OKAY

The sun shone directly above Claudia and the rest of the rooftop suite, casting bright lights and shadows all over. This was not her suite, but she agreed to borrow it for the day like she always had done, for cheap. She admired the glass roof that funneled the sunlight in, enhancing the vaguely orange glow of the interior. The owner of this place was incredibly hipster and trendy, so he claimed, when it came to interiors. All the walls were orange, and everything else was cream colored. In the living room where she sat with the interviewee, she found herself attracted to the color schemes: striped orange-white sofas, like the one she sat on; an ivory coffee table, like the one she put her iced tea on; a large flatscreen television mounted on one wall, with a custom orange gloss; orange-yellow carpeting, and so on. She did not feel like matching her clothes with this trend, however, and so decided to meet the interviewee wearing a glaring red blazer instead.

Claudia gulped down the last sliver of her iced tea, setting it aside on the table in front of her. She reclined backwards onto the sofa, peering through a stack of manila folders on hand. "I hope you're comfortable," she told the interviewee, while gathering her own notepad, pen and papers from off the ivory coffee table separating them. "I'll start by asking you this: How did you find out about the OKAY?"

The room they were in looked really bright and colourful, especially with the glass at the top. It was probably brighter in here than it was inside. Yaris smiled at the warmth the light gave her. It felt really comfortable in this room. The seat was so clean it might have never been used before. It would be an amazing place to live in, she couldn't help thinking. She leaned forwards on her chair and put her arms onto her knees, supporting her head.
"How did you find out about the okay?"
Yaris pulled all of her attention to the lady. She was dressed pretty well compared to Yaris, who was just wearing jeans, a green top and pink trainers. It probably didn't matter and she certainly couldn't help it.
How had she heard about the okay? She was sitting at a bench in the town, which she did from time to time, but definitely not regularly, and she heard somebody talking about applying for a job. She needed a job, and since she hadn't really been educated properly it would be hard to find one. So she listened into the conversation.
"Well, I was sitting in a cafe, eating breakfast- I don't normally eat breakfast in a cafe. But I did that morning. So yeah, then this guy was talking about how he'd applied for a job, and there were more vacancies. So I thought, I need a- I mean I thought, it'd be nice to help people out, ahh..." acting like she was trying to get the job because she liked helping people wasn't working. It seemed like she really should tell the truth. "Okay, I thought that since I need a job j should apply. Also I don't really have many qualifications so it would be pretty hard for me to get a job. So I listened to their conversation more, and that's how. But that doesn't mean I don't like helping people, because I totally do." Yaris beamed as she finally finished stumbling all over her words. She sat back. She didn't realise she was this nervous until now.

Claudia could feel Yaris' apprehension. It was to be expected of adolescents growing up, who hadn't thought far ahead in life, past the thrill of the present. Funny, Yaris reminded Claudia of her awkward, shy self back in junior high.

"I appreciate your honesty, Miss Yaris," the interviewer said, smiling. "I know you're really nervous; you look like you could use a dri... oh, right! I forgot to ask you if you wanted iced tea when you came in; how thoughtless of me!" She tilted her head to the side, facing the entryway to the conspicuously orange-red kitchen. "Ernest!" she called out. "You mind getting a glass of lemon iced tea for our guest? I forgot to ask her earlier!"

A middle-aged man's voice called out from the hall: "Sure, on it!"

Claudia turned her attention back to Yaris. "Again, my apologies. I should have been more on point. Anyways, Miss Yaris, let's continue." She brushed the tip of her pen on her notepad. "You like to help people. Let me ask you: what is the best thing that you have ever done for anyone in your entire life thus far?"

"Ah, thank you!" Yaris said, happy to be getting a drink. She'd thought they were all alone in the building. She could hardly believe she hadn't noticed!
Thinking back, Yaris probably hadn't done any amazing stuff, and certainly nothing she had done so far stood out really. "Um..." Then again, when she'd run away, she did it for a good cause, and it was a pretty drastic measure just to help someone out.
"When I was nine, I lived with my auntie and my neighbour, Jack, was being bullied by his parents."
Yaris rubbed her hands together. This already was sounding better than she'd remembered it.
"Well, as you can imagine, he wasn't happy there. He was homeschooled, so it wasn't like he knew many other adults he could tell. So he decided to run away. Well, I was younger than him but I'd also spent a lot of time gardening and stuff. He seemed like he would be really lonely or something if he went on his own, so I went with him."
She thought back to how guilty she felt for her auntie. "I went back a week later to tell my auntie I was okay, but it was quick, but at least she knew. I didn't want her to feel upset. It turned out there was no reason for me to worry about being seen by Jack's parents, since they didn't even call the police or anything." Yaris could feel herself getting upset, but she was able to hold it in. She smiled again to counter the tears.

Claudia nodded. "And do you hear from Jack...?"

"Not really. When he became a teenager he made other friends and slept until the afternoon and I couldn't stand it, it was so boring!" She looked up at the sky through the glass. "Why would anyone want to sleep all day? I don't know." She sat forwards again. "I see him every now and then but that's it. Also, if I had the chance to be with him now I don't think I would. When I'm on my own I can do whatever I like. If I was with him, I'd have to make plans, we'd plan to meet in the evenings for nothing, we'd plan to go along with one another doing nothing, it'd be pretty boring."
Yaris turned to look at the kitchen again, but the man still hadn't come with her lemon ice tea. It sounded odd, she'd had tea before but it was hot, and well, it just sounded strange. It would be really fun to try though.

At that moment, a tan-skinned man in a brown sweater and gray sweatpants came through the kitchen entryway, holding a tall, cold glass of brown iced tea in his left hand, and a plate of wafers in another. "Your drink, and some snacks," the man who was supposedly Ernest announced, setting the comestibles on the table.

"Ernest," Claudia said, "meet Yaris. She is one of the five people I'm tasked with interviewing this week for the Franchise. Yaris, Ernest."

"How are ya," Ernest greeted the interviewee, sticking his hand out halfway for her to shake.

"Ernest and I are here on official business for OKAY," Claudia continued, keeping her eye on Yaris. "Any information beyond that is classified. That is, unless you become a Freelancer. But I digress; I get the impression, Miss Yaris, that you like to blaze your own path, for lack of a better word."

"Trendsetter," added Ernest. "Wait, no-"

"Kind of a related question: do you like traveling?"

Yaris left the drink on the table for now. She shook Ernest's hand more energetically than she probably needed to. She was still smiling. "Nice to meet you!" She said, in response to him asking how she was. She seemed to think he said it as a greeting rather than a question.
Now that Claudia was speaking again, Yaris took a sip of her tea, then guzzled the rest of it. It was certainly tasty. She didn't ask for more though, since it would probably be rude or something. She didn't really know why it was rude. They could just say no. But it was a job interview, and she should just try to be polite. She held onto her cup.
"Yes! I love travelling, but if the job requires me to stay in one area I'd be happy to."

"Oh, you'll definitely love the travel opportunities that come with the job," commented Claudia. "Freelancing with our company can be done anywhere from the comforts of your own home to outside that comfort zone. We will go over that eventually, but first-"

"Would you like a refill, young lady?" Ernest finished, still sticking out the hand he just shook Yaris' with.

"It's very good, isn't it?" Claudia looked like she was dotting parts of her notepad. "That's a special lemon-orange brew we made. It fits the suite thematically. And hey, speaking of orange, what's your favorite color?"

"Yes please!" She gave Ernest the cup back. He seemed petty cool, still happy even though he was getting old.
Yaris loved citrus fruits, and it was sweet. She'd have to have ice tea again.
"I like pink because it's a happy colour, and yellow because it's energetic. I like to think I'm happy and energetic, so they are my favourite colours! I like a lot of other colours, but dark ones or grey not so much. Is orange your favourite colour?" It would make sense because of all the orange and cream decor, but the rooms could all be different colours. It might not even be her house. Maybe her favourite colour was red. I should have asked if red was her favourite colour first, she thought, but it was too late now. What if she hated orange? Or yellow? Did she just ruin the whole interview? She laughed nervously.

"Come to think of it..." Claudia put her left hand on her chin, submerged in thought. "I'm more of a purple person. Orange would be in my top five colors, though."

She saw Ernest leave for the kitchen. "Ernest, bring me some mint wafers while we're here," she called out after him, to which he responded with a nod.

"You are a very visual girl," Claudia commented, dotting her notepad rapidly. "Have you tried your hand at artistic expression? I wouldn't be surprised if you dabbled in some arts and crafts of your own." Now the interview-conversation was going through her area of expertise. As a way of showing her excitement, she grabbed a wafer and thoroughly chewed it whole, just as she always did to comestibles when she was stressed or in deep thought.

Yaris wondered why she was dotting the paper. She'd heard about a language of dots or something that blind people use, but she wasn't blind. Maybe she was just tapping it.
"I've never done any art, since I'm not good at doing... uh... small things with my hands."
Writing was something she'd hardly ever done, and if she could hardly scribble a note, she definitely couldn't paint a masterpiece.
"I like making things though. I made a rope swing near my auntie's house, and I can make clothes. I used to know this guy who had a knitting, wait, sewing machine. He used to knit but I found it hard. And boring! But it would be pretty cool to be able to paint."

"You want to learn how to paint, huh?" Claudia stopped dotting her notepad for a second. "Among other things. You want to learn how to express yourself more creatively, huh? That can be arranged."

She paused to glance at the kitchen entryway, having seen Ernest walk to and fro with a green plate of lime green mint wafers and a pitcher of cold tea. "Ernest's almost done with the food," she remarked. "He'll be but a minute. In the meantime...I want to get your opinion on pets and animals. I'm not the best animal person in the world and I can't stand the thought of having dogs or cats in my abode. But you have to admit, they're still adorable, right?"

Yaris was slightly confused. "I thought you were paying me, why would you pay for me to learn to do art too? I mean, it's great, it just seems too great! Animals are pretty awesome, keeping them as pets seems kinda mean but I can understand it. I'd love to look after an animal, but wouldn't it get bored living in the house all the time? I would." She laughed a little bit and poured out some more iced tea, and took a few sips. It tasted just as good as it did before. How much food was Ernest bringing anyway?

"I agree about the whole leaving-your-pets-in-the-house-all-day deal," Claudia answered. "That's why we take them out for walks outside and bring 'em with us for family gatherings and stuff like that. You've got a point - animals have feelings too, and I guess a lot of them don't want to be all cooped up inside a house. We at the Franchise deal with a lot of animals, by the way. Just so you know."

She saw Ernest coming from the kitchen with a last plate of lemon meringue-flavored...whatever that was. "I'm glad you asked about the art, by the way. I know it sounds like too good a deal to be true, but...believe me, we've got the resources needed to teach thousands of Freelancers basic drawing and painting skills. You'll be surprised how handy it comes in the field."

"I should know," Ernest said, setting the plate of lemon meringue-flavored, square-shaped...pies? down next to the wafers and pitcher. "Hope you like lemon-flavored...I don't know what to call those either, I just literally came up with the recipe, like, today. But trust me, it's really good."

"Hopefully," Claudia replied with curiosity. She grabbed one of the square pie-things and took a bite. "Oh my."

"Mind if I sit down?" Ernest pulled up next to her.

"I don't mind at all. You're a danged good cook, Ernest."

"You flatter me, Claudia." Ernest quickly cleared his throat and turned to the interviewee. "If I may ask a few questions of my own...what do you want to be when you grow up, Miss Yaris? Matter of fact, where do you see yourself in ten years' time?"

They had pets where she was going to work? Art would come in handy? Yaris started to wonder what kind of job this actually was. It sounded fantastic. She picked up one of the pastries and ate most of it in one bite. She finished it off and picked up another one but didn't eat it right away, like before, she didn't want to seem rude. Then she decided to take another bite anyway. It was really tasty.
"Hopefully I'll-" She swallowed the food that was still in her mouth, then continued, "I'll be helping out kids, and teenagers, who have run away, and stuff like that. I mean, I don't really have any adacemic qualifications, but I do know a couple of people who have run away, and I really think a lot of them, well, anyone who runs away, feels safer when they aren't on their own." She finished off the food that she had in her hand again.

"So those are your aspirations, then?" Ernest asked. "I see where you're going with this. Let me assure that if you take up this task, you had better be prepared to pull through with it each and every day."

Claudia, after wolfing a mint wafer down, added, "And so far you've got that drive! But...I think, we think that's not enough. No, if you're going to help people who have run away..."

She paused. This was about to get heavy.

Claudia eventually cleared her throat. "Well, before I get into that...what are your impressions of the Franchise so far, Miss Yaris?"

The room seemed to become more serious, so Yaris didn't take another pastry. She looked right at Claudia as she was speaking. "It seems awesome so far, especially with everything I'm getting out of it as well, plus you all seem really nice, but what were you saying?" The whole sentence sounded like it was just leading up to the question. Yaris picked up another lemon pastry and started eating it, impatient. She really wanted to know what Claudia was about to say!

"Miss Yaris," Claudia began, "you have to understand: Franchise work is going to be tough. Oh, sure, we have this sugary sweetness on the outside that attracts people with strong passions. But, and please listen attentively, we're going to expect you to put in your best effort, even beyond your initial impressions that we get from you. You want to help and provide comfort for the runaways, right? Well..."

Her facial expression exhibited a different calm than the materialistic, lazy calm shown earlier. Ernest sat in silence next to her, letting her do her thing.

"Miss Yaris...I have seen some crazy stuff. Are you familiar with the concept of bringing children into war? As soldiers?" Claudia the mediator, the therapist, was speaking.

Yaris stopped chewing whilst Claudia was speaking, and put down the other half of her pastry. She'd work as hard as they wanted her to, and it wasn't as though she was uninterested. But it did seem like they thought she'd find it hard.
"I've never heard of that happening before," Yaris admitted, speaking almost quietly now. It sounded horrible. She wasn't for war anyway, but this seemed to be very different. It was hard to imagine. And disgusting.