56 Being Involved Wasn't So Bad

The morning of the club fair, Justin and Alexa tacked up posters while Zack and Kristi were off raiding a supply closet for a basket to put all the candy in. They said that people wouldn't even stop at your booth unless there were free goodies. This wasn't surprising. Most college students lived for free stuff.

Justin stood back and admired the poster he hung up. Alexa had digitally painted recognizable silhouettes of iconic video game characters onto a mint green background with blocky text advertising the finer points of the club strategically set in certain blank spaces. Dominic and Rick hadn't exaggerated. Alexa's posters were amazing.

He told her so and she preened for a moment before laughing at her own ridiculousness. "These guys were my first friends on campus. I'm happy to help them out."

"You and Zack grew up together, right?"

She seemed surprised that he knew. "Yeah, we were neighbors. He's a social butterfly so when I didn't know anybody yet in the animation department the first thing he did was start a club and drag me into it even though I never had all that much interest in video games. It was what eventually led me to want to make a phone game."

"Aren't you both graduating this semester? What do you want to do when you're out of here?" Justin asked. He still had three semesters left after this one and didn't have a clue what to do afterwards beyond what he was already doing.

Alexa nodded as she leaned casually on the pin board with her hands in her pockets. "Ideally? I want to work for an animation studio and do the art for movies. I imagine that's pretty hard to do around here though. So many people want those jobs but there aren't many slots available. The program here is fairly prestigious so I hope that helps me out but…"

"Don't forget you did the art for a world famous game," he reminded her. "You need to put that on your resume. Who would turn that down? One of the highest praises in the game reviews is for the graphics."

Despite his reassurance, she looked troubled. "Even so, I'm worried. That's why I wanted you to help me with my investments. I don't expect to get an animation job right away. I need enough money to live off of while I expand my art portfolio. Most freelance art projects only offer 'exposure' as compensation, you know."

The fields of art and computers were worlds apart. Justin had made a good living off of freelance jobs while Alexa described not making any money at all doing similar work. His mind wandered to Emily. With her sense of justice if she knew about this she would be incensed for sure. He couldn't help but smile at the thought. That reminded him…

"Alexa, what exactly is the rest of your plan?"

"Hmm?"

"Your plan about Emily."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Way to change the subject."

"Sorry," he muttered. "It popped into my head and I needed to ask before I forgot. You're only going to be here for another few months."

"It's not like I'm moving to Shanghai," she said wryly. "In fact, I probably won't even change apartments. Most of the big animation studios are right here in L.A."

Justin hadn't thought of that. "How long are you planning to drag this out then?"

She chuckled. "Impatient, aren't we? Don't you worry! I'm already thinking of the next phase of my evil master plan."

The way she phrased it was concerning. What exactly did she have in mind?

"What are you—"

"We found the basket!" Kristi said triumphantly as she set it on the table with a bang.

Zack pulled out the big bag of candy they bought for the event and dumped it unceremoniously into the basket. They all munched on a few pieces while waiting for the fair to start.

All that was left now was to set up the tablet that was functioning as the signup sheet for people interested in the club. The stack of flyers Alexa made sat primly on the edge of the table near the candy basket.

Just before the fair was set to begin Alexa pleaded off, saying she had class. Zack had to go too, leaving Justin and Kristi alone at the table for the next hour or two until other members came to relieve them. The fair lasted most of the day so to allow everyone to make it to their classes people would be switching out fairly often.

The silence was getting awkward so Justin was about to engage in small talk mode with Kristi when a student approached their booth. Kristi smiled and talked about some of the things she had done as a part of the indie game club before handing the student a flyer and sending him on his merry way with some candy after he signed up for more information.

There was hardly time to breathe. Every time a student left, another took their place. The candy basket was getting dangerously low so Justin texted Rick, who was meant to take Kristi's spot in fifteen minutes, to find the extra bag they bought. There were exactly three candies left when their savior appeared to refill the basket. Kristi thanked him and grabbed her backpack before heading to class.

After a few more students came by Rick eyed him funny. "Justin, have you spoken a word the entire time you've been here?"

"No, Kristi's handled that part pretty well. I don't know what I'd say. I've only been to two club meetings, you know."

Rick nodded. "Makes sense. I'll let you off this time but next semester I'm going to make sure you take turns with whoever else is manning the booth. It's good practice. We all need to know how to give a pitch, right? It helps prepare you for job interviews."

The more Justin interacted with other college students, the odder he realized he was. They were all worried about textbooks, living off of random junk in the pantry until pay day, and getting good jobs after graduation.

He had never worried about any of that. He didn't date, hadn't been to any of the school's sporting events, and couldn't relate to his peers. The only thing he could really claim to understand was the stress of midterms and finals.

This club was the first real interaction he'd had with other students at all outside of group assignments in class and he was halfway through his time at the school. For the first time, Justin felt regret for spending all of his free time alone.

Seeing how many clubs there were at the fair, he realized how many opportunities he had missed to truly experience college in his first two years. He was glad Alexa had forced him into this. Surprisingly, being involved wasn't so bad.