11

Amara

Amara thought her first day was going quite well so far. The only small blip had been Beatrice, who she could not decipher. She had no idea whether Beatrice had taken an instant dislike to her or whether she was trying to get in on the office banter and wasn't very skilled at it. Amara didn't let it worry her. It wasn't as though she would be working alongside her, and all the others she had met had been nothing but nice to her.

She had picked up the diary system, and it was all straightforward stuff. She had put up some emails she had been asked to put up and phoned to set up meetings for Leo for the next week. She had even sat through a short meeting and taken minutes. She had to get them typed up that afternoon and on Leo's desk by the end of the day, and she also had a report to type up.

The job was nothing she couldn't handle, although she knew the pace would quickly pick up once she got her first day under her belt. She was just eating a sandwich with Jess in the kitchen and really liked her. Jess was clever and funny, and they had a lot in common.

"So, how are you finding everything?" Jess asked.

"Good," said Amara. "I've been doing the personal assistant job for years, so I'll be caught up on that in no time."

"And the people? How are you getting on?"

"I've met lots of people. I have a list of names in my head and a list of faces, but I'm not sure they all match yet." She smiled.

"After a week or two, you'll feel like you've known everyone your whole life," Jess smiled at her. "Everyone will know if you can't instantly remember their names."

"I hope so," Amara replied. "I don't think Beatrice likes me much, but luckily, I have her name written down, so at least I won't be able to offend her by not remembering her name." She hadn't really meant to say that. She did not want Jess to think she was neurotic, or worse still, a gossip. Jess smiled, and Amara felt somewhat better.

Jess didn't seem bothered by what she had said. "Beatrice is a little standoffish initially. Nothing personal. It's just the way that she is. After you get to know her, she'll soften a little bit," Jess clarified. "I think she's just a little shy and she tries to overcompensate for it, and it makes her seem a little brusque at times."

That made sense, Amara presumed. There was no reason for Beatrice to dislike her. She had not known her long enough to have offended her in any significant way.

Jess stood up and stretched, and her back popped quite loudly.

Amara tried not to jump.

Jess laughed. "That's my party trick," she said. "And speaking of parties, I have a meeting, so I must dash." She threw away her rubbish and smiled at Amara as she left the room.

Amara thought about going back to her office, but she had only been on her lunch for a quarter of an hour, and she did not want to get a reputation as an ass-kisser. She ate her sandwich and had a sip from a bottle of water. Her thoughts went back to Leo.

He had been nothing but nice to her, complimenting her on her work and making it clear he was available if she had any questions or anything. Amara couldn't help but be suspicious, though. Half of her wanted to just let her suspicions go and move on, but half of her was clinging to them so that in case something did happen, she wouldn't be completely surprised by it. She simply could not bring herself to trust him. She was certain that he was playing some sort of game with her, where he got her to drop her defenses and then went back to his old stunts, undermining her and humiliating her.

If she kept thinking that way, though, she was never going to be able to settle here fully. Amara sighed and dipped her hand into her pocket to pull out her phone. She scrolled through T*****r half-heartedly for a while, then changed over to I*******m, but she wasn't seeing anything. She was just wondering about Leo and whether getting this job was such a great idea after all.

Amara sighed and scrolled through her contacts until she came to James's name. He would be the voice of reason, the one who would tell her to get out of here. She called and waited for him to pick up.

"How's your first day going?" James said instead of hello when he picked up her call.

"Good," Amara said. "But weird."

"Weird how?"

"The CEO I work for. It's Leo Pluo from school. Do you remember him? Only now he's calling himself Leo Joe," Amara informed him.

"I do recall him," James affirmed. "It's been a while since I saw anybody from school except for you, naturally. How's he faring?"

"Well, obviously. He's a multimillionaire."

"Nice."

"James, do you recall how he used to bully me?

"I don't believe he was that much of a bully. He teased you to get attention, and you overreacted and made it worse for yourself."

"Thanks for the support," Amara grumbled.

James laughed. "Oh come on, Amara. I know it felt bad at the time, but it was years ago. We can laugh about it now, surely? You were so touchy about it because you were into him. Other kids said way worse stuff, and you laughed with them."

"I guess," Amara said, thinking. Was that true? Had she made it out to be worse than it really was?

"Wait, is he still doing that?" James asked.

"No. That's the thing. He's been nothing but super nice to me. He even apologized for the way he used to act. Unless it's an act, right? Like some sort of game."

"Or maybe. just maybe. he just grew up like we all did," James said gently.

Maybe. The thing is, James, he's smokin' hot. Hell, he's hotter than he's ever been. How can I be attracted to him after everything he did to me? It's weird, right?"

"The heart wants what the heart wants," James sang.

"Yeah, it's not my heart that's wanting him," Amara replied with a laugh.

"Go for it."

"He's my boss," Amara replied quietly.

"So what? I'd do my boss if he was as hot as you said Leo ended up."

"Would you?"

"Anything. I can always find another job, but hot guys? Thin on the ground, girl. Thin on the ground."

"I have caught him looking at me in a manner that shows that the chemistry isn't returned," Amara went on. "And there is quite definitely a chemistry between us."

"How are you making this seem like a problem?" James asked.

"Because, I don't know. How am I supposed to trust that someone who hated me this much is capable of changing the way they feel about me?"

"Oh Amara, you still don't get it, do you? I'm going to say the same thing I say to you every day in school. Leo does not hate you. He never did. He just wanted attention from you."

"Whatever." Amara sighed. "I have to go."

"Ok. Don't let this whole overthinking thing you do confuse your head and mess up a great job." He hung up.

Amara didn't feel much better. All James had done was make her doubt everything all over again. And then she thought about why he always assumed she overthought everything.

She stood up, put her trash in the can, and went back to her office. She was surprised to see Beatrice sitting at her desk as she approached.

Beatrice looked up in a guilty face as Amara walked into the office. She covered the guilty look with a smile. "Just sending some emails while waiting for you," she said in a rush.

"Using my Laptop?"

"Just testing if it all is working.".

Amara smiled tightly. "Okay. What can I do for you?"

Beatrice pointed to a stack of papers she had placed on Amara's desk. "Mr. Joe asked me to print those out and bring them to you to post to our top twenty clients. Their names and addresses are in the database. Do you need help using it?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks. I'll do it right away."

Beatrice rose very begrudgingly out of Amara's chair. She provided Amara with a smug smile that Amara couldn't fully decipher before Beatrice left the office.

Amara settled again and summoned up the database.

By four o'clock, she had posted the letters, typed up the meeting minutes, and finished the report. She opened the diary app, simply to get used to Leo's timetable for the following day, so she could keep abreast of what was happening. Her heart fell when she looked at the app. All the text was in what she believed could be German.

Shit. What am I going to do now? Amara hesitated for a moment and reached for her desk phone. She would call Jess and have her walk her through how to switch it back over to English. She pulled her hand back from the phone. She couldn't help but remember the way Beatrice had laughed on her tour and told Jess that she would be hearing from her a lot. Amara did not want to be that newbie who could not even look after herself.

She recalled Beatrice being at her station with the guilty expression on her face when she had come back from lunch and smiled to herself. She knew what this was. This was trick-the-newbie time. And she was not going to get taken in and race to Jess. She could figure this out by herself. If she freaked at the first trick, more would come. If she could figure this out and get it sorted out for herself, the newness would pass, and she'd be accepted as one of them.

Amara didn't know a lot about coding, but she knew enough to get into the back end of the system and she knew enough to find what she was looking for. The language tag. There was all this that she did not know—gibberish directions and symbols—and then it. The one that she was changing was simple. Inserted between two quotation marks was the word German. She easily removed it and inserted the word English. She crossed her fingers, clicked the save button, and logged out of the program backend.

A triumphant "Yes!" crossed her lips when she saw everyone revert back to English. She went back to her initial assignment and read about Leo's tomorrow. He was having an early morning meeting and another in the later part of the afternoon. She jotted down a few notes on her notebook of what he'd need for the two meetings, so she could prepare it for him when he needed it.

Finally, she turned off the computer and left her office. She steeled herself for the confrontation she'd had with Leo and she tapped on the glass door.

He smiled and waved at her to enter.

"I'm all done unless you need anything else," she said.

"Nope, good," he said. He gestured to the report that she'd left him with beforehand. "This is actually great, Amara, thanks.".

Amara felt herself blush at his praise. She was going to wear a little more makeup tomorrow. She couldn’t have Leo seeing her blush every time he said something nice to her.

“How was your first day?”

“Good,” she confirmed. “I think I’m finding my feet.”

He smiled. “Give it until the end of the week and you’ll feel like you’ve been here all of your life.”

She smiled and smiled back at him. "So goodnight then," she said.

"See you tomorrow."

Amara returned to her own office and packed up her belongings. She was just leaving when Beatrice showed up in her doorway. She smiled and beckoned her in.

"I just wanted to make sure everything's okay," Beatrice said.

"Everything's fine. Thanks for taking the time to check in on me."

"And you have tomorrow's schedule for Mr. Joe?" Beatrice asked.

Amara could sense precisely which game Beatrice was playing. She wanted to know if she had encountered her handiwork yet or not. Amara smiled and nodded.

"The diary program is working, okay?" Beatrice pushed.

Amara might just keep agreeing by nodding her head, but she believed that she would set Beatrice free from her agony. "It is now," she said. "The coding was a little funky. The text switched into German, but now it is fine."

"Oh. You most likely hit the wrong button or something." Beatrice grinned. "Did you call Jess to have it corrected?

"It's not a button that I accidentally pushed. You have to go in and make the code changes manually. Someone has to have come in here and done that," Amara stated bluntly. "Hazing the new girl and all of that. But no, I called Jess. It was a simple enough problem to solve, so I just fixed it myself."

"Do you know how to code?" Beatrice snapped. She looked very upset that her hazing hadn't quite gone according to plan. Either Jess was right about her and they'd be laughing about this in no time, or Beatrice had genuinely grown to dislike Amara.

"I know many things, Beatrice. Things you would never dream I would know," Amara said cryptically.

Beatrice made that "hmm" sound again and then she walked out of Amara's office. "Well, see you tomorrow then, Amara."

"You sure will."

Beatrice left.

Amara chuckled under her breath. Perhaps working here wouldn't be so terrible after all. Because whether this was innocent hazing or Beatrice attempting to sabotage her, her school years with Leo had taught her one thing. They had taught her how to defend herself and not allow anyone to pull the wool over her eyes.