As I stood before the looming building the next morning, I felt the urge to pee my pants. I wasn't known to be anxious. In fact, I was the calm one of the family, especially considering my mom was our resident panicker.

But this... this was different.

I heaved in a breath, hitched my purse on my shoulder, and forced myself to move forward. Walking through the glass doors made me feel sick. Suddenly I didn't know where to go or what I was doing. Oh God, people are looking at me. Where do I go?

"Hi, welcome to Fabled Publications. Can I help you?" I looked to my right to see a young man sitting behind the desk.

"Yes, hi, I'm Talia Parker. I'm here for the spring internship at Close Up."

The man smiled before reaching to his right. "This is your temporary name badge, that's your key to getting into certain areas. You'll get an official, permanent one after your orientation. Close Up is on the thirteenth floor. Once you get on that floor, you'll go straight through the glass doors and check in with the secretary there. Any other questions?" I shook my head, taking the card from the man. "Alright, you have a good day."

"Thanks, you too!" I made my way to the elevator doors, following everyone's lead by swiping my card across the sensor. I've never felt more official.

Punching the button that read 13 once I was in the elevator, I made my ascent. Suddenly, I felt like I was going to vomit. Relax, Tal. Dream job. This is your dream job. Be happy. Pulling on the edges of my blazer, I plastered a smile on my face that quickly disintegrated. Yeah, your dream job until you screw it up.

The elevator eventually came to a halt and I stepped out. A tall, glass wall greeted me with frosted letters that read Close Up! A stylish woman went through the glass door, barely looking up from her folder of papers. Another lady strutted by, pulling a pen from her bun and scribbling something down on a giant poster, before handing it off to a man who came rushing out the door towards the elevator. Towards me.

"You lost?" He asked me, probably noticing how I had barely moved forward.

"No, I'm here for the internship," I told him, pointing to my name badge. He did a once-over and I scowled at him.

"Right," he let out a single breath of air that resembled a laugh. "You better get in there then." He quickly moved around me. Pulling my blazer and brushing down my skirt, I made my way to the front desk and introduced myself.

"Welcome to Close Up! I see you already have your badge, here's your folder," she passed me a sleek black folder with nothing but the words "Close Up!" and "Talia Parker" written on the front. "The other interns are waiting in the Conference Room B to your left. Georgia will be be in in ten minutes."

Thanking her, I made my way to the conference room. Just like everything else on this floor, the walls and doors were glass, the fixtures a crisp silver, and I instantly felt like a stiff lawyer walking in with my blazer. Everyone in the room was wearing trendy, fashionable pieces. There were four people total sitting in the room and as I came in, nobody said a word as I came and sat at the closest empty chair. The guy across from me was reading Close Up! and I could tell it was their most recent magazine. By the way his forehead was scrunched up, I assumed he was probably reading the article about making your heels comfortable. The girl next to him had short, black hair in tight twists and her neon top was a stark contrast against her dark skin. She had her folder open, flipping through each page, and writing her moleskin notebook. She looked effortlessly chic. There was another girl next to her in a pale pink sweater and she was scrolling on her phone. I caught a glimpse of the Pinterest app opened as she pinned a wedding dress. The last person was the guy beside me who was wearing a blue and yellow striped tie and I was trying to decide how I felt about it, when another girl burst through the doors. Her blonde hair was in a disarray as she hurried to straighten out her skirt.

"Am I late? Have we started?" She panted, taking the seat next to mine.

"No, Georgia Duncan isn't even here yet," the girl in neon said.

"Oh good. Traffic was awful and the subway was so crammed, I couldn't get out at the right stop, it was the worst." She leaned back in her chair, ripping off her floral scarf. Heaving a breath, she looked over in my direction as her brows furrowed. "Were we supposed to be more dressed up?"

"What do you mean?" Pink Sweater asked.

"She looks like she's supposed to be at a law firm." The other girl jutted her finger in my direction and I instantly felt my cheeks burn.  Eva and I thought this look would let people know I meant business, but apparently it showed the wrong kind.

"I didn't know that we were supposed to be more casual."

"Not casual," she said. "Chic."

I looked around the room, but nobody seemed to really mind that this girl was telling me that my outfit choices sucked. Alright-y then.

"I probably would have worn the same thing," the girl in neon said. "My cousin works here. He gave me the general idea."

Floral Scarf looked like she was going to further the discussion, but before she could utter another word, a tall, regal looking woman walked through the door, an assistant trailing behind her.

"Good morning everyone, my name is Georgia Duncan. I hope you all found your way here alright." Her voice held an authoritative tone like I've never heard before. If I had any doubt before what the editor-in-chief was going to be like, I knew now.

"This is my assistant, Lea. If you have any questions, you can refer to her directly. But to start us off, would any of you like something to drink? I'm thinking a coffee."

I rose an eyebrow. Weren't we the interns? Coffee runs, at least in movies, were the interns' job.

"Everyone is looking rather shy this morning. Why don't you bring an assortment?" Lea nodded again and hurried out of the room, while Georgia Duncan sat at the head of the conference table.

"Before we begin, I think we should do introductions. I know, I know, it's right out of elementary school. However, I believe it's a necessary step. Let's begin with you." She gestured to the guy across from me, who quickly cleared his throat and sat straighter.

"Hello everyone. My name is Thomas Baker." We all waited for him to continue on, but he looked like he had nothing else to say.

"Thomas, why don't you say something about yourself? Where you're studying, where you are from, anything is good," Georgia Duncan asked, but it didn't have that coaxing, motherly tone.

"I'm studying at Columbia, but I'm originally from Virginia." I was beginning to get the impression that Thomas wasn't going to be much of a talker.

Georgia Duncan merely nodded towards the next girl in neon to continue on.

"Hi, my name is Halle Allen and I'm studying at NYU in Multimedia Communications. I was born and raised here and my cousin, Jake, actually works here," Halle said, gesturing towards Georgia Duncan as if she expected her to be excited or impressed. Georgia Duncan remained indifferent.

"Hi, I'm Avery and I'm from Georgia." My eyes widened as Pink Sweater, or Avery, talked. I had never met a Southern belle before in my life, but I had a feeling I was looking at one. "I was studying at UCLA and I can't even begin to describe my excitement for this opportunity to be interning under such an astounding leader and editor." It took everything in me not to cough out a "suck up".

Georgia Duncan's face didn't even alter. She just kept a polite, but business-like smile on her face as she pointed to the male beside me.

"Hello," he coughed and cleared his throat and I thought I could see sweat forming on his brow. "Name is Zach Hastings. I'm from Maine, currently studying at NYU." He shifted uncomfortably and looked at me as if begging me to take over.

"Right, hi, my name is Talia Parker, I'm from Phoenix, Arizona. I'm studying Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College."

"And, last, but not least," Georgia Duncan pointed to the girl that came in late and called me a lawyer.

"Jane Smith," I looked at her incredulously as she continued on. "I'm from the Bay Area, studying at UC San Francisco."

Jane Smith? That sounded right out of a spy movie, Mr. and Mrs. Smith I think it was. She probably wasn't even a real person. Just an alias here to question my fashion choices.

"I'm glad we did these introductions and I look forward to meeting you all individually. The team here at Close Up! is a very close knit one. I hope you all find that as well," Georgia Duncan said before she turned on a PowerPoint presentation and began to describe our daily tasks and jobs. While each of us were communication majors, some had a main interest in photojournalism, others production, and some, like myself, were into actual article writing. After describing the foundations of Fabled Publications, we were escorted out of the boardroom and through the facilities. I wasn't surprised to see bolts of fabric in one corner or a vision board leaning against an office cubicle, but then Georgia Duncan explained that we had access to three other floors of the building which contained the cafeteria, a gym, and an open workspace that was cubicle-free.

"As you can all see, this is where the majority of the offices are and where your desks will be." We followed Georgia Duncan until she reached one of the back corners of the main floor where six cubicles were.

"Each cubicle is assigned to one of you. Once you find yours, please log on to your computers and follow the directions in your handbooks. You each have an associate assigned to you for the first week for you to be thoroughly trained. Any questions?" Everyone remained silent. "Good, I'll be in my office if anyone needs me." With that, Georgia Duncan walked away leaving the rest of us to figure out things by ourselves.

One of the men, Zach, I think, started moving towards a cubicle.

"That was loads of help," he huffed, plopping down in one of the first cubicles.

"Georgia Duncan is a busy woman, you can't expect her to treat us like lost children," Avery said, circling the cubicles until she found her own area.

"I don't, I just have no idea what she wants from us. I know where the bathroom is and that's about it," he replied and I was instantly irritated with him. He was a part of one of the most prestigious internships in America and he was upset that the editor-in-chief wasn't spending all her time with us? I was more than grateful that we even had ten minutes with her.

"Well, I'm just happy that Georgia even talked to us at all," Halle, the girl in neon, said. I decided I liked Halle.

"Whatever, let's just get these computers figured out," Jane said, finding her cubicle and started the log-on process.

The rest of us followed suit. The cubicle was small and bare-bones, nothing but a phone, computer, and chair. Booting up the computer, I followed the instructions to starting my own Close Up! staff account which had me feeling all sorts of power. All I needed was this office space to be filled with pictures and papers and I'd be set.

Opening my briefcase – and noting I needed to get something a little more chic as Jane said – I pulled out a framed picture of me and my family and placed it on the empty shelf.

"I wouldn't make this place too cozy," I heard a voice behind me say. "It gets filled real fast with all sorts of craziness."

I turned to see a young lady with a black hair pulled into a slicked back ponytail and a houndstooth sweater. Her heels looked like they'd break my ankles and her skinny jeans were tight enough to cut off circulation. She looked pleasant enough as she outstretched her hand and said, "Hi, I'm Zoe. I'll be your mentor."

"I'm Talia. I'll be your intern."

She laughed and shook her head as she said, "Not my intern, exactly. I'll just be training you for a while and getting you settled. First thing you need to know is that Close Up! is fast. It's rare that there won't be work for you to do. If you feel like you're bored, just go to one of the department supervisor's and they'll give you something. Typically there's a lot of filing and editing reports. Second thing," she glanced down at my outfit, "you really need to go shopping."

Her words didn't really hurt as I had already heard that from Jane. Apparently there were many branches of dressing "professionally".

"I'm on it. Tonight after work."

"No, we need to go now. I'm not having my trainee get laughed at because she looks like a business stiff. Close Up! is professional and busy, but we're also a fashion hub. You gotta look the part."

"But don't I have to work?" I asked, pointing at my computer with an empty desktop.

"Your day today is mainly getting settled. We'll get you some projects soon enough, but you need to know how to do things. Come on, we need to at least buy you an outfit for the day. You're what, a size 6?"

I looked bewildered as she had perfectly guessed my size.

"I work in the fashion department. You learn how to size people just by looking at them. Come on, let's go Talia."

I immediately trailed after her as she led me towards the elevator and up to the sixteenth floor.

"I thought we were going shopping?" I asked Zoe as she headed towards the front desk.

"We are," she said, throwing me a wink. Instead of stopping at the front desk, she turned to the left and walked straight to the dark oak doors that loomed ahead. Pulling one door back, she gestured for me to go in. "After you."

Glancing at her precariously, I made my way through the doors.

It seemed to go on for miles.

Rows of clothing, shoes, and accessories were neatly organized as people ran through, snatching different pieces and then bolting back in different directions.

"Alright, let's get started. First things first... we need to get rid of those shoes."

I glanced down at my heels and looked back up at Zoe.

"They're way too clunky. Have you ever worn a stiletto?"

The day had hardly begun his was going to be a long day.

-----

MY LORD PEOPLE I AM SO SORRY.

I understand this is, what? Five months overdue and I apologize. When school, job hunting, university applications, and general life gets in the way, writing can become a bit difficult to get around to. Not to mention filler chapters such as this can be a mite difficult to write. 

But don't worry. Now that introductions are over with, I can get started on the fun part.

Oh yes. It's time for a little flirtation and general teen fiction stuff. Party central over here.

Hopefully it won't take too dreadfully long for me to have the next chapter up. I already have some ideas for it so it'll be pretty good :)

Thank you for your patience.

Stay classy,

- Kate