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“Ms. Zhao, I’ve been expecting you.” A voice said as the leather chair behind the desk spun around and revealed Chairwoman Bells. It took everything inside of me to not laugh because, at that moment, Amelia Bells looked like the quintessential super villain greeting the hero when they finally made it into their lair. All she needed was a white cat on her lap and the look would be complete.
Thankfully, I managed to keep the laugh in, and instead took a few steps into the office. “Thank you for having me.” I wasn’t sure how to respond to ‘I’ve been expecting you,’ so I just blurted the first thing that came to mind.
Chairwoman Bells’ silvery eyebrows rose as she gave me a once over, her blue eyes going up and down as she took in my appearance. I was suddenly filled with the urge to straighten my black wrap dress, and I wished that I’d chosen stilettos instead of black leather boots, but I didn’t move. Prey didn’t move when a predator was locked in, that just invited an attack.
After what felt like forever, Chairwoman Bells just sighed. “I suppose you’ll do. Can’t be any worse than the last girl.”
Zoey had worked for Bells for a few years, so the fact that the older woman didn’t remember her name was telling, and I had a feeling that she’d quickly forget my name after our meeting today.
I moved until I was standing next to the chair, waiting to be invited to sit down. Rule number nine on the dos and don’ts list was:don’tsit down until you are explicitly invited to do so.
“What are you waiting for? Take a seat.” Bells snapped, like I was an idiot and not just following her rules. I scrambled to sit down on one of the uncomfortable chairs in front of her desk, and waited for her to address me again.
“Go on then, give me your sales pitch.” Blue eyes met my face and, judging by the amusement in them, she knew that she had thrown me off. My plan to ask her about her upcoming events flew right out of the window. She wanted me to present my abilities to her and she would judge my value.
I took a deep breath and launched into a spiel that was completely on the fly.
Fifteen minutes later I finished by saying, “I think that, for the holiday season, you will want to go with silver or white so that you will stand out amongst the sea of greens and reds.”
After I finished, a silence hung in between us as Chairwoman Bells stared at me. Finally, after what was probably two minutes of awkward silence, Bells leaned back in her seat. “You’ll do. My secretary will give you a list of events that I will be attending for the rest of the year. I expect several options for each, and I want them ready by next week.” She said, and then opened a file on her desk, starting to read without another word to me.
My brain was having so much trouble keeping up with the abrupt end of our meeting that I was sure that I was still gaping at her when she finally glanced back up at me again.
“That will be all.” The dismissal was clear in her voice, and I had enough sense of self preservation to stand and practically scurry to the door.
Once I was finally on the other side, I practically sank against the wood with relief. Charity, who had been working on her computer, swiveled so that she could give me a sympathetic smile.
“You’ll get used to it,” she offered with a shrug. “These are the Chairwoman’s upcoming events until the first of the year, I will say that this is probably the busiest time of the year for her because she has appearances she needs to make as the head of SFOFA,andas the wife of a senator.”
I took the black folder that she was holding out to me and cursed inwardly. Twenty five. Chairwoman Bells had twenty five events in the next six weeks that she would need to attend, and would need a different outfit for each. My work was definitely cut out for me and I secretly wished that Zoey had been fired after the holidays instead. I quickly shook that off, that was a nasty thought, even for me.
“It looks like I have a busy week ahead of me, what day do you have for me to come back next week?” I asked.
“Next Tuesday. She’s got the first event in that folder on Wednesday, so I’d make sure that whatever you bring her fits without needing any tailoring.”
Something told me that working for Chairwoman Bells was definitely going to be a pain in the ass, pay-raise or not.
