Free Miss Independent by Kiki Leach

feet glided across the marble, hoping the employees who had arrived early alongside her would forget her behavior from the previous day. They hadn’t, but they were not going to risk their livelihoods in making a single mention of it aloud to anyone either, including to the press. At least not on the grounds in which they worked, where if the building had ears, every set belong to Vanessa at all times.
    Before she even got to her desk, her assistant jumped from the chair and stood in the opening of her door.
                  “Wait,” Vanessa started. “Before you say anything to me, I need to just…”
                  She took a sip of her coffee and shut her eyes for a moment. Then turned her head toward the ceiling and swallowed. For a few moments, she pretended as if she were in another place altogether, in a paradise, occupied by only she and three male servants, all of whom managed to look like Nathan in some way.
    Once snapped back to reality with the help of the elevator dinging behind her as the doors opened, she realized how silly she was being and breathed out. She silently counted to ten, then looked back into her assistant’s eyes.
    She tilted her head and smiled wide, hoping to cure herself of the irritation that had arisen. “What is it?” she asked, still smiling.
                  This seemed to make Samantha more nervous than when Vanessa was screaming and swearing. “You received a phone call this morning.”
                  “What, from my mother? I’ve already spoken to her, so if she’s calling again, tell her—”
                  “No,” she said. Vanessa arched a brow. “What I mean is, this call is from someone you went to high school with. A Joan Hopkins.”
                  “Joan.” She moved past her assistant and slipped into her office, setting her briefcase on the white leather couch near the door. She took another sip of her coffee and tilted her head a little. “Joan… Hopkins?”
                  “Yes. She said you would remember her from your senior Calculus class together?”
                  “Senior Calc…” Vanessa thought for a minute, folding one arm over the other. And then she excitedly snapped her fingers. “Oh! Right. Yeah, yeah, Joan the Groan. She dyed her hair purple for a year in the hopes of creating some kind of new anti-homework movement against our teachers or something. It never took on. She’s the chairperson for the reunion now, right?”
                  She nodded. “Technically.”
                  “What does that mean?”
                  “It means that she’s still involved in all the big doings, just like you are here as Editor in Chief – approving bylines, what’s allowed within the magazine and what isn’t. But unlike you, she won’t have a ‘first hand’ in making things actually happen anymore. To make a long story short, she has to permanently step down because she gave birth a few days ago, and everything she does now will be via Skype. Apparently she was due the week after your reunion, but she couldn’t wait.”
                  “She had a girl?”
                  “Yes.”
                  “What did she name it? Do you know?”
                  “Joansephina.”
                  “ Joan sephina? That must be a play on her and the baby’s daddy. That kid is going to have some serious issues growing up. Oh, well, congrats to them.” She set her coffee on the desk and picked up her mail. As she dug through it, she turned to Samantha. “Am I going to find anything here that’s going to piss me off today? Because I’m somewhat prepared, but I just need to know before I manage to make an unexpected fool of myself again.” Samantha shook her head. “Good.”
                  “Except…” she started. Vanessa glared.