Mind to Metal

Chapter 12

"Don't say a word."

Kendra cackled as she took in the sunburn on my face, shoulders, and arms.

"It's not that funny." She nodded her head in fake agreement. She lightly touched my arm and I jerked away.

Sarcastically, she said, "Yeah, people look like tomatoes all the time." I glared at her harder. I bet you wouldn't be laughing if you were in my place, Turd Nugget.

My appearance didn't escape the eyes of my coworkers either. James, Dominic, and Peyton took their turn when they walked in. Soon enough, I was laughing along with them.

See? I know how to make friends. Take that universe.

A few minutes later, the clock struck 8:00 am. General Hemingway made an entrance by thrusting the double doors open. Everyone not already at their desks rushed to sit down. The room became dead silent. Soon enough, the General gave everyone their tasks and we were on our way. Over the last three weeks, the process became habitual and unwavering.

However, General Hemingway was uncharacteristically unorganized. She was scatterbrained. She turned down her intern for the day to pursue her own work instead. She separated herself from the rest of the interns by moving to a corner of the room and dominating the area. I thought of going over there to help out or investigate but I thought; one: I didn't know her that well to hear anything personal about her, two: it was not professional, three: she looked too intense and would scare anyone off. She looked like she would wrestle an alligator and win.

I scrunched my eyebrows when I saw Saturn packing up. She read my mind and answered before I asked.

"I am shadowing a full-time worker today. So, I'll either be doing a lot of busy work or make lots of progress on Clash of Clans. I'll hope for the best." She crossed her fingers then scooped up her belongings.

With my social attitude alive and ready to mingle, I moved a few desks closer to the larger group I usually worked with. James, Dominic, Peyton, and others offered me a smile and encouragement in my decision.

"Look at who wanted to join the party? Finally! We thought you would never break from your closed off bubble," James commented.

"Look at us! We are going to get so much done," Peyton added. Not, my thoughts whispered.

I knew from watching them that they never got as much done as I could by myself. I spent most of my time working on my online classes or another program while they caught up. A spot in my mind was jealous when I heard them laughing or collaborating harmoniously. About once a day, they would make a breakthrough, creating cheers throughout their group. This resulted in a wave of shushing from everyone else, including me. A part of me desired to change from the outsider group to the "in" group of friends. Saturn and I were a good duo, but maybe we could be part of something bigger. Something that we could keep even after this internship ended.

What was the point of working separately if we both had the same task? Plus, we still got paid the same, so what was the point of me working ahead?

Plus, working ahead would have tempted me to do more research on Ben and plan my hacking endeavor. With more investigation, I discovered that this whole building was built with layer upon layer of data protection. Everything was heavily encrypted from the outside, so if you didn't know what file or information you were strictly looking for, you were screwed. If you did, you still had a long time of hard work ahead of a hacker to obtain what they needed.

Saturn had found out about my investigation into Ben Harris on Sunday night. She suddenly grew ballistic. The look in her eyes was enough to make the most fearless human retreat into submission. She growled about how this summer was for me to discover myself. It was not an option to linger in the past. In her heart, she truly wanted me to grow as a person and pursue the career of my dreams.