Chapter 2: Presentation

Evelyn POV

The loud clicking of my keyboard filled my dull office as I sent out my morning emails. I changed the tab to my calendar. Around the ten o’clock region in bright red was “Mr. Armstrong Update”.

“Scott!” I yelled as I continued to type away on my computer. A young man of about twenty-five with plain brown hair and rounded glasses that made him look like a middle schooler came into my office a few seconds later.

“Yes Evelyn?” he asked before catching his breath. We’ve been good friends for years so he was the only person in this office who referred to me with my first name. For everyone else, it was Ms. Frost.

“Did you send those interns the numbers for their presentation today with Mr. Armstrong?” I asked turning my eyes to Scott. There was a moment where the only sound in the office was the flick of Scott’s finger as it ran across his tablet.

“Yes Evelyn,” he replied as he walked up to me. “Sent it last week, and it says they read it five minutes after they got it. See?” He turned his tablet around so I could see the email he sent. I scanned over it and all was as he said.

“Good.” I turned back to my computer and began to pull up my employee’s schedules for the day.

“Are you worried that they’re not going to do well?” Scott asked as he began to pour me a coffee from the coffee machine in my office that was always running.

“Oh no,” I replied, taking the mug as he handed it to me, “it’s a simple status report meeting with a low-level investor. This is meant to introduce them to meetings with investors, so if they can’t do this, they can’t do anything and the pair were our top two applicants.” Scott nodded his head from side to side.

“I suppose you’re right,” he replied. “But this is their first big presentation here at the company, so they might be nervous.”

“They shouldn’t be. They’ve done presentations before in college and probably in high school before that. What makes this one any different?” It was harsh but true. That’s how it always is though. Newer employees get nervous on their first presentation in the company when they really shouldn’t be and end up making a fool out of themselves.

“Evelyn, just because you don’t get nervous doesn’t mean everyone else doesn’t. Just don’t be too harsh on them, they’re unpaid interns, after all, we’re lucky we have them.” Scott was right as usual. He usually made an effort to be my conscience and keep me somewhat empathetic. That’s when a jiggle came from my computer. The alarm set ten minutes before my meeting was going off.

“Well,” I said, standing up and pulling my skirt down, “I suppose I should head to the meeting now. Which room is it in?”

“Meeting room 364A,” Scott replied as he walked with his head down looking at his tablet.

“Thank you,” I reply as I head out into the hallway and the elevator. When I stepped into the elevator, the interns were already waiting in the elevator. A young woman with her curly red hair pushed into a bun held a tablet close to her chest. Even from the entrance of the elevator, I could see that she was sweating bullets. The other intern, a young man with neat black hair, was frantically writing something on his tablet. I could only hope that he wasn’t panickily finishing up the presentation.

“Good morning, Ms. Frost!” the girl exclaimed.

“Good morning,” I replied, taking my place in the elevator with Scott. “I hope you two are prepared for your presentation today.”

“Of course!” the other responded before letting out a nervous chuckle. “Why wouldn’t we have it prepared?” They didn’t have it prepared fully; it was obvious. I narrowed my eyes, looking at the pair, hoping I could get them to confess rather than have them embarrass themselves in the meeting.

“I don’t know why you wouldn’t have it prepared. I’ve let you know that this presentation will make or break your position in this company, and I would hope you took that seriously.” The man let out a nervous chuckle while the woman gave me a thin smile. The elevator finally reached the third floor and we stepped out into a hallway filled with meeting rooms. My black heels clicked against the hardwood floor as we made our way to the meeting room. When Scott opened the door, inside waiting for us was Mr. Armstrong. He was an older man in his early fifties, with his silvering hair balding slightly. The chubby man stood up, approaching me with a wide smile.

“Ms. Frost!” he exclaimed with a hand outstretched for me to shake. “I wasn’t aware that you would be attending this meeting!” I gave him a small smile.

“I’m just supervising the two giving the presentation,” I replied. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not! I’m actually very pleased that you’re here! I was going to ask someone to pass the message on to you but since you’re here I get to tell you myself.” I tilted my head slightly, interested in what he had to say. He was one of our most stable investors, not having changed anything in the past five years, so whatever he had to say must be important. “Due to my company gaining more money from another one of our investments, we’ve decided to invest more into your company! That is of course if our status is still stable within your company.” I gave a bigger but forced smile. Of course, this was the project I put the interns on. If this meeting went poorly, we would lose his investment.

“Thank you very much,” I replied. I turned to the pair of interns who, having set up the presentation, looked even more panicked. I gave them a small nod and that’s when everything went downhill.