Firefly

14: career day

Chapter 14: career day.

Elena

"What's going on today?" I ask as we enter the multi-purpose hall decked with tables lining the four walls. Every table holds a poster of what looks like a university emblem. The tables are decorated in their own individual themes but altogether, the hall is filled with students exploring each table as advisors and volunteers from that particular university educate them about the programs they offer. 

"Career Day." Spencer sighs, taking the whole room into a glance. "Every senior has to go through with this. We get one whole day to explore what our careers might look like so we can make a choice we won't regret. It's basically mass career counseling initiated by the school." 

My phone vibrates in my pocket and I hear a similar vibration from Spencer's bag. We grin at each other before she starts making a clockwise tour of the room. I follow her because I have no idea where to start. 

"If you're interested in STEM," she points to one wall. "This is what you'll need to explore." She points to the next wall. "That one for Communication Studies, and the one opposite to us for Law and this one," she points at the one we're standing in front of, "For Arts."

"This is your forte, isn't it?" I ask her as she eyes the wall with a smile. 

She nods. "UCLA, Rhode Island, or Pratt. It's been a dream since sixth grade." Her smile tells how passionate this dream is. "Careers in the Arts can be difficult, but if you have the talent, it's worth it. There's going to be a lot of volunteering and internships to set the groundwork for a career. I want to be able to design for my own brand. I don't mind if it's small and less known. I just want to have something I can call mine." 

She doesn't know how proud she should be for knowing what she wants to do in life with so much clarity. I nudge with my arm, "What less known? Have you checked the number of views of that reel we posted of your artwork?" 

I pull my phone out as she blushes. We promoted Spencer's art on the Instagram page. It spurted with views overnight. It was already on a count of 516K views with 2000 new followers for the page. We'd celebrated it today morning with a grand breakfast at The Velveteen with Spencer's parents, Caleb, and The Velveteen's staff.

"I can't thank you enough, Elena. We both know this was your idea although I don't know why you keep giving me half the credit all the time." She loops her hand in my arm as I shove my phone back into my bag. 

"You deserve the credit, Spence. If god forbid, this hate club idea had gone wrong, would you have backed me up?" I ask her as she picks up a flyer from each university. She nods. "Then why would I not give you credit when it's going right? I wouldn't have started it if you had laughed it off. We co-founded the page. We're going to always divide everything it offers into equal halves. Success, failure, everything." 

She stares at me before giving me a warm smile. "Go figure your career out. I want you to get clarity too. And make sure you ask them questions." She nudges me to the next wall. I see her talking with the volunteer who explains Art with enthusiasm. 

The worst part about trying to hunt down a career choice is I don't even know what questions to ask the volunteers. They keep talking when I pause but I don't know if I like the subject they're referring to or not. I haven't loved any particular subject since kindergarten. But I haven't hated any either. I wasn't a straight-A student or a class topper, but I'd never scored below average either, much less worried about failing. Being a jill of all and a master of none has its share of pros and cons. I guess this was the con. 

"Journalism huh?" I see Caleb signing a workshop with The Princeton university. 

Caleb turns to me with a guilty smile. "It's not nepotism, I swear. I personally fancy Journalism."