Fight for Me #Wattys2017

Chapter 9

I sip my coffee as I stare myself down in the mirror, completely dreading the day to come. "Why did I agree to this?" I ask myself, but already knowing the answer: because I want to prove him wrong, I want to make my dream a reality. I put the finishing touches on my makeup, just like Skylar showed me, and adjusting a couple of my bright blue curls before deciding that I'm completely ready. "Alex, hurry up. I don't want you making Mason late today." I hear my dad shouts from the bottom of the stairs as I walk out of my room, and I force myself to not go back and sit in there for a little while longer just to spite him. 

Instead, I get to the bottom of the stairs, giving him a polite smile as I reply, "I'm ready. I was just making sure I had all my things together." I put my phone in my large purse, as I walk away from him and meet Mason in the car. I laugh to myself when I see the expression on my dad's face when he notices my velvet choker and punk band shirt. Mason climbs in the car and give me a scolding look. "What? I can't help it that he doesn't appreciate my style." He says nothing, just raises his eyebrows at me. "Fine. I knew he wouldn't like it, but it makes the outfit more me. I don't want to feel like another stiff in that place."

"That I can understand, but you don't have to antagonize him." He tells me as we pull out of the driveway. "Just so you know, he's probably going to put you into the more boring and difficult jobs today."

"I was already anticipating that." I tell him, sliding down in my seat. "Why he can't just stick me in a studio. It's not like I don't know what I'd be doing in there."

"I wouldn't want that if I were you." He tells me with a tone of warning. "If he does, he'll probably try making you work with Montgomery. If this gives you any idea of how harsh he is, we can't put anybody with him. He's made even the toughest people request a transfer by the end of the day."

"I'm sure he's not that bad. He hasn't met me yet, I don't back down easily and I've learned how to deal with difficult people." I reply, and Mason doesn't reply just turns the radio up and another pop song blares through the speakers. Within a few minutes we pull into the parking lot of the building and my nerves instantly skyrocket. "You ready?" Mason asks as he pulls into his parking space.

I bite my lip as I nod. Mason walks inside and I follow him trusting he knows where he's going. I'm in a complete daze as we walk along. Mason stops in front of the reception desk talking to the secretary for a moment before we continue on our way. I finally gather my courage to ask Mason a question as we get onto the elevator. "So... what am I doing today?"

Mason doesn't respond for a second as he stares at the papers in his hand. He finally snaps out of his daze and says, "Oh, it looks like you'll be working in the file room."

"Oh." I can't help but feel slightly disappointed. I mean I wasn't expecting something glamorous but not filing, especially since I have terrible organization skills. "That's not too bad."

"Yeah, it could definitely be worse, but if it makes you feel any better I'll come by and visit." Mason says with fake cheer. I smile in return, but notice that once our conversation ends his face gets that troubled look again.

"Seventh floor." the elevator voice dictates.

"This is your floor." Mason says as he walks out and motions for me to follow. We walk down a hallway and make a few turns before we stop. "This is it. Just go inside and let them know your name and they should take it from there."

I nod and head inside the room. "And who are you?" A scratchy male voice asks. I turn toward the sound of the voice and find a man who looks to be in his forties.

"I'm Andy Parker, I'm supposed to start working here today."

The man just glares at me for a moment before taking a clipboard off one of the filing cabinets and looking it over. "Sorry, there's not an 'Andy Parker' supposed to be working here today."