Part 3: [Job?]

(Nicole's POV)

Two weeks later

For the past two weeks, I hung out with Yugi and his friends. Much like the first day of school, they would take me out after class to go over the class notes and help me put them into English. With all the study sessions, it didn't take long to learn that Yugi was very interested in ancient Egypt. It seemed kind of weird and he kept asking me if I knew anything about ancient history. No matter how many times he asked, I always had the same reply,

"Yugi, history was never my favorite subject."

One day, he even asked if me wanted to see an ancient Egypt exhibit at the Domino Museum. I managed to buy time telling him I had things to do with my mom over the weekend and maybe could catch it another weekend. It was cool to learn after school one day that his grandpa owned a game shop. Yugi and his friends got me started on a game they all liked to play called Duel Monsters. I had dabbled a little into Magic the Gathering back home, but this was something totally different. With their help, and the game shop's stockpile, I built myself a deck and started dueling. I started getting pretty good and after a while I even proved to be a good match for Joey. The feeling was surreal. I was enjoying myself so much, I had forgotten all about the issues with my dad. Maybe my mom was finally right. Maybe this was the place I could finally set roots?

I also stayed away from Kaiba for the most part the past two weeks. The only interaction I bothered to dabble in were the texting conversations in our computer tech class. A lot like the first day, he would send a code string my way to look through and debug which was interesting to do. But as to why he was doing it still escaped me. I dropped a page of notes on his desk as the bell rang to end class.

"You know Kaiba, if you are going to keep asking me to grade your little protégé's work so you don't have to, I might have to start charging you a portion of your proceeds." I joked putting my bag over my shoulder.

"And what would you be looking for as far as payment?" he questioned. The way he asked caused me to pause. Was he serious?

"Well, I am trying to save up for college and some official C++ certs. So, say a quarter of whatever take Little-Timmy is paying you to teach him?"

"And what would you be looking to major in when you do go off to college?"

"I really don't know... Both my folks were technology people. I will probably do the same thing so either computer engineering or some kind of computer science." I shrugged.

He leaned back crossing his arms over his chest, "Have you thought of applying for any technology internships?"

"Not really... My mom and I... move around a lot with her work. I'll probably focus on getting one when I graduate and start college."

"That's a shame really.." He sighed leaving the bait dangling as if wanting me to inquire further.

"Alright. I'll bite. What is such a shame?"

"I might know of an internship that would take care of both those things you mentioned, but it is open now. But doesn't sound like you'd be interested in something now?" He shrugged getting up and putting his bag over his shoulder.

"Even if I was Kaiba, why aren't you going for it? Sounds like you and I have similar interests in a possible career. Unless you want competition for it?"

His demeanor swapped to a look of agitation for just a moment before he chuckled as if amused, "You could never compete with me Silvers. The job I was talking about was my company hiring someone to work for me."

To say I was confused was an understatement. There is no way this guy owned a company. He was my age for crying out loud! He probably just means the company he works for! But a company wanting to hire an intern for what would be another intern sounds crazy!

"Here," he held out a manila envelope, "I picked up the English version of the application. If you are interested, fill it out and bring it back. If not, it's your loss."

With that, he took his leave. I waited a moment before walking out myself. I noticed the small group waiting near the bike rack.

"Hi guys." I announced taking out my bike lock key, "You all waiting on me?"

"Yeah. We were trying to figure where we wanted to go to do the class notes." Tea grinned.

"Let me guess, the boys are hungry and want to do the diner?" I couldn't help but laugh.

"I told you Nikki would want to do food!" Joey exclaimed grinning.

"Now Joey, I did not say I wanted to do food. I only commented that I was sure the current group consensus was food."

"Actually, it's a tie right now, so you would be the deciding vote Nikki." Yugi pointed out.

I pondered for a moment, "Since I know Joey will complain every additional moment we wait to get food, I vote food."

The group made their way to the local diner spot we had spent several afternoons. We were going over one of the classes when Joey picked up the envelope Kaiba handed me.

"What is this?" He asked.

"I-It's just an application." I replied taking the envelope from him and setting it off to the side.

"Application? For What?" Tea inquired.

"Some job at whatever place that Kaiba guy works for." I shrugged not thinking much of it.

"Did Kaiba give that to you?!" Yugi asked as if surprised.

"Y-Yeah he did. We have computer tech skills together. He said that the place he works for was hiring an intern and handed me the packet to put in for it if I wanted. No big deal. I might not even put in for it."

"What kind of intern job was Rich Boy offering you?" Joey asked as if defensive.

"I really don't know Joey. We literally talked about it for like two minutes. Kaiba didn't give much detail. I only know it has to do with programming work as he said it could help me get my certification for the C++ language and maybe even help with college expenses when they come about. Like I said, I might not even put in for it. Why do you call Kaiba 'Rich Boy' anyway? Are his parents like loaded or something?"

"Not his parents exactly..." Yugi spoke up, "Kaiba actually lives alone. He owns a pretty big company downtown that he took over from his dad some years ago."

"Wait, you're telling me that a guy our age owns his own business?!" I asked appalled, "How big are we talking? Like twenty employees? Forty?"

"I'd say a couple thousand wouldn't you Yugi?" Tea asked, "I know Kaiba Corporation has multiple sites around the country. But the headquarters is here where Kaiba is right?"

"That sounds right.." Yugi shrugged.

"And Kaiba runs it? Like legit runs it himself not just as a face but the day to day stuff?" I tried to clarify.

"Y-yeah. I mean he goes to school with us, but right after class he goes to Kaiba Corp to do work there. You'll notice he takes days here and there for business trips." Tea explained.

I took hold of the envelope and looked at it. If he owned the place, and he said he was looking for an intern for him, did that mean he was looking for someone to work with him specifically? Was this something I could afford to pass up?

"Are you interested in this job Nikki?" Yugi asked breaking me from my thoughts.

"M-maybe. Kind of hard to pass up someone telling you they can help you pay for school and certifications? Anyway, enough about this thing," I put the envelope away in my bag, "I will think more about it tonight and talk with my mom. What I need to focus on are these class notes. There is no point in getting a job if I can't focus on my studies now."

The group seemed to take my subject suggestion change and followed suit.

(Seto's POV)

I was putting some things into my locker before class when I noticed someone coming my direction. Glancing over, I recognized Silvers.

"Did you make a choice already?" I asked swapping out a couple items.

"Sort of. I just have a couple questions." She shrugged.

"Questions? Like what?" I questioned not taking my eyes off my current task.

"Like, why me? As much as this seems like an amazing opportunity, I have to ask why you are asking me to do it?"

It brought me to pause. Why her is a good question. Of all the professionals I could hire into such a spot, why am I offering it to her? "You seem to have some talents I think would be very useful if you had the chance to work with them."

"Talents? Debugging syntax issues? Seems kind of basic to me." She turned so her back was leaning against the lockers and she was looking up at me. Her eyes were about as dark as her hair, and they looked like they knew more things than a girl her age should.

Focus on the task at hand! "That may be part of it," I pointed out closing my locker door, "But I was more interested in the combination of the syntax knowledge you seem to have with the speed in which you can read."

"My reading speed?" She asked cautiously.

"Yes. You're on your..." I did the quick mental math, "fifth book in only two weeks? You work through the text at a much faster rate than normal people. Same goes for coding strings. You reviewed and corrected a several hundred-line section faster than when I had a small team do it together."

"So, all the strings you were sending to me in class. They were tests? You were testing me against other people?"

"Yes. I had a theory that you could work faster than what was considered 'normal' so I had to test it."

"And I passed?"

"You outdid a group of four professionals on multiple occasions, so yes. You passed. It's made me curious as to what improvements you could make if I had you look through other things we are working on. You could possibly save me a decent deal of production time and labor overhead."

"So, the job is more a professional debugger? Not like some personal assistant?" She asked adjusting her bag.

I was starting to get agitated with this line of questioning. If she wanted an easy job, I didn't need her! "Silvers, I already have a secretary for my administration needs. So yes, I am looking for someone to do some of the more technical aspects of my job so I can focus other projects. Is that a problem for you?"

"Nope, quite the opposite actually. I wanted to make sure you wanted something legit. Not just a coffee lackey, so," she held out the envelope I gave her yesterday, "If you will have me, I'll take it."

Something inside me was... thrilled? I was interested in seeing this girl more than one class period a day. I took hold of the envelope and slid it in my bag. "I'll give it to my HR rep and will let you know a date once they look things over."

"Perfect! If you don't mind, I believe we both have classes to get to."

With that, she rushed off leaving me to my own again.

Why do I feel like things as I know it are about to change because of this?