K.
She knew that the email would arrive any minute now and so here she was trying to focus on the box in her hand filled with some kind of mix that was somehow going to make muffins, as Rio was trying to figure it out, cracking an egg as a notification arrived.
“Shit” she groaned in frustration realizing the egg had splashed all over the kitchen floor, running a hand through her hair she opened her computer, she took a deep breath only to see it’s a notification from her friend. Her fucking friend. She tossed the computer to the side as she took a glance at the broken egg on the floor.
“How is this supposed to be relaxing?” she muttered as she wiped the egg off with some paper. Reading the instructions on the box trying to ease off her mind from what was coming, the email she had been waiting for for weeks now. It wasn't a long time ago since she applied to be an assistant for an internship, and for two months now she had been with her first year portrait photography teacher, they had spend two excellent months together where she had learned a lot about the job as an assistant and her professor even made her teach in classes but since finding out her professor were soon to have a baby, it was all going to change.
“How hard can it be” she shrugged as she took the bowl out and placed it on the counter, she cracked yet another egg as she poured the milk into the bowl, together with the muffin mix that was somehow expected to make this whole thing into a few muffins, her friend Alice had suggested it earlier today, “baking always relaxes me” and so here she was, already regretting supposedly a few life choices. She had never really understood why baking was supposed to be relaxing, it's all just a mess in the end and for what? For the muffins to most likely just get burned? And for the record it takes forever.
The sound of yet another notification came through as Rio quickly got up and opened her computer. It`s a mail. The mail she had been awaiting for what felt like an eternity and she could already feel the anticipation growing with each passing minute. She felt her heart pounding as she was staring at the notification. It's just mail, how bad can it be. She thought.
The moment felt heavy but yet filled with excitement, because maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. As long as it wasnt her. Agatha Harkness. It wasn't that she wasn't good at her work, she was so good. Amazing even. After all, she is a renowned photographer. Her work had been featured in all kinds of art galleries there is and her work, her work was a masterpiece. Every single one of them. But she was mostly known for the way she worked, she had a way to see through people, it was almost as if she could read your mind. But she wasn't someone who was easily impressed and rarely gave enough importance to the people who she worked with, but if you got on her good side, she would make sure everyone was aware.
And while some were impressed by the way she worked, almost inspired there were others who did everything in their power to watch her burn, because even with a great career, there will be enemies. And it doesn’t help the fact that a scandal that happened a few years ago almost broke her career completely.
A scandal that all though the amount of countless work she had spent, all useless nights of effort trying to make things right again still continued to remain with her. Almost like a curse, lingering in the air as a constant reminder of her mistakes, that no matter how much she tried to rebuild it, there was no going back to where she had once started.
Rio was breathing heavily, almost as if her only way to breathe was through a tiny straw but as her nerves of excitement took over she finally found the courage to open the mail, and there it was. Scrolling quickly through the mail all the way down to the end to see it.
The name. In panic she impulsively grabbed her phone and without hesitation video called her friend Alice, feeling her chest tightened as she color of her face went completely pale
After what felt like minutes, her friend Alice finally answered her call
“Dude what the fuck who died” she exclaimed after seeing the look on rio’s face
“Why did it take you so long to answer” her voice was noticeably higher than usual and it was obvious the information was finally hitting her. She was going to work for the Agatha Harkness.
“Oh calm down please just tell me what happened”
Rio took a short deep breath and exhaled “It arrived”
“What?? you finally know who’s gonna be the new professor?”
“Yes” she runs her hand through her hair and lets out a sigh as her gaze widening
“Then who is it? Why that face? Do you already know them?”
Not knowing what to say she just looked at Alice, her breath hitching almost as if she didn't know rather to freak out and panic or just shut down
“No fucking way. is that who i think it is?”
“I wish it wasn’t”
Rio took a glance at the email and then back at Alice, she turns the camera around to show her the email
Subject: Photography - Assistant Internship
Dear Rio Vidal
I hope this email finds you well.
I am writing to follow up on the Assistant Internship you applied to with Professor Maximoff regarding the fact that I will be taking her place from now on due to Maximoff’s temporary pause. I hope we will work well together.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need further assistance.
Sincerely,
Professor Agatha Harkness
There's a few moments of silence and Rio's heart starts racing yet again, what if this is the end . Her dramatic self thought.
“Okay wow. I can’t believe you’re actually going to do an internship with Agatha Harkness, she’s probably the best photographer around”
but yet it doesn't seem to interest Rio, all she could think about was what a hell of a year this might turn out to be.
“Yeah i guess she is”
“What’s that face then, that’s such a great thing”
“I know but people have told me of how she treats people, she’s always so demanding and intimidating, i’m worried about it”
“Oh i did not know that, well at least you already had to take this course so you don’t have to face her at an exam”
“You’re right i guess, i shouldn't be that worried”
“Yo what’s that mess behind you?”
“Oh well i was trying to make muffins”
“Omg why were you baking, you suck at it”
“Fuck off you told me you do that to relax so i thought i’d give it a try”
Alice chuckled giving her a look as she rolled her eyes
“Well anyways listen, tomorrow you’ll have to meet her, i’m sure it’s gonna be alright, you have no reason to be afraid of her, i mean look at you i'm sure she will be impressed either way”
Rio leaned out of her window, looking out at the quiet, empty street outside in the middle of Seattle where she had many times rushed her way to the metro, and even after living in the same apartment for years, looking out through the same window, it all still felt so unfamiliar. Almost as if she didn't quite belong, she had always felt like an outsider no matter where she walked, always searching for that longing feeling of fitting in. Gathering her thoughts trying to make sense of everything. What would all this even mean? She had never really met her after all so who is she to even judge in the first place, maybe working with Agatha wouldn't be so bad. Or maybe she is already fucked.
“Hello, are you there?” a high pitched voice suddenly came through the screen, pulling Rio out of her own thoughts
“Yeah sorry, i`m glad i called you Alice i was freaking the fuck out”
“Alright i have to go now, i’ll see you tomorrow and please don’t set your apartment on fire by making the muffins or you won’t even be able to meet her, let me know how it goes with professor harkness”
“Oh i surely will, goodnight Alice”
as they hung up the phone, Rio took a glance back at the kitchen, her eyes scanning the chaos she had somehow manage to make from a few eggs and a fucking muffin mixer.
“God what a fucking mess, fuck those muffins” she mumbled as she made her way through the kitchen and into the bedroom, decided she`d just leave the mess til the next day. She gathered a pair of minecraft boxers as well as a minecraft T-shirt and headed her way to the bathroom. She turned the hot water on as she stepped in, letting her skin touch the water as she closed her eyes letting the information of the day finally sink in, as she was trying to push away the overwhelming feeling of what had just hit her, she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, closing her eyes trying to calm herself down, because she was fully aware of what she was capable of, she was Rio Vidal after all. One of the greatest students of her course and her artistic traits are well noticeable, so there was no doubt she had a bright future ahead of her. She has had many different professors throughout the years, some unforgettable, some she wished she never met but it had never really been a big deal, they were there to teach and Rio was there to learn. Simple as that. Yet this feeling as if she won't be enough for her lingered in her mind. Maybe it was the fact that Agatha was one of the greatest photographers in the country, the world even. Or was it simply because she was Agatha Harkness.
Stepping out of the shower she could feel the coldness hitting her as she quickly rolled her hair up in her green towel, stepping into her boxers and pulling on her oversized Minecraft T-shirt.
Right after taking the shower she came out of the bathroom and immediately walked to her bedroom. She needed to rest, the following that was going to be very relevant, either for the better or for the worse. As soon as she got in the bed, she tried to go to sleep but the mixed feelings got the better of her. At a certain point she realized that she had no idea on how Agatha Harkness looked like, she has seen her a few times before but she couldn’t remember how exactly she looked like, so she decided to search for her, she didn’t want to risk to make a bad impression by not recognizing her.
As soon as she wrote her name in the google bar, her full name got suggested “Agatha Harkness”, that name that by now resonated in her head incessantly. She found her official page and decided to open it. There were featured many works she made but after scrolling through it she found some self portraits. She kept looking at her page for a while, amazed by all her works, wishing that working for Agatha would bring out the best in her own work, maybe she could even get some inspiration, after all her work is marvelous.
As she was slowly drifting to sleep she decided to put the computer down before falling asleep yet another night with her computer in her lap.
As the alarm went off, Rio instantly pulled herself out of her bed only to realize what time it was. 8:30. In the morning.
“Fuck” she groaned realizing she had hit her snooze several times.
She gathered all her stuff and made her way out of the apartment as she was rushing down the stairs, making her way out only to realize it's pouring rain.
“Oh come on dude, not today” she sighed trying to cover her head with her fair coloured snoopy tote bag as much as possible, as she rushes down the street trying to catch the last metro on time going to her university she suddenly remembers the file. The one thing she swore she wouldn't forget yet, there she was standing in the middle of the metro station determining if she should go back and get it, which would mean risk being even later or she could get on that metro, face the consequences of being stupid enough to forget that one file. That one file filled with all her work, work that she was so eager to share. Either way she knew she was so utterly fucked.
“Fuck it” she muttered rushing down the metro station to catch the train, if there was one thing she knew about Agatha Harkness was that she did not tolerate being late, and arriving late on your first day was not a good first impression.
As she was finally stepping into the metro she sighed out loud, looking down at herself realizing she was completely soaked, her green button up shirt she had just bought feeling sticky against her skin as well as her navy blue loose fitting jeans. She sat down on a seat as she put her black Bose headphones on and leaned back, most likely rethinking her whole life because she knew she had already messed up.
As she was resting her head against the window of the metro, trying her best not to close her eyes but the feeling of drowsiness slowly began to hit her, even though her wet clothes were making her feel uncomfortable, the loss of sleep from the night was slowly kicking in as she had let her thoughts and overthinking keeping her awake. Fortunately, she immediately came back to reality right before her final destination. As soon as she heard the name of her stop she stood up and rushed to the exit. Right as she got off the metro she started walking at a fast pace, looking down at her watch realizing that in only a few minutes she was supposed to be there, meeting her yet here she was still minutes away from the university, fully aware of how incredibly late she was going to be.
As she finally arrives at the university she rushes trying to find her old professor Maximoffs studio that had now been declared as Agatha Harkness studio. She runs heavily breathed up through the stairs, feeling her heart race from both the anticipation and anxiety she was feeling, unsure if she should just turn around and never look back. As she finally came up the stairs, she gathered her breath, stopping right next to the door that had the engraved name “Agatha Harkness” in bold, and through the small pane of glass that sat atop of it she saw her. Shit. This is it. She takes a deep breath as she knock on the door and is instantly greeted by a firm voice
“Come in”