It’s still early November and we haven’t even gotten through the holidays but bringing in the New Year with the two of them, starting our year off together as the clock strikes midnight, I don’t think I’ve looked forward to anything more.
“Yeah, yeah I think we are.”
48
HANNAH
Iknow they say as you get older time seems to move by so much faster, but the past two months have quite literally flown by. I thought because we had some time off for Thanksgiving I would feel like we would have some down time but not once have any of us had a day to ourselves.
I’ve jammed in more credits and added an online course to help finish the coding for my program as best as I can. It’s ready for the final presentation that Dane has assigned to us and to say I’m nervous is a blatant understatement.
Most of the students are presenting a fake idea or proposing a product that doesn’t really exist. Others have taken someone else's product and plan to pitch to sell it to Dane and his selected group of colleagues to judge these presentations, grading them on knowledge, likability, creativeness, and overall marketing of said product.
The project wasn’t to create something to sell, the assignment was built so that we can find our voice and sell our brand. But this program is everything to me. Itisme. It speaksforme. Quite literally.
Ethan knows I’ve been working on this for quite some time. I haven’t shared anything with Dane on it.
I didn’t want any guidance, or favoritism or anything that could be viewed as unfair, especially with how serious things have gotten between the three of us over the last six weeks.
We’re still not public, that’s not possible for us, but we’re committed. Dane is never seen without a smile on his face and Ethan, well he’s an entirely different person. He’s my old Ethan again, the one before the accident, the one that doesn’t carry the guilt of the crash and the weight of the world on his shoulders.
He still hates working for his father, and that’s seemingly gotten worse. His father keeps putting more and more on him at the office, and still pushing him to get his MBA. Ethan is working longer and longer hours, barely passing the classes that he doesn’t want to take, all to appease his father that will actually never be pleased.
I hate this situation he’s in, but he insists it’s for the best.
At least lately, when he comes home to the two of us, I shower him with love and Dane somehow makes him laugh so the frustration of his day job and dealing with his father seems to fade quickly.
Usually we stay at Danes because he has a condo with a doorman and security, whereas our apartment is typically swarming with other college students and the one time Dane came over he got caught leaving our building the next morning.
Luckily no one saw the apartment he left from but there were rumors that he was seen leaving the building so that no longer happens.
I take a deep breath as I watch my reflection in the mirror. My presentation is so deeply personal, it exposes me more than my scar does. This program means everything to me, to the world of ASL speakers and people like me that feel trapped andsilent. It’ll help ASL speakers grow into the corporate world more naturally, without feeling set back and left behind.
When Dane informed the class that everyone would have presentation time, there was a brief glance in my direction and it was the first time I’ve ever seen pity when he looked at me.
Because, of course, how am I going to sell myself to someone.
I knew instantly I had to keep perfecting my program and now it’s finally ready. Sure, it still needs work but it’s not like I’m selling the actual program. I’m making a statement.
I might be silent but I have a lot to say.
The class presentations are long, not because you get so much time to present, but because they have to cycle through so many students.
At the beginning of class Dane informed everyone they had two minutes to find a way to convince the panel to invest in them.
The assignment was not a real pitch, so the shock factor that Dane sits at the front of the class with Christian Ford of Ford Enterprises and Baker VanBuren of VB Technologies we were wholly unprepared for.
I’ve met Christian before so he’s not as intimidating in this setting as he should be. But Baker VanBuren is the CEO of VB Technologies that specialize in utilizing technology for advancement in major medical breakthroughs. I’ve read about him and his company in multiple different magazine articles and his company is nothing short of amazing.
They were introduced as great friends and colleagues of Professor Campbell's and part of the grading panel.
So, if someone wasn’t nervous before, they sure are now.
A majority of the class has already gone, Ethan just finishedand he presented an idea he had for a mobile application that mocked the fantasy football league, but for baseball. Ethan isn’t the most dynamic personality because he’s reserved, but when he talks about baseball he shines. So, although his product was far-fetched and a bit silly, the panel liked him.
Which is the whole point.
I look friendly because I wear a smile but when I can’t speak most people don’t give me a chance.
