Professor John Harisson sat in his office at the university, while working at his computer. Since teaching the motivational speaking seminar, a new workload swamped his schedule, causing him to forget about Ben.
*Ring*
At that moment, he answered a call on his cell phone. "Bob? Haven't heard from you in a long time. How's it going?"
After a brief chat to catch up, his old friend explained the reason for the call. Bob's media company was recruiting interns and a couple of people dropped out before interviews last second. As such, he wanted to know if John had any recommendations from his university.
Professor Harisson promised to call him back later that day after thinking about it, and hung up the phone. Following that, the professor spent a few minutes thinking of potential recommendations, even going through his class rosters to see if there was anyone suitable.
A while later though, he sighed, disappointed with the results. 'No one that stands out this year…'
As for Ben's seminar, he hadn't even considered it. It was a short seminar for freshmen and wouldn't be the type of place a company would recruit from. As for Ben's excellent performance, it slipped his mind.
As he was about to put the matter aside, planning to call his friend later and apologize for lacking good prospects, his arm knocked over a folder on his desk, splaying several papers out on the floor.
Reaching to pick them up, the professor blinked when he saw a student roster for the motivational speaking seminar. Some nagging feeling in his mind made him pick it up and take a closer look, which is when he read Ben's name, and slapped his desk.
"That's right! There was that boy!" He recalled Ben and his outstanding speaking ability. Although public speaking was only one skill among many that a media company might look for, the professor knew they appreciated talents, and preferred to raise them in-house. An internship was the perfect position from where they'd develop such people.
In fact, he'd planned to find something for Ben when they exchanged numbers, but not seeing him on a regular basis led to losing track of that. In any case, it was all solved now.
As he was about to conclude things, the professor realized there was one problem though: his friend was probably looking for undergrad juniors and seniors. Since Ben was a freshman, this internship was a higher level than what he planned to recommend him for from the start.
Yet, when the professor remembered his weak roster among the higher classes this year…he shook his head. 'They won't hire someone mediocre, and may prefer taking a risk on a younger talent. In that case…' The professor made his decision to give Ben the opportunity. Besides, he needed to return to work and didn't have all day for this.
Finished with that, the professor smiled, because he'd found someone to recommend for his old friend, and a good chance for Ben.
In a good mood, he put that aside for later. Rubbing his hands together, he got back to his daily work. "All right, where were we?"
He started typing on his computer: "Candice, can you squeeze them together?"
...
"That's it! This is why your cam stream is my favorite! Donation coming right up!"
…
HE WAS A PAYPIG!
***
Much later that day…
Ben sat on a casting couch…
…
Of sorts. He was sitting on a sofa in the media building's student lounge, but someone shot an Instagram story-selfie on it earlier, so the semantics still applied...
At that moment, he received a call on his cell. When Ben glimpsed the caller-ID, his eyes widened because it was Professor Harisson, someone he didn't hear from since the beginning of the semester.
He answered the phone and they exchanged pleasantries. Then, Ben's jaw dropped when the professor asked him what he'd been waiting all day to hear!
He stood up from excitement! "I'll take the interview! I'll do anything they want! Show me the MONEY!"
…
"Cough. No, no. I'm fine. Just got a bit excited. Yes, thank you, I'll be there." Ben hung up the phone and looked around.
All the students in the spacious lounge stared at him…
"Is he all right?"
"He either really likes money or he really likes Tom Cruise…"
"He sounds like he's going to a p.o.r.n audition."
…
Picking up his bag of books, Ben got up and walked out of the lounge, heading back to his dorm. This was a tremendous opportunity and he agreed to attend an interview the next day. Tonight, he needed to go home to do research on the company and prepare his resume. He didn't have much time.
***
On the other side of campus, Professor Harisson was rubbing his hands together again. "All right, where were we? The feet!"
…
He was working double-shifts!
***
A while later, Ben was in his dorm room, starting to research the company he was interviewing at: Hearth Communications, often referred to simply as Hearth. As he read the official website, Fariq exited the bathroom and noticed the large logo on Ben's monitor. "Why are you looking at Hearth, bro?"
Ben glanced at him. "I have an interview there tomorrow for an internship."
At this news, Fariq's eyes bulged. "For real, man?"
Unsure what the excitement was about, Ben nodded.
"How can you be so calm, bro? Hearth is no joke!"
"What's the big deal?" Although Ben attended the media school, he only chose the subject due to an interest in media products. He didn't know much about the leaders in the industry.
Fariq gasped when he heard this. "'What's the big deal?' Bro! That's one of the biggest media companies in New York! No, the country! It's a multinational conglomerate! They own everything..." He listed them with his fingers. "Newspapers, magazines, TV channels, you name it! It's so difficult to get an opportunity there, let alone for us freshmen!
After hearing all this, Ben gulped. Now, he was starting to get nervous.
Observing this, Fariq tried to ease the pressure. "Don't worry, bro. I'm sure you'll ace the interview and do amazing. After all, you…" He stopped as he tried to think of something Ben was good at… "You'll…f*ck your way to the top!"
…
Fariq cringed but it's all he could come up with...
Ben narrowed his eyes. "By God…he's right…"