Ten: Campus Tour

The campus was everything she had imagined and more. The brand new building was grand, modern, fully equipped, it was heaven for those who wanted to learn everything about the film industry. The list of Professors was blinding her with names of people who were still very actively working and made a name for themselves. To think that she will be learning first hand from the best in their field was no doubt pulling her towards the idea of enrolling at the institute.

Maxine took her to see each class and what subjects she would be learning. She showed her the facilities that she can use if she were a student. With every step and every door opened, she grew more and more in love with the idea. When it was time for her to ask the most important question, Maxine took her back to her office.

"Have you read the contract I gave Tom?" she asked as soon as they walked into her office.

"Yes, I think it's a great opportunity for him."

Maxine took a remote from her drawer and pressed a button to close all the curtains around them. "It is, he could be well on his way as soon as he sings up." Maxine walked to the bar and poured herself a drink. She offered Charlie one but she refused.

"Whenever I see a young woman, full of life, hopes, and dreams like yourself ... it often reminded me of myself when I was your age," she sat on her chair and sipped on her whiskey. "But I didn't have any help back then ... I know how hard it was to start in this business, especially because I didn't have 'the look', not quite like you," she continued. "The men in my life ... well ... they were ... men ... I had to do everything myself, started from the bottom, grind my way up, stumbled, fell flat on my face, got back up again, struggled some more, repeated," she paused for a moment, she was back in the past for a few seconds.

"My point being ... I know you're not here just to be with Tom, which is a good thing, some girls just fell head over heels for a boy and immediately forgot who they are ... but you have a dream, he has a dream too, both of you can pursue those dreams here ... side by side, together ... but separately." She took another sip from her glass. "So I'm gonna make an offer for you too, Charlie, I want to be the help I needed when I was young ... for you and Tom," she added.

Her eyes were sharply looking at Charlie, she wanted to read her immediate reaction. Charlie was taken aback by that, she was overwhelmed by one great opportunity to another. She was listening.

"If you decide to enroll to my school, I can offer you an internship in my company, ... because you are still under the legal age for working here as an employee, I can only put you as an intern with an internship allowance ... which will be enough to cover your living cost here in Goldstone ... and that's a very generous offer, trust me, without any experience, the best you can do out there is to wait tables ... we don't want that, do we?"

Charlie's jaw dropped, she couldn't believe what she just heard. Maxine laughed at her expression, "I take it as a 'yes'?"

"Are you kidding me? I would love to work for your company, I mean ... in what post? If you don't mind me asking?"

"You will work right under me, as my assistant, so you will be working in close proximity with me, while you study, it's not gonna be easy, I have to tell you in advance ... I'm very ... demanding, but I can promise you, you'll learn a lot ... probably all you need to learn to strive in the industry," Maxine said. "However ... there is one small favor I need to ask from you and Tom before we can roll the ball to the next level." And there it is, finally, the catch.

**********

"What? No!" Tommy was almost shouting. He knew the offer was too good to be true, and Maxine was clever enough not to mention her offer to him before she proposed a deal with Charlie. From the looks of it, she already got her hook on Charlie with the internship offer, and now he was dealing with a determined Charlie who wanted to take the offer, instead of dealing with Maxine.

"Oh, come on Tommy, it's really not that big a deal?" she whined.

"She wanted to take pictures of us having sex! How is that not a big deal?"

"But it's not gonna be used commercially, she said there will be an agreement that it's going to be used privately and anonymously ... no one's ever gonna know about it except her, it's her hobby," Charlie was being defensive.

"It's porn, Charlie, for her private pleasure ... she just put it in so many words that it sounded like something else," Tommy wasn't buying it.

Charlie tugged at his shirt, "It's us ... making love, Tommy, like we've done so many times before ... So what if she wanted to watch and take pictures? She's eccentric, she has weird hobbies," Charlie seemed to have made up her mind about it.

"Exactly! Who knows what other twisted hobbies she has and what else would she want us to do in the future? She's not gonna be done with just this one thing ... I don't think ... once we sign up, we seal the deal, and if we agree to this one request ..." he stopped mid-sentence.

"You're being paranoid, baby, she's really not that conniving and wicked like you imagine her," Charlie defended Maxine. It was obvious that Maxine had her grip on her already, it was her way of trying to get what she wanted from him through Charlie.

"She didn't get to where she is by being truthful and clean ... the way she offered us these deals are not exactly straight forward, isn't it, Charlie?"

Charlie's judgment was clouded by the promise of a Goldstone dream, there was nothing Tommy could say about Maxine that could make her change her mind. "Are you seriously going to refuse her offer just because you don't want to do this one thing?" her voice was in a different tone.

Tommy clenched his jaw, he was experiencing what they say about Maxine making an offer that no one can refuse.