chapter 8

"Back to the grind", Mary Jane said as she threw her bag down. 'Team Lyle' was back in their usual meeting spot now.

"What are you supposed to be? A stripper?", Stuart asked when he caught sight of Mary Jane. The girl was wearing a yellow body suit today, but she had a pair of blue jean shorts on top that stopped mid thigh. Her black ankle boots had heels on them that click clacked across the floor as she moved about.

"Don't be mad because I'm a body positive female", Mary Jane scoffed, flipping the white board over so that it was on a clean side. "You know, I'm a feminist. I can literally put you on blast on social media and have my followers attack."

"Yeah, please don't do that", Stuart frowned, looking back down at his phone.

"Power to the women!", Lyle cheered, throwing his fist up.

Mary Jane shook her head, lowering his fist. "No, Lyle, no. Anyway, what's our current challenge?"

"We have to design an app", Neha answered. She and Mary Jane hadn't spoken much, so Mary Jane made a mental note to fix that. She shouldn't be so focused on working here all the time, she should spend a little time getting to know her teammates too. You never know, they could wind up being her best friends some day.

"Before we do that", Mary Jane said, pulling a selfie stick out of her bag and hooking her iPhone up to it. "Everyone, gather around. We haven't taken a single team photo." A few groans went around before everyone huddled up — except Stuart. "Stuart Twombly, get your cute little ass over here!", Mary Jane huffed.

Stuart gave her a flat look, but, surprisingly, got up to stand with the rest of them. Neha looked between the two of them in amusement. "I ship it", she said. "What would their ship name be?"

"No", Stuart and Mary Jane said at the same time. Their cheeks heated as they glanced at each other, eyes meeting for a brief second before they both looked away in embarrassment.

"Everyone say Team Lyle!", Mary Jane said cheerfully, making a kissy face at the camera. Taking note, the others pulled silly faces as well, but no one else said the words. "That hasn't stuck yet? Really?"

"That's what I said!", Lyle shouted.

The group took a few more pictures before they felt they were ready to tackle the task at hand. "Alright, guys, let's take this momentum, this new team spirit, and apply it to this app challenge — we got this!", Billy said, trying to get everyone riled up.

The team had really come together in the second half of the quidditch match, and it showed. If they could keep that momentum going, they probably would become an 'unstoppable force' as Graham had once said. The game had really taught them something — sort of.

"You know, it'd be really helpful if we actually had an idea for an app", Stuart pointed out to the group, still not looking up from his phone. It usually would have annoyed Mary Jane, but now she tried to be a bit more understanding.

"You bet your sweet ass it would, Stewie!", Nick agreed, still as cheerful as ever.

May Jane couldn't hold back her laughter at the nickname. Stuart looked up, giving her a glare. "Oh, shut up, MJ. Or should I say... Annie?" He then turned to Nick. "No... Never Stewie."

"What?", Neha asked curiously. "What's that about?"

"Nothing!", Mary Jane said quickly. "Shut it, Stewie."

"Well, thanks a lot, Nick, I'm never gonna live that one down now", he sighed.

"Okay, you don't like Stewie. Perimeter breach acknowledged", Nick nodded. He couldn't help it when he smiled though, as Mary Jane was still giggling and it was quite infectious. He didn't look up from his screen either, almost like he was mocking the teen. "Won't it feel so good when he finally warms up to me?", Nick asked Billy, who smiled and nodded. "You know it's gonna happen. I'm gonna break you down like a two by four, watch me do it."

Stuart just looked up and gave Nick his signature blank look. The boy really didn't make many facial expressions. It was either a clueless look, a 'what the fuck' look, or a blank 'get out of my face' type look. And, of course, the occasional sarcastic smile and wink.

"Okay, c'mon, guys, let's brainstorm this puppy!", Billy cheered.

"Let's get this bread!", Mary Jane said randomly.

"Yes!", Nick said, pointing at her. "I love that kid! Let's go!", he said, snapping his fingers repeatedly as he spun around in his chair.

"I think it would be helpful to check out what apps have been most successful and popular in the past", Yo-Yo said.

"Go backwards, go forwards", Billy said, making a word hand gesture. Mary Jane didn't really understand, so she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh, and we could bin it, you know?", Neha said, joining Mary Jane at the whiteboard.

"Categorize needles by types of users?", Mary Jane suggested, uncapping her marker and beginning to write. Neha nodded, beginning to jot things down as well.

"There you go, MJ, Neha, hit it by both function and by user, it's not a trap!", Lyle praised excitedly, trying to keep the group encouraged.

"Alright, guys, I don't wanna kill the momentum or the mojo that you have cooking", Billy started. Right away, everyone knew that the two men were about to get off topic once again.

The team turned around to look at him. Mary Jane shook her head. "Billy, I love you, but we really don't have time for—"

"To be completely honest with you guys, needles and categories? They don't use apps, people use apps!", the man continued as he stood up.

"And you're just gonna ignore me, okay", Mary Jane mumbled, capping her marker. She may as well get comfortable. The girl crossed her arms as she looked expectantly at him. That position didn't last long, since she got bored and took out her phone.

"So, I have an idea. Nowadays, people are taking pictures. They have their phones now, they're out. Something catches their eye and they wanna take a picture of it, but now that photo is just kind of sitting there. What if they take that photo and they instantaneously put it out there on the line and they share it with their friends!", he suggested, as if he had just shared the best idea ever. In a way, it was, but he was a bit too late for that.

"You mean... like Instagram?", Mary Jane asked, raising a brow. "It's literally what I'm doing right now." As if to further prove her point, everyone, except Billy and Nick, checked their vibrating phones to see that 'maryjanexx has tagged you in a photo!' Mary Jane nodded towards them. "See?"

"Yeah, it already exists. It's one of the most popular apps in the world. Facebook bought them out for, like, a billion dollars. That's billion with a capital B", Stuart added to back MJ up. For once, he wasn't looking at his phone when he spoke to them, but it was still in his hand.

"Oh, no no, mine is very different from that!", Billy said, defending himself.

"How is yours something very different from that?", Yo-Yo asked flatly. He knew they didn't have time for this and just wanted Billy to get out of the way so that the rest of them could get to work.

"Because on mine, you're taking the photo instantaneously and putting it out there on the line!"

"Online", Lyle and Mary Jane corrected Billy simultaneously. The red head gave up, knowing that they wouldn't get any work done, and sat next to Stuart.

"Yeah, I'm instantaneously taking photos and putting them out there on the line and I'm making an exchange!" Billy attempted to reiterate his words, but he was just practically saying the exact same thing again. He was trying to prove that his idea was different from Instagram, but it clearly wasn't and simply got more confusing.

"Yeah, that's Instagram", Neha said, trying to make the man understand.

"But mine is more of a social sharing on the line, that's happening."

"Online", Mary Jane corrected again, obviously getting annoyed.

Stuart picked up on her agitation and attempted to subdue it by helping out, but it was no use. "Quick interjection. When you say 'on the line', you do mean 'online'—" Apparently, Billy, or Nick, just didn't want to listen to the younger people in the room.

"Stuart, don't do that!", Nick said, his voice raised. Stuart looked over at Nick with raised brows. It was more likely at this point that he would be the one to snap rather than Mary Jane. "You don't do that to a man, he's got a million dollar idea right here!"

"Billion dollar idea", Stuart corrected.

"Even better!", Nick exclaimed. "Now, let him flow."

"Nick, I appreciate that, but you can't bring me down. I'm too positive", Billy smiled before he turned to Stuart. "Come up here, let me share something with you."

Stuart scoffed, rolling his eyes. It looked like he was trying really hard not to laugh at the older man and how stupid he was being. "No. No."

"Please, come", Billy said, beckoning him up. With a sigh, Stuart stood up and walked over. "I'm gonna explain this to you in a way that's visual."

Mary Jane took out her phone and swiped her camera over to video. She couldn't miss this golden opportunity. "He's bigger than you, be careful", Yo-Yo warned. Stuart was really tall compared to MJ, so she didn't think it was possible, but he looked quite small compared to Billy. Mary Jane began giggling, trying to stifle it.

"So, you're out taking a picture", Billy said, making clicking sounds repeatedly. They were actually very annoying and awful, but it was enough to keep Mary Jane amused. Stuart was looking at Billy like he had lost his mind, as if it were the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "Just pretend, go ahead."

Stuart gave him a flat look before raising his hand and repeating the man's actions. "Click click."

"Now, you take the photo and you put it out there on the line—"

"Online", Lyle corrected.

"—You put it on Twitter, you put it on whatever you want. That's Instagram?"

"That's Instagram", Mary Jane said, leaning back in her seat. "Billy, we really don't have time for this."

"One hundred percent", Neha nodded.

"I get it! Point taken, point taken. Now, let's get on to my concept. Now, you've taken a photo instantaneously, or not instantaneously, and then you take those photos and you send them out on the line", Billy said. His idea sound almost exactly the same.

"Online."

"You don't have to say shit, you don't!", the man said excitedly, looking down at Stuart. "You just say 'I like that photo', and you share that photo instantaneously, and you put it out there on the line—"

"Online."

"—with your friends. Now everyone's exchanging ideas, everyone's exchanging photos. And that's why these photos on the line—"

"Online."

"—will be known as... Exchangeagram!", he finished, his voice showing off all his excitement. At this point, everyone had gotten fed up with Billy.

"Wow", Stuart said, no emotion in his voice, and went to sit down.

"So... it's Snapchat then?", Mary Jane asked in confusion. Everyone groaned, knowing that that would probably start a whole other thing. The girl held up a pillow to protect herself as rolled up pieces of paper came flying towards her. "Hey, hey, okay! I'm sorry!"

Billy opened his mouth to speak again, but he was quickly cut off by Neha. "Holy shitballs, Billy, we don't have time for this!", the girl shouted in annoyance. Everyone mentally thanked her. They really didn't have that kind of time — not if they wanted to have a chance at winning anything.

A message popped up on their laptop screen, beginning to play by itself. Graham's smug little face looked back at them. Mary Jane rolled her eyes, her stomach ached as a reminder. "Hello, fellow interns! Graham Hawtrey here. I've taken the liberty of including a link to our app, which has already been downloaded 230 times, booyah!", he boasted before the video ended. Lyle slammed the laptop shut.

"As if we wanna download his stupid app", Mary Jane scoffed. "He thinks he's so great. Please, we can do something totally better than that."

"Great. I can't deal with this, you know", Lyle started. Oh no. The man had finally snapped. Mary Jane slouched in her seat, feeling bad. "I'm sick of this! We try to come up with an acceptable idea, and you don't let us, the people who actually know what they're doing, go through with it. You always want to have the final say. It's not just you guys who are apart of Team Lyle. Keyword: team. I was really rooting for you guys, but, if you're not gonna be helpful, you could at least let us work in peace!"

"Lyle—", Mary Jane frowned. "They're just trying to—"

"I know they're just trying to help, Mary Jane, but it's not working, okay?! It's not!"

Mary Jane bit her lip, looking down at her feet. Stuart frowned, wrapping an arm around her. "You didn't have to yell — especially not at her."

The tension hung heavily in the room. It was so thick that you could probably cut it with a knife. Lyle was breathing heavily, but he gave Mary Jane an apologetic glance.

"Exactly", Neha finally spoke. "We're gonna lose yet another challenge, we're not gonna get this job, and our lives will be ruined!" Neha sat down, a sign that she had given up. Mary Jane thought she was being a bit dramatic, but she didn't bother to try and object to the statement.

"Okay, hold on a sec", Billy frowned. It probably wasn't a good idea for him to speak, he'd just make things worse and get them all riled up again. "Your life isn't ruined. You guys are twenty-one years old, you have your whole life right in front of you."

"It's not as simple as that, Billy", Mary Jane sighed. "Not anymore. That whole American Dream you guys grew up in is just that now: a dream."

"That's true. Do you even know what it's like two be twenty-one right now?", Stuart questioned. "I mean, a quarter of the kids coming out of college right now can't even get jobs."

"That's a correct statistic. Mother says you can work hard and go to the right school, but nothing is guaranteed anymore. That's just life, sorry", Yo-Yo added.

"These guys are right", Neha sighed. "It is how it is. Nothing we can do to change that."

"You guys are way too young to be this cynical", Nick frowned. "Do you really see the world this way?"

"It's not how we see it, it's just the way things are now", Stuart sighed, fixing his glasses. Mary Jane hadn't noticed before, but the boy wasn't wearing his beanie that night. It seemed odd, but Mary Jane liked his hair. It looked so soft.

"Alright, that's it. Everybody up", Billy said, clapping his hands. He didn't like seeing the team sad, it was nearly heartbreaking. "Let's do it, breath of fresh air time."

"Why? We have work to do", Yo-Yo protested.

"No, no, no", Nick said, standing next to his best friend.

"Nope."

"Time to hit the reset button. We're taking it to the streets. We need to get our heads right, because we need to come together as a team."

"When you say 'hit the reset button' all I think about is sleep", Mary Jane groaned, leaning back against the couch.

"What about the app?", Lyle questioned. The boy clearly wasn't the 'going out' type and seemed genuinely against going anywhere at all.

"This is bigger than the app! Oh, and, by the way, we have something pretty terrific in our back pocket with Exchangeagram, just let it marinate", Billy said, gesturing with his hands. "Stop saying 'oh' before you give it a chance."

"Oh", Neha said flatly.

"We're gonna light it up and we're never gonna sleep!", Nick said loudly, making Mary Jane groan. The blonde grabbed Billy and staged him out of the room, causing everyone else to reluctantly get up and follow.

"Can we talk about this online/on the line thing?", Lyle asked as he ran to keep up.

Stuart shook his head, pulling Mary Jane up and with him. "If I have to suffer, so do you."

February 25, 2019