Ambitious Pursuit

08

The next afternoon, each intern was at their own cubicle desk with computers and phones. Mariah was wearing black jeans, black boots, and a dark blue shirt.

"Welcome to the Google helpline," Chetty said. "You will man the phones for exactly one hour. Now, before you begin..."

"I'm so ready for this thing. I was up all night last night studying. This is where Team Lyle takes the lead." Billy whispered to Lyle as they fist-bumped.

"...icon accessing your account so that we can review your work later. The helpline is open now."

Phones started ringing and Mariah picked hers up.

"Hello, welcome to the Google helpline. My name is Mariah and I'll be helping you out today. Why don't you tell me what's going on. Okay, try deleting your cookies. That could be the issue. You've done it? Is everything working? Good to hear. I'm glad I was able to help. Of course. Feel free to call back if you have another problem.

"Good afternoon and welcome to the Google helpline. My name is Mariah and I'm here to help you with your problem. How can I be of service? You can't do anything with Google Drive? Try refreshing the page. Did it work? No? Okay, try logging out and logging back in again. Did it work this time? Great. Don't hesitate to call back if you need help with something else."

"Time's up!" Chetty announced once the hour had ended.

"So soon? Man, I was just getting warmed up here," Billy said.

"Good going here." Nick added.

"Is smoke coming off this thing?"

Lyle walked over and the team began high-fiving each other.

"Come on, ladybug," Billy told Neha as he gave her a high-five.

"Please submit your log files so that I may review your work later," Chetty told everyone.

"Happily." Nick said as he submitted his own file. "Hit the blue button."

"Where's that?" Billy asked Nick.

"Click the blue button. It's in the upper left-hand corner," Mariah said as she submitted her own.

"Mine's not blue. Mine's gray." Billy panicked. Mariah's face dropped as a disappointed expression crossed her face. "It's not... I can't click it."

Mariah's disappointed expression turned into a frown. "What?"

"No, the blue one. Not gray," Nick said.

"Mine wasn't clicking. Mine's gray. Is anyone else's gray?" Billy raised his voice as he asked the other interns.

"Did you not hear my opening remarks?" Chetty asked as he walked over.

"Yeah, no, I heard most of your opening remarks. It's just, I was -- I was getting in the zone. I was pre-gaming it," Billy replied nervously.

"I was very clear that you had to log in to your account so that I could review your work later."

Everyone was watching the conversation between Billy and Chetty.

"Well, the good news is that you reviewed my work now. You don't need the instant replay because you saw the touchdown live," Billy stated.

Chetty frowned. "I don't really understand that analogy, but I do know that attention to detail is of paramount importance here and my instructions were explicit. Now, if there's no recording, then it's as if you didn't even show up today."

Billy glanced at Chetty anxiously. "Except I did show up. I'm -- I'm sitting right here, Chetty."

"Well, according to your log, you're not." Chetty looked at Billy's computer and back to Billy. Mariah looked between them with an expression that seemed to be close to tears. "And since every intern must complete the challenge in order for your team to be scored, your team will unfortunately receive a score of zero."

"Zero?" Billy repeated in disbelief.

"Well done, Mr. McMahon. Perhaps next time more studying, less pudding." Chetty twisted the knife in his hands and patted Billy on the back, walking away moments after.

"Chetty, come on," Nick begged. "You're not gonna rip us apart with a technicality. He's right here."

"Oh, Billy, Billy, Billy. What have you done?" Graham asked with a sarcastic smile as he stood up. "It's you lot I feel bad for. It's really hard to get here. Some of you here are probably pretty intelligent. You deserve better. Sorry." He turned to Mariah. "Sweetheart, you would've had a chance with me as opposed to this situation with these losers."

Mariah glared at him. "Hey, douchewad. I'd take these losers over your pretentious ass any damn day. You don't do justice whatsoever to my mother."

Graham shrugged and gave her a smug smile as he walked away. He blew her a kiss and she flipped him off.

"It's all right, el mino. We'll get him," Nick said as he gave Billy a pat on the back.

"I studied for the test. I studied for the-" Billy repeated sadly.

Mariah turned to him and nodded. "We know you did. I'm sure you studied harder than any of us."

"Well, that's great. That's another win for team Graham," Stuart said from his computer chair.

Mariah let out a long, frustrated sigh. "There's only one challenge left."

"Even if we're perfect, it won't be enough," Yo-Yo told his team.

"We had 'em too," Neha added.

"We did, but you know, it's just a little hiccup. A little adversity, all right?" Nick tried.

Stuart shook his head. "No, Nick. Come on, face it. Look, Billy's a great guy, but he kind of blew it for us today."

"Yeah, I know..."

"The kids are right, Nick," Billy said as he walked in. "I just wanted to come by and let you guys know that I-I did study last night. I tried my best."

Mariah gave him a small smile. "We know you did, Billy. You did great, despite forgetting something incredibly important."

"It's just, uh, you know today on the phones I just..." He gave a small shrug. "It's my fault. And, uh, he was right when he said that you guys deserve better. I'm really sorry that I cost you." Billy glanced at the ground a moment before walking off.

Mariah ran after Billy, followed by Nick. They followed him outside and called, "Billy!"

"I'm just dragging you guys down. I'll be doing you a favor if I just leave," Billy replied as he grabbed a Google bike.

"Billy!" Mariah called a second time. "Wait! You can't just leave! We need you! I need you."

"I let the team down, Mariah," Billy answered as he rode his bike away.

Mariah stared at him as he rode off.

"Mariah, you okay?" Nick asked.

She shook her head. "Um, I'd like to be alone right now."

He nodded, giving her a comforting pat on her shoulder before walking away.

Mariah called her father, but got his voicemail. In a broken voice, she said, "Dad, I'm afraid it might be over. I failed Mom."

She hung up and fell to the ground, not trying to stop the coming tears.