Nathan sighed as he looked himself over, his palms sweating uncontrollably.

"You're nervous," Scarlett commented, coming up behind Nathan.

"I know I am. It's my first day, don't want to mess this up," Nathan admitted.

"He hired you for a reason. You won't mess it up," Scarlett assured. "Besides, I'd be more nervous about driving lessons."

"I have more important things to worry about than driving lessons," Nathan reminded as he walked into the kitchen.

"Whatever. Is my dad driving you?"

"Yeah, he said we're leaving in ten minutes." Nathan grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and took a drink.

Nathan took a seat at the table and checked his phone; he ended up aimlessly scrolling through social media until Ryan walked in.

"Are you ready?" Ryan asked as he grabbed his keys.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Nathan admitted as he walked towards the man.

Throughout the entire drive, Nathan couldn't stop sweating and ended up not hearing Ryan when he started speaking.

"Sorry... What did you say?" Nathan questioned.

"I said, 'there's no need to be nervous' and I mean that. You'll do well. Don't worry. Alright?"

"It's easy for you to say," Nathan defended.

"I know, Kid," Ryan answered kindly.

The pair were silent for the rest of the ride; the radio being the only thing preventing an awkward silence.

Walking up to the front desk, Nathan felt the knots in his stomach tighten with every step.

"Hi. I'm wondering where I can find Mr Smith?" Nathan questioned.

"He isn't accepting any more apprentices," the man dismissed.

"I know... I'm his new apprentice," Nathan pointed out, twiddling his thumbs.

"Take a seat; I'll call him down." the man smiled.

Nathan sat on the black couches in the room's corner and looked at his watch.

"Nathan Black?" Upon hearing his name, Nathan stood up. His eyes snapped to the man in front of him. Nathan knew he'd seen those eyes somewhere.

"Yes, Sir." Nathan stood up.

"I hope you'll enjoy working here. Come with me and I'll get you started."

Nathan nodded and followed Mr Smith towards the elevator, when his boss began speaking.

"I know what type of work you've been told you're going to be doing and you might get there, eventually. Yes, you passed the interview, but there was another person who did. I don't know your or their abilities well enough to be confident enough to trust you with my work-."

"So, why hire me, if you don't think I'm good enough?" Nathan interrupted glaring at the man.

"If you don't interrupt me, I'll explain. Judging on your college work, I know you have the ability. If you pass this test, I'm going to start you off editing pieces for new authors. Someone will always check your work for the first couple of months. Is that alright?"

"Yes, Sir," Nathan responded. "Who's the other person?"

"Before I answer that, just know, even if you we're the only one I hired- and believe me, you almost were- I would still put you through these tests, okay? His name is Traydon and you'll be working together for a while."

Nathan nodded as his head ached. By this time they had moved to Mr Smith's office. It was large and had bookshelves behind his desk that stood in the middle of the room. On one wall, pictures of Mr Smith and who Nathan assumed was his family.

"Take a seat, Nathan," Mr Smith ordered, taking his seat behind his desk.

When Nathan sat down, Mr Smith continued to explain Nathan's schedule and his chances of getting promoted.

"I'm going to email you this document and I want you to make your own copy, edit it and add what you think but make sure you follow the same writing style."

"I don't have my laptop," Nathan admitted.

"Even if you had it, I wouldn't let you use it. For privacy reasons, any work you do here must be done on a computer here, unless you're told otherwise."

"I understand."

After Mr Smith escorted him to a computer room and helped Nathan log on using his new work email. Nathan was left alone to complete the test. It was a 15,000 word short story, which was filled with mistakes and plot holes. Nathan was given five hours to edit it to the best of his abilities.

After wasting half an hour attempting to get his head wrapped around the plot, Nathan felt like he had a good enough understanding to edit.

Two hours later, he had corrected every grammar mistake. He still had to rewrite it and somehow fix the plot mistakes and add more description without making it obvious.

With two hours remaining, Nathan had moved on to the plot holes, however, he did not know where he was going to start.

By the time his five hours were up, Nathan had finished his work and hoped it was good enough. After emailing his version to Mr Smith, he walked back to the man's office.

"I'll call you back when I've checked your work. Why don't you go to the break room and see if you can find Traydon? It would be good if you got to know each other," Mr Smith suggested, only taking his eyes off his computer for a second.

"Where's the break room?" Nathan questioned, completely forgetting the room's location from his brief tour last week.

"Go past the room you were just in and take the right at the end of the hallway and take a right at the end of the next and you'll be there," Mr Smith directed.

"Thank you." Nathan smiled and walked out.

"Are you the new guy?" Nathan turned when he heard a man's voice. He saw a man seemingly a year younger than him, walking towards him.

"Yes; I'm Nathan. And you are?" Nathan questioned, looking the man up and down.

"Traydon, your coworker apparently." Traydon answered. He smiled at Nathan before he walked over to the vending machines and bought a bottle of water.

"Did Mr Smith ask you to do that test?" Traydon questioned as he unscrewed his water bottle and took a long drink.

"Yeah. What did you think of it?" Nathan questioned.

"I just didn't know what to write or how to add what I wanted to without making it obvious that it was edited," Traydon admitted.

"Have you done this before?"

"Not really... Well, I've started an editing course, but I have no real life experience. I don't know why Mr Smith accepted me. Have you done this before?"

"I've done a year of college, but like you, no real experience. My course work, it's how I knew what to write and how to do it correctly. It doesn't matter if you got it wrong, you've got the job," Nathan reassured and smiled kindly at Traydon.

"I hope you're right," Traydon mumbled.

"Nathan placed his hand on Traydon's shoulder. "I will be Traydon, don't worry."

Deciding he wanted a drink, Nathan bought a bottle of Coke from the vending machine.

"I just want to know what I got now," Nathan admitted, sitting down on the couch.

"I get what you mean," Traydon responded, sitting beside Nathan as the latter took a drink. "You're seventeen right?"

"Yep; I'm turning eighteen next July. You said you're in your first year of college. So you're sixteen?"

Traydon nodded and finished his water.

"Alright, you two." Both boys jump when they hear Mr Smith's voice. "I've finished looking over your tests; Nathan, can you come with me now? Trayon I'll get you in around ten minutes."

"Alright," Traydon responded as Nathan stood up and made his way towards the door.

Nathan felt his hands sweat again as the pair made their way back towards Mr Smith's office.

"Considering your age..." Mr Smith began as he sat down with Nathan sitting opposite him. "You've done well. I noticed some mistakes, but it's nothing you can't improve on. You missed a couple of grammar mistakes, but just remembering to double or triple check your work before you send it. I'm going to start you off the way I told you earlier, you will do what you've done for the test, just on a larger scale with a lot larger of a time frame and someone will check your work like I've done before you send the edited version back. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sir," Nathan responded, unable to wipe the smile off his face.

"Alright. You've only got half an hour left so just stay in the break room until your shift is over. Can you ask Traydon to come here, please?"

Nathan nodded and left.

"How'd it go?" Traydon questioned, walking towards Nathan the second he opened the door.

"It went well." Nathan smiled.

"Nathan, I know this sounds weird, but can I have your number? It's just, I'm new here and don't really know the area," Traydon questioned as he bit his lip.

"Sure!"

"Mr Smith wants to see you," Nathan said after they exchanged numbers.

"You'll be fine, he just wants to talk about what position you'll be in," Nathan assured, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.

Trayon nodded and sent Nathan a smile, which the older boy gladly returned.

Once Traydon had left, Nathan picked up his Coke, sat down and pulled out his phone. Nathan couldn't deny- for the first time in over a year- he was confident about his future.