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“No, sir.” I shook my head quickly as everyone in the room turned to stare at me. I could feel my face growing red at the stares. This was super embarrassing. “I was just thinking how lucky we all are to be here in the presence of two amazing attorneys such as yourself, and I was wishing I’d bought some Girl Scout Cookies with me for everyone to enjoy and celebrate with.” I offered him my sweetest smile, and his eyes narrowed as he obviously remembered the snarky dig he’d given me in the elevator that day.
“What’s your name?” he asked, and his tone wasn’t exactly polite.
“I’m Polly Campbell. I—”
“Oh Polly,” Travis interrupted me with excitement. “You must be Harriet’s sister?”
“Yes.” I nodded slowly. “I am.”
“Max, this is Polly Campbell. Her sister Harriet is dating Finn.”
“Oh.” Max nodded in understanding. “So you’re not even a law student, are you, from what I gather?”
“Not yet,” I muttered, hating that I was being given so much attention in this space. “But I am applying this year and expect to attend Yale or Harvard.”
“Weren’t we all?” Andrew said, laughing at me in disdain. I pressed my lips together so that I didn’t go off on him.
“Max, why don’t you introduce yourself now that you’re here?” Travis continued, and I wanted to rush up and hug him. Not only was he hot, but he was nice as well. I beamed at him thankfully, and I could see that Max had noticed and was shaking his head. I really hoped I wasn’t going to have to be around him for very long. I couldn’t stand him and his pompous ass.
“My name is Max Whitlock. I am a named partner here. I went to Columbia Law School and practiced in New York City. I also own a building company and part ownership in a publishing company in the city. As most of you know, our main offices are in New York, but we hold the summer internship in the satellite office here in Port Sunshine because we work with a lot of developers in Florida. Most of you will be working on cases specific to deals in Florida. This is a rigorous program, and some of you may not make it through an entire summer.” He paused and looked at me. “The law is a serious…” He paused as a phone started ringing in the room. It only took me five seconds to realize it was mine. As “Baby Got Back” played loudly in the room, I knew two things: one was that I was in big trouble, and the second was that I was going to literally kill Chelsea for changing my ringtone.
“When you’re done, Ms. Campbell, please let us know,” Max said as I fiddled around in my handbag in an attempt to turn off the ringer on my phone. I wanted to say something rude to him or at least dump some water on his face. Max Whitlock was possibly the most annoying man I’d ever met in my life, and I didn’t care how hot he was. I didn’t want to see his stupid face any more than I had to this summer. And even though I wanted to walk out the door and leave, I knew I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. I was not going to let him think that he’d gotten the best of me. If anything, I was going to do my utmost to show him that he’d been wrong about me from the beginning. I’d have him groveling to apologize to me for being such a jerk. And if I didn’t, I could at least try.
Chapter10
“Wow, that was some meeting.” Natasha and I walked into the break room to grab some lattes on our fifteen-minute break. “There are a lot of intense people in the law.” She wrinkled her nose as she pressed the buttons on the machine and waited. “But it is nice that we get free coffee and snacks.”
“I guess so.” No amount of free coffee and snacks would make up for Max being such a jerk.
“And they said we get free lunch every Friday and we go on different work events every other week.” Natasha sounded excited. “Plus we get paid. This is the bomb.”
“Bombs usually blow up,” I said as I grabbed a white Styrofoam cup and placed it under the machine. I looked at the different selections and chose mocha and waited for the machine to do its thing.
“You okay?” Natasha asked, a genuine look of concern in her eyes. “You seem stressed out.”
“I just don’t think that—”
“Polly Campbell.” An older lady walked into the room and looked around. She had large, owl-rimmed glasses on her face and a stack of files in her hand.
“That’s me,” I spoke up as I grabbed my cup.
“Please come with me.”
“Oh?” I frowned as I looked over at Natasha. Was I being fired?
“Mr. Whitlock has some projects for you.”
“But we’re still in the conference room.” I was confused. Was everyone being given projects now? Or was this some sort of test?
“Yes, the others will go back to the conference room, but because you’re not a law student yet, he felt you should have some other duties,” she continued. “To see if you really want to attend law school.”
“Hmm, okay.” I frowned. Had this always been the plan, or had Max just created it? “You want me to come with you now?”
“Yes, please.” She sounded impatient. “And you’ll need to drink that coffee up and finish it now.”
“Oh?”
“You’re not allowed beverages in the file room.”
