"Po, I don't want you hanging around home all summer doing nothing. Maybe you
should get a job?" Omni asked me casually one Monday morning in mid-may just
before I was about to leave for school.
"Yeah, sure," I mumbled as I shoveled the last of my Neoflakes into my mouth
and dashed out the door with my backpack.
At first, the idea repulsed me. Me, Polayo, at a summer job? There was nothing
I wanted to do more than hang around all summer doing nothing!
But then the possibilities seized my mind. This could be the summer! The summer
I got famous!
I could star-or co-star-in a movie... I could write Editorials for the Neopian
Times... every possibility that tied my hobbies and fame together flooded into
my mind.
When I reached school, I didn't feel much like sharing my ideas with Reggie
and Ev--my two best friends-about what I was planning to do that summer. I wanted
this to be my little secret.
For now, at least.
When I arrived home and started to think about it again, though, my dreams
were shattered.
"I was looking through the papers today, PO, and found some jobs that maybe
you should interview for," Omni announced to me as I pranced through the front
door.
"Acting jobs?" I asked excitedly, not realising she had no idea that was what
I wanted to do that summer; although she might have been able to take a hint
with the way my eyes were glowing with hope.
"Eh, no. Take a look at them." She tossed me a paper clipped pile of cut out
papers, which I set on the kitchen table to browse.
Teller at the National Neopian. Yeah, right. Math was my worst subject.
Guild Information File Organiser. What?! Where did Omni get ideas for these
things. Dozens of similar job titles shouted up at me and, disappointed, I cast
them aside.
"I wanted a cool summer job, Om-" I cut off when I looked up and noticed she
wasn't there anymore.
The week passed slowly by, and it came to the point that I would dread to come
home. I would find piles of horrible jobs that I would "like."
Finally, it seemed, Saturday arrived. I knew I couldn't sleep late-I needed
to spend the day looking for that summer job that would be calling my name...
Unfortunately, Omni woke up about the same time I did, and she greeted me with
horrible news.
"PO, I forgot to tell you-I got an interview as the Teller at the National
Neopian. It's at 11 o'clock this morning, so you better get ready!"
I groaned inwardly, of course. To be a good actor, you have to be polite. I
got ready, pretending to make a big deal about it but inside hoping that I would
not get the job. At 10:15, I started walking toward Neopia Central, and it only
took me a few minutes. I browsed the shops for a while before entering the bank.
The large, wrought iron door loomed above me, and I pushed it-surprisingly,
it was easy to push-and entered the National Neopian.
An awkward silence threatened to burst the walls of the bank, but I walked
toward a small desk that had a 'NOW HIRING' sign posted on it.
"Hello, I'm here for an interview at eleven o'clock? My name is Polayo."
A female Krawk looked up apparently startled that I had talked to her. "What
was that ma'am?"
"I'm here for an interview at eleven o'clock, and my name is Polayo."
She averted her eyes down to a sheet of paper, then looked up at me and fake-smiled.
"Ah, yes. Our other interviewee never showed up, so you can go right in." She
motioned to a door right near her desk.
I opened the sturdy wooden door and found myself in a small waiting room with
a single chair and, as expected, another door. Raising my paw, I knocked timidly
and quietly.
"Come in!" The voice boomed out of nowhere and I jumped back a few yards, but
I turned the golden handle and walked inside.
The Skeith who ran the bank was there, sitting behind his desk with a stack
of papers in front of his nose.
"Polayo, is it?" he asked, almost amused, it seemed, without taking the papers
away from his face.
"Yessir, I'm Polayo. I'm here for an interview for the teller job."
He lowered the papers and half-glared at me. "All right," he challenged. "Let's
begin."
He fired questions at me left and right, and then said, with a cock in his
head: "Nice interview, Polayo. We'll get in contact with you via Neomail.
"You mean I... have to wait?" I whined, pretending to be disappointed.
"Well, keep walking out, Ms. Polayo. Ms. McKrawk-she's the Krawk you met on
the way in here-will try to grab you before you're out."
I jumped off the tall leather chair and walked slowly out of the two doors
entering his office. I walked past Ms. McKrawk and was nearly to the door when:
"Miss Polayo! Wait!" I whirled around and saw the Krawk jogging up beside me.
About this time I was at the door-actually, I was mostly out of the door-so
when she caught me I was already at the sidewalk.
"Miss Polayo," she said, out of breath, although I don't understand how a small
run across the bank could get you out of breath, "we are please to inform you
that you have received the job!"
I stared at her, gaping. I couldn't hold it in any longer. "WHAT?!" I screamed.
"I DON'T WANT THIS JOB! I'M NOT STUPID ENOUGH TO WASTE MY SUMMER WORKING IN
A BANK! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO GIVE THIS JOB TO ME!" I paused and inhaled a
breath.
By now, a crowd was gathering and, embarrassed, I whispered to the Krawk, "Couldn't
you tell I didn't want it?"
After Ms. McKrawk had overcome her surprise, her face was flooded with disgust.
"Well, Miss Polayo, you certainly aren't going to be taking this job now!" It
was her turn to scream. "Goodbye, and have a horrible summer!"
I looked after her walk in, and turned around to see the whole crowd still
there, with looks of awe on their faces. I stopped, and raised my eyebrows.
"What're you looking at? Move along, nothing to see here..."
Eventually, they were all gone except for one Shoyru who stood their, looking
at me quizzically.
"Hello-Polayo, is it?-I'm Francesca Shoyru, please to meet you," She held out
a paw and I shook it heartily. I had heard that name somewhere before but...
where? "I am from Frannie Acting Agency, and luckily I passed by this bank just
as you were refusing the job. Quite an acting job, may I say! That spirit in
you is too good to miss! Honey, since you don't have a job for the summer right
now, you wouldn't consider acting, would you? We're doing a play at the moment
and we can't find the lead part. You couldn't take twenty minutes to audition
for it, right?"
I could have hugged her! "Of course!" I shouted, and nearly did! This had to
be the best day of my life... "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"
She laughed and said to me, "The auditions for the main part are today at five,
so you better show!"
My face fell. I wasn't sure if I could beat the other auditioners. "There are...
going to be other people?" I asked, not hiding that I was nervous.
She placed a hand on my back. "Good actors are never nervous, honey. And you
certainly are a good actor, so don't break the record. And, of course, all the
other pets auditioning have already all auditioned several times. You're the
only new face, and the only one worth hiring on." She winked, and started walking
away. "Don't forget, Polayo-auditions at five at the Agency!"
Long after she was gone, I stood in front of the bank, wondering how it all
worked out. As I started to walk home and get ready for the audition which was
only in a few hours, I tried to think of other ways to tell Omni what kind of
job I'd gotten, but the only string of words that floated across my mind were
something that would describe it perfectly to me, but maybe not so much to her.
"Omni? I just scored the ultimate summer job!"
Yes, as many of you may have guessed, I did get the part in the play. It's
a version of the play many of you may have heard about: A Midsummer Night's
Dream. Omni was more excited than I thought she would be-I thought she would
be mad at me for not getting the National Neopian job. Well, many things happen
in life, and most of the time you just have to cope! As long as the Faerie Queen
fulfils the wish she granted me, which she said she would, than maybe not all
of you will be as hopeless for a summer job as I was...
Who knows?
The End | 
