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I saw Christina as she left her office. “Hey,” I called out.
She nodded once and waited for me.
“You’re not taking lunch upstairs with management?”
The second floor had its own lunchroom, but I’d refused to go in there.
“No. My office upstairs is only temporary,” I said.
“It is?” she asked. Her tone was very matter-of-fact. She hadn’t raised an eyebrow or anything.
“It is.” I smiled. “Are you heading to the lunchroom? I was just about to go there myself.”
“I am.”
We walked down the hallway and just as we were about to enter the room, I heard someone say, “Who the hell is she, anyway? The boss’s side piece?”
“I don’t know, but she gets bumped to the second floor after less than a month here. She’s definitely putting in extra hours somewhere,” the female voice laughed. I stood next to the refrigerator so I couldn’t see to whom the voices belonged, and they obviously didn’t see me.
“Don’t you guys know? Haven’t you noticed the security guard that follows her?” That was Calvin’s voice.
“Know what?”
“You’re shitty lawyers. It only took me a few searches to discover she’s the governor’s daughter.”
“Ohhhh. That’s why she was hired and why she’s already been pushed to the second floor. Figures. Some of us—”
Christina cleared her throat and walked toward them. “You—”
I didn’t hear the rest of what she said because I ran down the hallway to the bathroom and locked myself in a stall.
Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.
My coworkers were gossiping about me and thought the worst of me—they thought I’d gotten the job because of my mother. Tears streamed down my face and I pushed them away, but they wouldn’t stop falling.
Why did this always happen? Why did she always have to ruin everything? I knew I’d earned my spot here, but now I’d have to prove myself over and over again, and that may not be enough to polish what has now become my tarnished reputation. I balled my fists and punched the steel door. The entire stall shook, but not nearly as violently as I did.
Pull yourself together, Nikole. You’re proving Jake right by acting childish like this. It doesn’t matter what they think, only the truth matters.
But what was the truth? Yes, Governor Adams was my mother, but she didn’t help me get this job. I earned it. I would hold my head up high and walk out of this bathroom.
I opened the stall and walked up to the mirror. My eyes were red and swollen.
Ok, maybe I’ll walk out in five minutes.
I was waving my hands over my face when Christina opened the door. I quickly dropped my hands and turned on the faucet to wash them.
“I’m sorry. Some people in this office are real jerks. They won’t bother you again.”
From what I knew, Christina had been working for the firm for nearly five years and was close to becoming a senior associate.
She turned to leave but I called out, “Wait!”
She held the door open as she looked over her shoulder. I had no idea what she had said, but she had stood up for me, I was sure of it.
“Thank you,” I said. She nodded once and left.
Taking in a few calming breaths, I walked out of the bathroom and nearly ran into Jake.
