saying. So I did the entire speech by looking at the far wall in the lecture hall.

The whole presentation won a long round of applause from the audience after Ryan ended the presentation. It is officially over. I am so relieved and I am so proud of us, so proud of our teamwork, so proud of our performance.

Only now I have to face the reality which is going on that stage again to answer questions from judges. Damn right, including Oliver.

"First of all, very well done. Congratulations."Professor Layton looks at us, proudly, "I am surprised to see that you guys connect our theoretical knowledge in the textbook with programming. It is definitely a creative move and a smart one."

Jesus, I am gonna cry. It is like all those wild awake nights and hard work eventually paid off. And it is totally worth it.

"Excellent work. I only have one question. How do you know local customers would like to pay more to a foreign cosmetics brand? I did not see data in this aspect. So, just wanna check." Oh my god, it is Lauren. She just takes the microphone and asks us a question.

Caitlyn and Ryan both turn their head to look at me, hoping I would have the answer.

And hell yeah, I have it! I noticed this problem either. So I cited a paragraph from a published scholarly article about how Indonesian people perceive foreign brands to back up our price strategy.

I take over the microphone, trying to make my voice sounds calm and professional, "If you look at the material we prepared, and turn to page three, at the bottom, there are data from Indonesia State Statistics Bureau, and a direct quote from Steve Wilson's article, showing that Indonesia domestic customers are willing to pay more for foreign makeup brands because they perceive them as higher quality products manufacturers."

Lauren nods her head while reading the material. "Thanks for your answer, by the way, good job." Did she say good job to me? Am I in a dream?

Finally, I gain the courage to look at Oliver. He is talking with Lauren with a smile on his face. With the light from the projector on his face, his jaw looks even more well-defined. Seems like they are acquainted with each other. I close my eyes for a bit and quickly move my eyesight to somewhere else.