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"Ooooh!" Phyllis exclaimed, waggling her eyebrows. "That sounds interesting!"

I felt my cheeks getting hot.

"Well, it was kind of complicated," I said quickly.

Natalie folded her arms across her chest.

"I don't see why you got to go!" she exclaimed, sounding more irritated than ever. "It's not fair—I should have been the one!"

"Should have been the one to do what?"

We all turned and I felt my stomach drop.

Angie was standing directly behind us, looking as though she'd just discovered her entire department taking a nap on company time.

Her gaze swept over Natalie, Tamara, and Phyllis before settling on me.

"What's going on here?" she demanded. "And where exactly did you go, Celeste? I thought you were supposed to be sick?"

For one horrible moment, nobody said anything. Then Tamara suddenly remembered that she had something important to do at her desk.

"Oh, I just remembered—I need to finish those reports!" she exclaimed, hurrying away.

"Me too!" Phyllis said, practically running back towards her cubicle.

Natalie looked as though she wanted to argue, but one glance at Angie's face apparently convinced her otherwise.

"I was just asking Celeste a question," she muttered before retreating.

Which left me sitting at my desk with Angie glaring down at me. Wonderful.

"Well?" she demanded.

I swallowed hard.

"Um, I was sick," I said weakly. "Like I told you this morning."

Angie's eyes narrowed.

"Then why was Natalie saying you went somewhere?"

"Oh, that." I tried desperately to think of something believable. "She was just asking about something that happened at her Halloween party. Before I got sick."

Angie looked unconvinced.

"I see,” she said shortly.

I doubted very much that she did. But apparently she wasn't interested in arguing about it, because she simply folded her arms and gave me another of her unpleasant looks.

"Celeste, I don't know what's going on with you lately, but I don't like it. Your work has been slipping, you've missed an important meeting, and now I find you sitting here gossiping with your coworkers instead of doing your job."

"I'm sorry," I said quickly. "I was just⁠—"

"I don't want to hear it," she interrupted. "You'd better not miss even one more day or you are out of here. Do you understand me?"

My stomach twisted and hot words burned in my throat—I swallowed them down with difficulty.

"Yes," I said tightly.