"No, listen to me. You will learn quite a lot. What area do you want to go into? You were what? A philosophy major in college before you dropped out?"
"Yep. Not much you can do with that."
"I guess there’s always sales. Or human resources."
"Gross," Carter said.
"You don’t know any programming?" Grant asked.
Carter shook his head.
"I guess you could go into risk management. There’s always a human element to that."
"Whatever."
Grant patted him on the knee. "Hang in there. And buy some new clothes. You need to represent!"
19
Allie
Allie checked and double-checked the number in her bank account
Seventeen thousand dollars. She had been charging Carter more for the dog than she probably should have. It was adding up, especially since she had received the payment for taking the blame for the car accident as well. She knew she probably should have used the money to see a doctor, but she wanted to use it to finally,finally, finish her degree.
She signed up for the last of her online classes and checked the degree requirement to make sure that she had all the credits.
"What?" she muttered, her stomach sinking as she read over the pdf on the department's website. "There's an internship requirement?"
She sent an email to the advisor for her actuarial science major.
"This is a new requirement," the advisor said when Allie called to follow up about it.
"I can’t get an internship," Allie said frantically. "This can’t be right. Can’t I be grandfathered in?"
"We believe an internship is in our students' best interest," her advisor replied.
Allie could feel herself panicking. She was so close.
"It's too late to find an internship," Allie said. "This will delay my graduation date by a year!"
"Don't worry," her advisor said soothingly. "We have a relationship with Holbrook Enterprises as part of a condition for them being awarded a contract with our university. They have actuarial science, risk management, and accounting internships open for any student that needs one."
Allie let her head drop into her hands. She thought she was done with the Holbrooks! She tried to talk herself off the ledge. This could be a good move. Surely they had other offices besides the one in New York.
"It’s a great program," her advisor continued. "All the positions are in the New York City headquarters, so you're right there in all the action. No need to go out to the middle of nowhere. They pay competitively as well, which is nice since it is New York City."
"I suppose that's what I'll have to do," Allie said, her voice sounding hollow.
"It's a wonderful opportunity, and you'll be able to graduate in August. These last few classes are all online. You won't need to travel back for tests, because the final deliverable is a paper. You can relax and concentrate on the internship in New York. And if you do well, you may be offered a job! Isn’t it a wonderful opportunity?"
"But I have a job here," she muttered.
"Yes, I understand," her advisor said. "What is it? Waitressing?"
"Bartending."
"They have bars in New York. I understand it’s a big change, and change is hard, but this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Think about your future. Now I’m going to go ahead and put you in the system. You will be contacted by a Holbrook representative in the next day or so. I would start packing for New York City if I were you. We have a crop of students starting in late January. This is exciting and a little scary, but your future is wide open for you. Please send me your resume and cover letter, and you'll be on your way!"
