Chapter 1: Impending Change
Lili tapped at her desk absentmindedly with her pen as her eyes wandered the lecture room, paying no heed to the vast number of graphs and statistics that were currently being projected onto the screen ahead. She let her eyes settle on a girl sitting two rows down from her, the one with her hair tied up in a ponytail with red ribbon. It was a nice shade of red, close to her favourite but only slightly brighter. A blue ribbon would have looked better with the girl's long, brown, wavy hair, in her opinion. She always thought the colour blue matched well with brunettes.
Lili had a sudden impulse to tie up her own hair with ribbon. She lifted her bag up onto the empty seat next to her and began to search its contents. Unfortunately she didn't have any ribbon. Lili made it a point to buy a new one after the lecture ended. She looked back towards the brunette. She had big brown eyes and olive skin with Mediterranean features. Italian perhaps? It was an international university after all. Wait, why was she looking at her?
"Miss Rochefort?"
Her head snapped up and she suddenly noticed that the entire cohort was looking up at her expectantly. And so was the professor. He didn't seem very impressed.
"Um, yes?" was all she could manage.
"Let me repeat the question," the professor began sternly, "What is the most important thing for a company to consider in their business plans?"
There was a short silence as Lili quickly scanned the content on the screen, her brain kicking into overdrive. It took just moments for her to formulate an answer.
"Judging from the data you're showing us right now, you could say that maintaining a consistent demand and supply for a particular product is the most important to consider. The second priority would be possibilities for expansion, and the third would be the upkeep of an exit strategy," she explained in perfect English.
The professor was silent for a moment. He hadn't been expecting an answer from her. Lili tried her best not to smirk.
"Adequately answered, please try not to get distracted," he finally said before walking back to the lectern where his notes were. Everyone turned back towards the front of the lecture hall.
Lili frowned. Just adequate? No. The de Rochefort's never settled for just adequate. She scanned the screen once again, more carefully this time around. It only took a moment for her to notice it.
"However that isn't the correct answer," she interjected, just as the professor opened his mouth to continue the lecture. Again the cohort turned towards her. Lili cleared her throat with a small cough.
"While the companies you sourced this data from are all widely known, they're still only subsidiaries. If you look at the business strategies from the holding companies, the companies that own and supply these smaller subsidiaries, you would see that the influence of science and new technology are consistently accommodated for in their plans in some way or another, most often through research and development.
"So why would they do that?" the professor tested.
"They do it because it prevents them from falling behind. The rate in which markets are becoming obsolete is rising at an exponential rate. Just in the past decade the market for conventional cameras was wiped out because of digital cameras. Even that market is losing steam as cell phone cameras rise in quality. And on that note when was the last time you saw an advertisement for a portable media player dedicated to audio?"
The room remained silent.
"My point exactly. When major companies don't invest in research and development, they get outrun by the competition and become obsolete. That's why its inclusion in business plans is often of the highest priority in most major companies"
The professor looked impressed.
"Very good input Miss Rochefort. It sounds like you've been reading ahead," he complimented before continuing.
Satisfied with the probability that the lecturer wouldn't be bothering her again for the rest of the semester, Lili went back to getting lost in her thoughts. What-ifs, penguins and food made up her usual cycle of thoughts. Once in a while however, she'd find herself thinking about her life- and how empty it felt. She had the wealth and aptitude scores to do anything she wanted. The problem was that she couldn't figure out what she wanted to do. Did she really want to inherit her father's company? Or was she only doing it because she didn't know what else to do? Was this what she was "meant" to be? Or was there something else awaiting her? With so many daunting questions and no answers to them, it was no wonder why she preferred to day dream about penguins in the Antarctic. Especially emperor penguins. Or better yet, emperor penguin babies. Cuuuuute!
An hour went by and the lecture ended. It was all stuff she already knew. Now she was tired and craving cream pasta. She hurriedly stuffed her notebooks into her bag and walked down the steps towards the exit.
"Ah, Miss Rochefort," the professor called out just as she was about step out the door.
It took all she had to not roll her eyes and sigh.
"Yes professor?" she managed to ask.
"The course coordinator, Miss Bélanger, has requested to see you in her office. I believe it's on the third floor of building one,"
Lili furrowed her brow at this information. What could the course coordinator possibly want with her?
"Have I done something wrong?" she asked tentatively.
The professor shook his head with a smile.
"No, no Lili, quite the contrary actually," he said.
When Lili's worried expression didn't change he gave her a reassuring pat on the back.
"Everything's fine Miss Rochefort. Just go and see the coordinator, everything will be clear then,"
Following the professor's advice she exited the lecture hall and began the semi-long walk towards building one. Try as she might, she was unable to defeat the sense of impending dread rising from her stomach. Lili never liked surprises. But something unexpected was about to happen, and there was nothing she could do to avoid it.
Author Notes:
I'm not sure how long this series is gonna be and whether or not I'll be able to finish it. Looking at my plot notes, i think it's gonna be fairly long. I really do want to finish it though. Maybe that's why I posted this first chapter on here, to try set something in stone. And who knows? Maybe good feedback will motivate me to write more.
Hopefully I can pump out a chapter per week. Hopefully. Because that's what every writer says. And then it ends up being months or, in the worst cases sometimes years before the next chapter comes out. I will try my best.
Please fave and review with good things. Or bad things. Just keep it constuctive plees don hurt mah fellens.