The next day, all the interns, or nooglers as they had been labeled, were gathered on the bleachers again. Mary Jane had ditched her high waisted red shorts for a pair of black yoga pants and a plain, white t shirt.
A rather tall man with an afro was stood before them. Mary Jane thought he was a rather interesting looking character, he was quite enthusiastic. "Welcome, to day two! I'm Sid, eight year Googler. You guys are new Googlers, therefore you're Nooglers." A few people, including Mary Jane, laughed a little, but most of the interns looked at him as if he were stupid. Wow, tough crowd. "Now, this place is all about community and collaboration, so you'll be working in groups from here on out." He was about to continue, mentioning his own experiences, but he was cut off by Mr. Chetty grabbing the mic. Sid stepped back with a dejected 'okay.'
"You have five minutes, pick your teams", Mr. Chetty said simply before stepping down. Chaos seemed to erupt around them as the interns began rushing around, trying to 'advertise' themselves.
"Janey, team mates?"
Mary Jane turned to see Graham, rolling her eyes. She thought that she would be rid of him once she dumped him. Long distance wasn't good for a relationship, but Graham's bitchiness definitely didn't help at all. "No, thank you, Graham. I'm already forming a team wiiiiith", Mary Jane glanced around her, grabbing the first person she saw. "Stuart!"
The boy momentarily glanced up from his phone, clearly confused. "What?"
"We're forming a team, silly."
"We are?"
"We are", Mary Jane nodded, turning back to Graham, whose jaw ticked in anger. "Bye bye, Graham!" With that, she steered Stuart away.
"Who's that jerk?", Stuart asked after a moment.
"That jerk would be my ex boyfriend, Graham. Now, shut your cute little face and help me find us teammates."
"Does anyone wanna be on a team with me? Super fun! Really smart, but also very fun!" Mary Jane mentally cringed. The girl seemed nice enough, but not enough to catch her interests. She was in this to win. The two of them tried their best, but it was no use. Soon, the interns had slowly trickle out.
"What now?", Stuart questioned, defeated.
"I guess now we'll be paired with the other left over interns", Mary Jane shrugged, clearly disappointed with the revelation.
"Alright, Team Lyle!", the smaller boy with glasses said cheerfully. Oh, boy. "Follow me!" Mary Jane glanced over at Stuart to realize that he was already back on his phone. With a roll of her eyes, she had no choice but to follow after the rest of the group.
~G O O G L E~
Their team met up in one of the rooms, led by the very enthusiastic Lyle. "Alright, let's get some meet and greet up in this heezy!", the boy cheered.
Mary Jane blinked slowly, clearly confused. "Did you just say 'heezy'? Dude, that's so outdated..."
"Sorry", Lyle mumbled. Mary Jane took a seat next to Nick, shaking Billy's hand when the blonde introduced them. "I'm Lyle and it's pretty much wysiwyg, what you see is what you get." Was he seriously using text talk? Mary Jane couldn't help but to cringe. "Been here at the Goog for four years, working on seven projis en este momento", he continued.
"Wow, seven projects?", Nick asked in surprise, seemingly amazed. Even MJ was slightly impressed.
"Well, they ask and I dos it. I'm a people pleaser, especially with the ladies, ma mercedes." The last two words were directed towards the darker skinned girl and Mary Jane, but neither of them seemed to know what he was saying, and both looked rather uninterested. "So, yah, it's all good in Lyle's hood, ya heard? Questions?"
"Yeah, um, is Lyle gonna always be referring to himself in the third person, because, if he is, I might wanna punch Lyle in the face", Stuart said, sparing a glance up from his phone. He looked pretty annoyed.
"Don't be an ass, Stuart", Mary Jane huffed.
Lyle gave her a thankful smile, quite a small and timid one. "Okay... tough, but fair, good note", he said with a nervous laugh. "Lyle's still a little nervous. Uh, sshh, first time manager â Lyle's a first time manager â I'm gonna stop doing that, cut it out, keep it to first and second person." Lyle seemed to be getting on to himself as he spoke, amusing the rest of the group. He clapped his hands. "Who's next?"
"My name is Yo-Yo Santos!", the boy that Mary Jane was unfamiliar with grinned.
"Wait, what kind of a name is Yo-Yo?", Mary Jane questioned.
"Yo-Yo, how about a high five?", Billy grinned, holding up his hand. The boy almost immediately flinched away, backing up. Everyone stared at him in confusion. "Whoa", Billy said, Nick following suit.
"Yo-Yo, easy, buddy, I come in peace", Billy frowned, holding his hands up in an 'I surrender' motion.
"Yo-Yo, did you get beat up a lot during school?", Nick asked.
"I was homeschooled", the boy said reluctantly.
There was a pause. May Jane furrowed her brows. "Did you get beat up a lot in homeschool?"
"Discipline is a very important part of growth, but my mother was actually very nurturing! For example, she selflessly provided me with the milk of her bosom until I was seven years old", the boy said quickly, almost as if he were trained to give that exact answer in a situation like this.
They all gave him confused looks, but Mary Jane was mostly just disturbed... and slightly grossed out. "I'm sorry, did you say seven?", she asked in surprise.
"So, it's like you're tying your shoe, climbing trees, blowing up fireworks... and you're right on mom? You've got mouth on mom?", Billy asked slowly, making an awkward hand gesture. The older man was trying to make sure Yo-Yo was serious. He just couldn't believe it.
"Breastfeeding leads to a higher IQ", Yo-Yo said matter-of-factly, nodding his head so that his mop of dark hair swayed slightly.
"Actually, the science isn't definitive on that yet", Nick cut in. Stuart looked up long enough to roll his eyes before shaking his head and going back to his phone, an action that made Mary Jane roll her eyes as well. "I was bottle fed, it never slowed me down. Vitamins are vitamins whether they come from a teat or a baba."
"Wrong", Stuart said the moment the blonde finished speaking. Everyone turned to look at him, since it was the first time he was actually contributing to the conversation and not just throwing out a sarcastic remark.
"Sorry, what was that?", Nick asked, turning to face the younger boy.
"Wrong", Stuart repeated simply. "the teat or baba thing? It's wrong, I just googled it, so, you're wrong", he said, using hand gestures towards the end. Mary Jane's face burned in second hand embarrassment. She felt bad for Nick. Being corrected by a kid like that? Wow, that must suck. Since Stuart had yet to introduce himself, everyone continued to stare at him. "Oh, yeah, I'm Stuart." He then slouched back down in his chair, going back to his phone.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Stuart", Nick said politely. "You know, you can't trust everything you read on theâ" Nick was about to give the typical 'you can't believe everything you read on the internet' speech, but Stuart cut him off once again.
"The Journal of the American Medical Association?", Stuart questioned with a raised brow. "Sounds pretty trustworthy to me. Says that breast milk has more nutrients and that those nutrients are easier to digest and absorb. Your confusion is understandable though, you err bottle fed", he said, looking up from his phone with a sarcastic smile, shrugging his shoulders.
"He's right, that's right!", Yo-Yo said eagerly. Mary Jane was pretty sure that he was only excited because it defended his weird childhood.
"Whoa, guys, where's all this hostility coming from?", Billy asked in confusion, not really asking anyone in particular.
"Where do you think it's coming from, you big tree?", Stuart asked, leaning forward. He was clearly making fun of Billy's height, which aggravated Mary Jane already. "Two sevenths of our team are made up of two old guys who don't know shit."
"You don't have to be such a little bitch", Mary Jane spat. She hadn't thought Stuart was so bad earlier, but now he just seemed like a jerk. "Do us all a favor and shut up, will you?"
"Wow", Nick mumbled.
"Okay, guys", Neha said as she stood up, trying to diffuse the tension. "I, for one, am very happy to have two strapping, mature gentlemen on the team."
"Thank you!", Nick exclaimed gratefully.
"I think you'd make very good Han and Luke. You know, cosplay? Costume play? It's where people dress up as their favorite characters. Oh, I'm Neha, by the way! But, yeah, work wise, your 'skills' aren't very relevant here â or in this millennium. So, stay out of our way, we're gonna do this shit on our own." With that said, she plopped back down. Mary Jane recognized her as the girl that she walked by earlier.
"Well, I'm loving this friction, that's how you get a fire started. I'm Nick and this is my pal, Billy, and, despite what you may think, we're here just like the rest of you, running down a dream", he said politely.
Since everyone else had already introduced themselves, Mary Jane figured she may as well do the same. The redhead stood up with a cheerful grin. "I'm Mary Janeâ"
"Like the drug?", Yo-Yo asked, making her roll her eyes. Stuart snorted.
"No! Why does everyone keep asking me that? Like the comic book character! Oh my God, I'm not doing this again. My name is Mary Jane Hiegler, sadly not Watson and most definitely not like the weed, I'm about to be a senior at Stanford and I'm used to working alone, so I'm not used to this whole 'team spirit' thing. If it were up to me, I'd be doing this on my own, so how about all of you stay out of my way when we're not working on a team challenge, in which I will eagerly assist you." With that, she turned to face Nick and Billy. "And, unlike the rest of these yahoos, I actually am grateful that you two are on our team. I eagerly await the lessons that you will teach me." She smiled before sitting back down.
"Alright, MJ, there's the spirit!", Nick cheered, holding up his hand. Billy did the same, and Mary Jane gave them both high fives.
Stuart couldn't help but to roll his eyes. He couldn't fathom why on Earth Mary Jane would want to hang out with Nick and Billy. They were so... stupid compared to the rest of them.
"Well, nice! Okay, Team Lyle!", Lyle cheered. Unfortunately, no one else cheered alongside him. "No? Okay, we'll workshop that, it's in Beta. Okey doke, our translate lecture is in fifteen minutes."
The group stood up to leave, Mary Jane following suit. "Are you really happy about those two old guys being on our team?", Stuart asked as they headed down the hall.
"Not everything can be learned in school. And, Stuart? I said: stay out of my way." It was nothing personal. Mary Jane was in this to win, not get distracted by overly cute guys.
February 24, 2019