Indie Girl Read Free Page A

was another far more compelling reason for me to be here.
    The other week, tacked onto the bulletin board in theCollege Counseling Center, was a flyer that made my head spin.
    There, a few months before the end of semester and the start of summer break, counselors would post potential internships at local businesses that students might be interested in taking on over the summer. There were also babysitting jobs and lots of assistant positions to entertainment-industry types who lived out here in suburbia. But there were often a number of service jobs as well—sales positions in neighborhood boutiques or cashier postings in restaurants and cafés. I had gone along in the hopes of checking out potential listings for anything to do with fashion: Maybe the Gap or Victoria’s Secret in the mall closest to my home needed some help over the summer. Maybe I could spray perfume on people who walked through the beauty floor at Nordstrom; it was beauty and not fashion, but at least I’d be close to gorgeous clothes. There would have to be
something
for me.
    And that’s when I saw it.
    A pale green sheet of paper and, on it, in medium-size gray font some words that had made me almost faint with excitement.
    Summer Internship Available at Celebrity Style. Top US national celebrity and fashion magazine needs a bright, talented, personable intern for the teen fashion department. The position entailsreceiving and returning samples, helping to manage the fashion closet, answering phones, and general admin duties. For the right person, there may be opportunities to attend product launches and accompany senior fashion staff to interviews and photo shoots. Familiarity with Mac OS X is crucial. Minimal pay, but a great opportunity for someone who is interested in fashion and journalism. To apply, please write no more than 200 words explaining why you are the right person for the job. Please submit all applications by March 15. Our Human Resources Department will inform the successful applicant by June 15. The internship will begin on July 1 and run for six weeks. Must be 16 years of age by July 1 to be eligible. No phone calls, please.
    This was it. This was everything I had ever wanted. I couldn’t tear myself away from the flyer. I would qualify well before July 1.
Celebrity Style
wanted me!
    When I had gone home that afternoon, I barely spoke to my mother before racing upstairs to my computer. All I had been able to think about all day was how I would wow the people at the magazine, Aaralyn Taylor especially, not just with my enormous knowledge of and passion for the subject of fashion, but also for my reliability, efficiency, and punctuality. There was no wayI couldn’t get this job. I would know each and every item of clothing on sight. And as for accompanying a senior fashion editor on an interview or photo shoot—I would be knowledgeable and smart and would do the magazine proud. I was
perfect
for it. I just knew in my heart that nobody would be able to do this better than me. I didn’t care that it was in West Los Angeles, and that I would have to take three buses and spend two hours getting there. It was a matter of fate that I had come into the College Counseling Center that day and seen the flyer. My parents had always taught me to believe in destiny, and here it was, staring me in the face.
    I peered intently at the screen. There was an application that had to be downloaded, printed out, filled in, and mailed back to a street address in Beverly Hills.
    There wasn’t anyone who would read this and who would doubt my sincerity. Aaralyn Taylor, I had decided, must have been like me once. My words would resonate with her. She would see a kindred soul in me.
    I thought of all that now, as I hung around the assembly hall waiting for the talk to begin. I had already sent in my application,
before
the deadline. I guess they had to give everyone a fair shot, but I was sure that my bid for the job was on the top of a big pile of them on