I came from a family whereas I needed to be perfect and better than anyone else, inside and out of the family. I get straight A’s in classes, I get all the boys even though I don’t date, I need to be better than any girl I know in my school. Here in the Unnamed Inc., one of the most prestigious journalism company and the most competitive in Manhattan, New York, I worked as an unpaid intern, it’s different. I didn’t just want to be an intern, I have the get the job. I have to work my ass off if I want to be one of them. It’s never that easy.
“I’m telling you, Francine,” I tell one of my co-workers. “This presentation will definitely get me a job here.” It’s more than just a college credit, I want to be known as a journalist.
“Good luck with that, Courtney.” Francine nonchalantly tells me as she sips her coffee from Starbucks. Then, she returns typing on her laptop, getting back to work. Typical Francine; I couldn’t tell if she is a sociopath or not. All she cares about is herself and never for anybody else in Unnamed Inc.
Without bothering Francine or any of the other co-workers in the company, I went to the empty room to rehearse my presentation for Jason, my boss. Jason is someone who never tolerates anything at all, he’s strict as hell with everything. He’ll fire anyone who’s one minute late to work. By the time he sees my presentation on what’s been happening in North Korea, Jason will put me out of the internship and hire me as one of his newest journalist. I have been working my ass off with this presentation and I’ll be damned if it’s not perfect or doesn’t go as I expected. I really want this promotion.
It took me about an hour to rehearse my PowerPoint presentation. I think I’m going to nail this. Right away, Jason called me from the other room.
“Courtney! Come here please!”
I was hoping that no one will steal or plagiarize my presentation without my consent. With the room still empty until 4:00 pm, I decided to leave my papers and laptop with my flash-drive attached to it on the table right by the SmartBoard. I kissed my fingertips before I tapped on top of the purple folder for good luck. I know, purple is my favorite and lucky color. I leave the room, shutting off the lights and the door. I went to Jason’s office. His door is always opened.
“Hey, Jason, you called?” I asked him as I walked towards his desk.
Jason puts down his smartphone prior to making eye contact with me. “Yes, I need you to do me a favor.”
“Yeah,” I was a bit eager. I have both of my palms resting on his desktop as I leaned a bit forward. “What do you want me to do?”
“I need you… to buy me and some of the staff some coffee.”
I became disappointed. Of course, the worst part of the internship is that I have to do these kinds of errands. It sucks ass. I leaned back from the desk.
Keeping my protest to myself, I asked, “What do you want?”
“Write this down.” Jason tells me. I grabbed my pad and pen from my bag. I scribble down the names and the types of coffee and food the staff wanted from the nearby Starbucks. “Grande coffee with half and half for me. Grande soy vanilla latte for Melanie. Tall cappuccino and a butter croissant for Derek. And a tall caramel macchiato for Riley. And while you’re at it, go to the health food place and get Melanie one of those plain kale chips. She’s vegan, you know that.”
Thanks to my photographic memory, I got everything jot down for Jason and his associates: Melanie the vegan Asian, Derek the smartass but handsome blondie, and Riley the androgynous asexual, which fits her genderless name.
“Anything else, Jason?” I asked again.
Jason was looking through his smartphone resting on his desk. “I think that’s it. Now go, the staff is getting thirsty and hungry.”
“Question: why can’t you pick up your own coffee and snacks?”
“Because I have a lot of paperwork to do, Melanie and Derek have news to search and report on, and Riley is the secretary who can’t leave her desk unless it’s her break.” Jason looked at the time on his phone, “And it’s neither of our breaks yet. So you have to get us the coffee. You want this internship, don’t you?”
I silently sigh and reluctantly answered, “Yes.”
“Good, now get to it.” I left his office. I took the elevator down to the lobby and left the building. I made my way to Starbucks.
This errand couldn’t be any more stressful. First, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus were playing in Starbucks and it makes me want to chop my ears off (I hate them so much, I wish they were dead). Next, the line was long. Then, people in the back were complaining that I was taking too long because my order is huge. But at least I got everything in the tray. I almost forgot to add half and half in Jason’s black coffee, albeit I was able to make that process. I carried everything to the health food market to pick up Melanie’s kale chips. It took me a while to find the kale chips she wanted and luckily I found it in the snack section. How do vegans survive with these kinds of foods? They look so bland and probably taste like cardboard. Anyway, I got the first kale chips I could find and I scurried to the cash register. Once I paid for Melanie’s kale chips, I rushed out of the market and head back to Unnamed Inc.
I made it to the building and once I got out of the elevator, I gave Riley her caramel macchiato.
“Here you go, Riley.” I told her.
She takes her coffee, “Thanks.”
By the time I was about to give the rest their respective coffees and snacks, Riley told me, “Hey Courtney,” I turned around to make eye contact with her.
“Yeah?”
“Aren’t you at that meeting?”
“What meeting?”
“Some kind of presentation.”
Presentation? What the fuck is she talking about?
“Thanks, Riley.” I left without hearing a you’re welcome from her.
Quickly, I gave Melanie, Derek and Jason their respective snacks and coffees when I ran into them individually. Ignoring their thanks, I ran to the room where I was rehearsing my PowerPoint presentation. I opened the door prior to turning on the lights. I ran to the table where I left my folder. And I realized that—my folder isn’t there!
“Fuck!” I screamed out in fury. It’s gone! All of my hard work is gone! Where could it be?! I’m entirely pissed off.
Suddenly, I remembered Riley mentioning something about the presentation going on. I began to search where it’s happening. I came by the room—where Melanie and Derek just walked in—that is across Jason’s office. The door is closed, but I was able to see through the window. I cupped my hands over my eyes to see everyone in the dark room, the SmartBoard on, and they are looking at someone by the SmartBoard. With a closer inspection, I realized that that’s my PowerPoint presentation someone is presenting. That someone—is Michelle. My biggest enemy and rival in the company.
Michelle is an intern, just like me, and she shared the same resemblance as me. We both have fair skin, dark brunette hair, brown eyes and average body type. We look like twins, though we’re not even related. In fact, we hate each other. I don’t know what kind of family Michelle came from, albeit I can tell by her personality that she probably came from a more permissive family than mines and she seems to be a nonchalant partyer. How the hell can she get an internship here if she doesn’t give a flying shit about her job or future? As interns, we compete with one another for that promotion. In spite of our abhorrence with one another, we still had to work together. I truly hate her.
There, I can see Michelle smiling her fake smile as she does my PowerPoint presentation. I can’t exactly here what she’s saying because her words are being muffled through the glass, but by reading her lips from a distance—it sounded exactly like my words. I became infuriated. She stole my hard work and claiming it as hers!
Just then, the presentation was done, it became a standing ovation. Everyone in the room was clapping at her—my—presentation! That’s when I had enough.
Grabbing the door handle, I slam the door open and I ran right up to Michelle, pushing everyone out of my way.
“You bitch!” I screamed at her.
“Courtney! What are you—” I didn’t give Michelle a chance to finish.
I grabbed her hair and I started pulling her towards the floor, right where she was standing. I started screaming and cursing at her as I continue to beat her up with fucking rage.
“You stole my work! I was going to present that myself and you took that away from me! you fucking bitch! You fucking thief!”
“Courtney! Stop!” Michelle screamed out, bracing for cover with her palms up to me. “I’m sorry!”
Everyone else were watching us fight, but I didn’t give a single damn about them now. I resume giving bruises and black eyes to Michelle, ignoring all of the protests from my co-workers.
“Courtney!” I heard Jason screaming out my name over my punches. I then got held back from Michelle, who was laying on the floor, all covered with blood and bruises from my brutal force. She deserved it. Jason forced me to make eye contact with him. There was anger on his façade. “Courtney! In my office! Now!”
“But Jason!”
“Now!” He was beet red. Reluctantly, I walked out of the room with everyone staring at me. Jason followed me into his office.
We got there and for the next several minutes, our argument got overheated.
“Jason! You don’t understand! I wrote that presentation! I did all that work! That was my work and she stole it!”
“Who?”
“Michelle! That stupid bitch! She stole all of my work and claimed it as hers!”
“Michelle?”
“Yes! You know—”
“I didn’t hire anyone named Michelle.”
I was perplexed as fuck. “What do you mean? Michelle—she’s—”
“There is no Michelle!” Jason told me, snapping me out of it. I don’t know why.
“I—I don’t understand.”
“Courtney the reason why I brought you here is because I’m concerned about you. Right after you presented, you started beating yourself up. We were worried that something was wrong with you. I think you need help.”
I became offended. “Beating myself up?! Why the fuck would I do that?!”
“Courtney! Look at yourself in the mirror! You’re hurt!”
I listlessly looked at the tall mirror by the door to Jason’s office. I can’t believe my eyes. I’m all covered with blood and bruises. How did this happen? Michelle didn’t even lay a hand on me.
“Courtney… it’s time…”
