Free Summer Intern by Carrie Karasyov Page B

into her office and hand her a resignation letter, but before I could, she grabbed me and pulled me into the Xerox room.
    â€œI am, too,” I said, preparing to make my speech. Gabe and Teagan had been pleading with me all morning to change my mind, telling me it would be the stupidest thing I would ever do, that I was just being stubborn and defensive, get over it and forget the whole thing, and start having some fun this summer. But I was planning on ignoring their advice.
    â€œKira, everyone here knows you deserved that internship. I shouldn’t be telling you this, so please don’t repeat it, but we all know why Daphne got it,” she said, pushing her hair behind her ear. “It’s ridiculous, but our hands were tied. Let’s face it: Her dad’s our boss, and what she wants, he wants. It was a huge, huge scandal a few summers back when her stepsister didn’t get it. This time, there was nothing we could do.”
    â€œI’m sorry to hear that, but it doesn’t make it better for me,” I said, feeling brave. “I worked really hard and I feel like I was robbed. So I have no choice—” But before I could finish, Alida cut me off.
    â€œI know, and everyone here loooves you. So what I want to say is that even though this sucks, please don’t leave or do anything silly, because we all totally want to recommend you for a job assoon as you graduate from college.”
    A job? I blinked a few times, just to see clearly. They loved me? Suddenly, my shoulders collapsed and I felt as if I could breathe. “Really? Wow, I don’t know what to say.”
    â€œIt’s true. So please, just stay the course, and keep doing what you’re doing. I’m sure you feel the world is so unfair—and it can be, as you’ve seen—but it’s the last battle that counts, and in the long haul, hard work is rewarded.”
    â€œThanks, Alida. Thanks so much.”
    I was psyched. Okay, so good can come out of bad. Things can happen in a different order. When I exited the Xerox room, Gabe and Teagan were lingering, pretending to fax something so that they could find out what went down. I waited for Alida to be out of earshot before whispering, “It’s all cool.”
    â€œYay! So you’ll stay?” asked Gabe.
    â€œTotally.”
    We group hugged, but when we split apart I spotted Daphne waltzing in with a cup of Starbucks.
    â€œHey!” she said with a wave, before turning left toward Genevieve’s office.
    Although Alida had quelled my desire to bolt, I still felt that tingle of rage inside me.

Chapter Fifteen
    B ack slaving in CeCe-land, my newly empowered ego was just beginning to wither again (amid her cries of “You idiot! You know we don’t use redheads for beauty stories!”) when Richard entered in a frenzy and announced in high-dramatic fashion that he was dyyyying and needed me “desperately” due to an unforeseen “crisis of epic proportions.”
    There wasn’t much to say to that, especially with Richard’s flailing limbs and woe-is-me stressface, so CeCe ceded possession of me. I nervously gathered my things and followed Richardobediently around the corner to the elevator. As the doors closed, he launched into an explanation.
    â€œI have to go to this stupid accessories shoot called the Forensic Files—Genevieve wanted all the models to be like dead people in chalk outlines. Raymond Meier’s shooting, he’s a genius. He’ll make it great. We got Marilyn Manson’s makeup artist to do it. It should be cool,” Richard rambled a mile a minute.
    Huh? “But what was the crisis?”
    â€œNothing! I just wanted some company. If I’m gonna sit on my ass for six hours, I want a buddy with me. Oh, but you do have one duty: I’m giving you strict instructions to keep my fat ass away from the catering table!”
    I smiled, exhaling, feeling so lucky to have