Chapter 2 – “A Growing Career”
Kaylin had been at her job for a while now. She was trying to immerse herself in it, partly because she did not want to deal with the growing “Akira and Miko” situation. She was really enjoying her job though and was thinking that social media as a career was the right move for her. One day, at her office at work, she noticed her co-workers standing around the water cooler, and they were talking about how much they loved this streamer’s videos, and kept pointing at one co-worker’s phone screen. In her small town, she had never heard the word streamer used growing up. However, within her new career in the social media arena, she did know what a streamer was, and knew a lot more about it. She saw the smiles her coworkers had while watching the video and that made her start to think.
I love playing video games and I like to talk to a lot of people, trying to make their day better if I can along the way, Kaylin thought to herself, as she continued to watch how much fun her coworkers were having. That day, as soon as she got home, she hopped on the computer and researched how to do a live stream well. She knew it would also take practice and she would not instantly be this great streamer overnight. Once she did a few hours research, she was so anxious to start that even though her equipment might not be the greatest at the moment, she wanted to give it a go anyway, so she decided to play one of her favorite sports, soccer, through a video game she recently bought, and live stream it at the same time.
As Kaylin live streamed her action-packed game play, she was enjoying herself immensely. She was a little nervous at first about the quality of her microphone in particular, but she had used it before and thought it would do for now. She made sure to stay upbeat and entertaining the whole time, and throughout the stream, she received chat messages from people watching, on her phone, with the live streaming app she was using to broadcast the stream. Kaylin made sure to respond as much to the chatter as possible, and she knew that would take some getting used to, while she also played and tried to entertain at the same time.
The next day at work Kaylin was even more productive and felt more insightful through just a few hours of her live streaming experience the night before. She made sure to gently remind herself though that she was still a beginner, and had a long way to go, but the fact a handful of people did watch and respond last night was a good start.
Still as Kaylin sat there eating breakfast before work she still was bothered by the situation with her friends and knew she had to deal with it eventually.
The next morning on her way to work Kaylin bumped into her neighbor Penny Pizzaz. Kaylkin wanted her opinion on the situation with their two other friends so she started talking about that.
“Penny, have you noticed anything odd when we are hanging out with Miko and Akira or any tension between Miko and me when it is just the three of us hanging out?” Kaylin hoped Penny would have some insight into the different dynamic that seemed to be happening between Kaylin and Miko lately that Kaylin felt was happening.
“Honestly, sometimes. Like Miko seems to tiptoe around you or have an underlying attitude that you can’t quite put your finger on. Other than that though I haven’t noticed anything and Akira doesn’t seem to notice it either when he’s around but than again he is a guy” Penny chuckled at her witty remark.
“I thought there was something up with Miko. Thanks for being honest. I just wanted someone else’s opinion besides Akira because I feel like it has something to do with him as well even if he is oblivious to it.”
Penny hesitated for a moment and then said, “You know, it might be because Akira likes you and Miko is jealous either because she doesn’t want to lose her best friend as they have been friends forever, or she likes him more than a friend and is scared that he likes you more than a friend?” Penny quickly took it back by saying, “…but I could definitely be wrong…”
Kaylin suddenly had the feeling Penny might have stumbled upon something there and so they chatted a little more about it. The two chatted for a while before Kaylin realized she might be late for work.
“It was great to talk this out with someone Penny. Let’s get together sometime soon.”
“I’d like that,” Penny replied.
Kaylin smiled and they said goodbye as Kaylin headed to work. On her way to work she felt grateful to have talked the situation out with a friend but the urge to avoid the situation with Akira and Miko was still there.
Desie Simmer's Sharing Corner 