Page 17 of My Roommate from Hell
“All I ask is that you try your hardest to keep the peace between you two. People around the world are going to be looking at you and making up their minds based on how your relationship goes. I don’t expect it to be totally smooth sailing; almost all roommates experience some tension at one point or another. If you ever have any difficulties, you can come directly to me.”
She slides a business card across her desk. Her name is embossed on it in shiny black ink.
“However,” she says, as I pocket the card, “I understand this is a lot of responsibility, especially when it’s one you did not ask for. If this semester goes well, I will be an advocate for you in any way that I can. I understand you are looking to become a data scientist?”
“That’s right,” I say.
“Well, I happen to be good friends with the woman who runs the internship program at Google, and she has asked me to keep an eye out for any especially bright students.”
Is she serious? That kind of internship would be life-changing.
I’m speechless.
“Would that be something you are interested in?”
“Yes,” I say. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“Well, if this semester goes well, I’ll give her a call and put in a good word. If I sing your praises enough I’m sure she’d take you on.”
An internship like that would unlock a bigger future for me than I thought possible. Grades are important, yes, but sometimes the battle is more about who you know than what you know.
The greatest barrier to the future I want is that I have basically no connections. My parents were a teacher and an accountant, then coffee shop owners, and now Dad is back to being an accountant and Mom works part-time in an art gallery. Even with all the jobs they have they know basically nobody in the IT world.
This would solve that problem.
“Do we have a deal?” she asks.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It’s only hitting me now how much time I’m going to be spending with Zarmenus.
Like, he’s going to be here, with me.
A lot.
After I spoke with Dean Leeke, I came back to our room. I still can’t believe what she offered me. An internship at Google, all for getting along with Zarmenus. If I were to get that, my future would be set. It would burst open doors that might’ve been forever sealed shut.
It could give me everything I’ve ever wanted. I knew I made the right choice to not switch rooms.
The past few hours have been spent hanging out in our room, talking. We’ve kept the conversation surface level, mostly talking about TV shows we like. He said he’s been watching a lot of American TV to prepare for his trip here, so he’s seen most of the shows and movies I consider my favorites.
For the past hour or so, I’ve been trying to take a nap while Zarmenus has been playing a game on his computer. I like gaming as well; that’s not the issue. The issue is that he is playing it on what has to be close to full volume.
I know I could ask him to turn it down, but things have been going so well between us that I don’t want to risk that in any way.Plus, I now have the internship hanging over me. I can put up with a noisy video game for a few months if it means getting that.
I roll over so I’m facing the wall. I have already pulled my covers over my head for privacy. I wonder if I’ll ever be used to sharing a space like this with someone. I’ve always had my own room, so whenever I wanted to sleep I could lock my door and keep everyone else out. I never slept well at sleepovers; I was too self-conscious about snoring or generally being unconscious, and therefore out of control, around other people.
“Owen,” says Zarmenus, calling out over his game. I pull my covers down and sit up. Zarmenus has his legs up on his desk, and with one hand he’s eating a packet of Doritos. From the looks of things, he’s not the neatest eater. There is a circle of crumbs on the floor around him.
“Yeah?” I say.
“I was thinking we should go over some housemate ground rules.”
“That’s a really good idea.”
He laughs. On the screen, he shoots a rival until they die.
“What?” I ask.
