Free Love, Technically by Lynne Silver Page B

with her designer clothes and Ivy League education.” She was embarrassed to admit she’d erroneously assumed Sydney had gone to Penn State when she’d mentioned Penn. Victoria clued her in that Penn was University of Pennsylvania.
    “Why can’t you keep up?” Eve asked.
    “She’s got a fancy marketing degree from an Ivy League school. I have a diploma from a small-town high school. She probably spent a semester abroad. I’ve never been to Europe.”
    Eve shrugged. “So go to college. Travel to Europe, if you think that makes you more worthy somehow.”
    It would make her more worthy. How could it not? But she rolled her eyes at Eve. “With what money? I’m barely making rent.”
    Eve grinned. “There are ways to get an education.” And she started to tell Michelle about one of the local colleges that specialized in professionals already out in the workforce. “They may not have ivy-covered walls, but you’ll be speaking marketing language with Casey and Sydney in no time.”
    That evening when Michelle got home, she hopped on the Internet and researched local universities offering marketing degrees. By crunching some numbers in her head she saw that Eve was right. She could get some sort of higher education.
    She collapsed into bed, thinking about the huge floral arrangement she’d left on her desk to brighten the office, and fell asleep.
     

 
    Chapter Six
    The next two weeks passed in a blur. Michelle fell into the new routine as if she’d been doing it for years instead of ten days. She went to work in the morning and stayed up late speaking to Sark on the phone. She knew it was the middle of the night for him in Spain, but every time she told him to go to bed, he said he was basically nocturnal from all his years staying up to code. And he wanted to talk to her more than sleep. It gave her the shivers and had her grinning every time she thought about the long talks.
    Last night’s conversation had been all about her first college class. She’d sat in on a few night classes at the University of Chicago, since she hadn’t been accepted to the full certificate program yet. She was waiting on the scholarship information and to see if LightWave would foot some of the bill. But for now, she’d had three classes and loved it. The other people in the class were interesting and diverse, and everyone had one thing in common. They all wanted to move ahead in their careers and didn’t have the traditional degree to do so.
    For the first time in an educational setting, she felt at home and inspired by the professors. She was already seeing a difference at work too. Casey had her sitting in on all marketing meetings to take notes and set up projectors. This morning, she’d felt comfortable enough to offer an opinion. Of course, Sydney had been offering opinions from day one, not that Casey had followed up on any of them.
    But Michelle’s offering had been met with acceptance and approval. The team was going through with her idea! It was a high like she’d never known.
    “That was a good idea you had at today’s meeting,” Sydney said.
    “Huh?” She looked away from the spreadsheet she’d been working on. “Oh. Thanks.”
    Sydney narrowed her eyes. “Don’t come up with too many more of those or you’ll be getting the position.”
    Michelle imitated Sydney’s facial expression.
    “Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Sydney continued. “I’m only joking. Didn’t you hear? Casey got approval to open two new positions in the department. There’s room for both of us. It’s not like we’re competing for a position like we originally thought.”
    “There are two positions?” Why did it seem like Sydney was always one step ahead when it came to interoffice gossip and politics? She probably had the inside scoop from her father.
    “Of course, one of us would be the marketing administrative assistant and one of us the marketing coordinator.”
    “What’s the difference?”
    “Pretty much what