No Pain: Book 1

Chapter 37: Star

         I push open the door, Keller dressed me in a pencil skirt and loose pale-pink blouse. My hair is neatly arranged and I'm carrying a medium sized shoulder bag containing my fake ID, birth certificate identification number and a few code crackers hidden in a bottom flap underneath everything else.

My earrings are receivers for the tiny microphones in my ear, Keller has the same set up as me and has already checked into her post.

"You must be the new assistant." A man approaches me, offering his hand. He's average height, smaller build, not in shape and his hair piece is slightly askew. Keller would be tempted to fix it for him.

"Yes. I'm Isabella Wilgerson." I extend my hand to him and offer a slightly shy smile. He smiles back, he looks me up and down, he's already judging me. Male dominated jobs will always be male dominated jobs, even though we've had four female presidents at this point. Last one was my favorite, she tried to make things good for everyone.

"Call me Philip, pleasure to meet you." He straightens back up "right this way to your office."

"Thank you." I dip my head just a bit, he's smiling. I know he'll talk about me when he gets with the other boys. There are men who are pure business and there's this kind of man, a gossip. He'd flip if he saw Keller. Keller really did herself up, but that's Keller, all or nothing. He'd be intimidated by Najee, Kader would just make friends. I shake them from my mind and follow the man.

"This is where you will be doing most of your work, after we get some things settled down. In the mean-time you'll be working in an office beside the president. He'll need you on hand for the next coming weeks." Philip smiles excitedly.

"Really?" I say, "what for?"

"Oh, just a few more regulations and laws for the dangerous abnormalities, you know how they can be." Philip makes a disgusted face at the thought of abnormalities.

"Some are quite dangerous from what I hear." Of course, a norm would think like that. When has a norm ever been treated like something less than human?

"Oh, they can be, without the proper rules and regulations in place for them, anyway, you'll keep track of any paper work that goes on and be responsible for getting it into the computer and placing the original copies in a secure area."

"That's what I signed up for." I smile a bright red smile, Keller's choice. "Where is this secure area?" I already know everything he's saying, I memorized it, practiced my character.

"Right here." He smiles and hands me a badge "This will get you just about everywhere in the building, but it is the only key, aside from mine, that can get into this room." He steps asides and gestures toward the drawers "your thumbprint will open these drawers; again, only your print and my print can open these drawers."

"I suppose you'll need to log my prints then." I say with a smile and slight tilt to my head. He nods and his hands presses into my lower back as he nudges me forward.

"We'll do that first, if you don't mind."

"Of course not." I really want to hit him, I don't like people touching me but Isabella isn't a fighter, she's a paper pusher and that's what I need to be. I ignore my instincts and I allow him to lead me toward the room they kept the print logging machine.