Chapter Thirty-Five #2
‘Fine by me.’ Andrea smirked. ‘I have a busy enough day as it is.’ Her beady eyes were wholly fixated on us, not flickering for a second. She was enjoying every second of this torment.
Silvia cleared her throat. ‘OK, right, well. I’ll get straight to it, then.
Unfortunately, Ella, after the events that unfolded last night, which Andrea and I have discussed at great length, we have concluded that we have no other choice but to terminate your contract for causing severe reputational damage to the company. ’
‘What?’ Zola blurted out bluntly.
Andrea’s smirk seemed to grow wider as she sat silently observing the pain she was causing.
‘No. You can’t do that,’ Katy pleaded. ‘Ella didn’t know Natasha was going up on that stage, she had no idea what was going to happen. It was out of her control!’
‘ Mm .?.?. I see,’ was all Silvia could muster.
‘Look. It’s fine,’ I replied, reaching for both my friends’ hands to settle them. ‘I deserve it. It’s fine, honestly.’
‘No. No, you don’t.’ Zola’s voice was low and deep. I could almost see the blood boiling behind her eyes.
‘But you two, on the other hand, we have decided to let you girls off with a formal written warning. What with creating the website and jeopardising the reputation of the company – well, you should think yourself lucky Natasha didn’t call out your names on that stage and .?.?.’
‘Lucky?’ Zola interrupted her, almost cackling under her breath.
Silvia readjusted herself in her seat.
‘You seriously think anyone who works here is lucky?’
I elbowed Zola to keep calm, and I watched Katy’s face squirm as she knew our friend was ready to blow.
‘ You are the lucky one, Andrea. Lucky that we all put up with your bullshit for so long!’ Zola hissed.
‘I’d watch it if I was you.’ Andrea’s eyes narrowed sharply in Zola’s direction.
‘No, you know what, I’ve fucking had it with you. Look at you, sitting in that chair thinking you run some sort of marketing sweatshop here. I’m done. I’m done with you . I’m done with all of it! If Ella’s out, I am too.’
‘No, stop it!’ I could feel my heart rattle against my ribcage.
‘Zola!’ Katy cried, panicked.
‘Nah, fuck them, Katy. Look at how they are treating us, look how Andrea’s always treated us. All those snide comments, threatening us with losing our jobs every other day, making us feel inadequate and insecure.’ Zola scowled at our boss from across the table.
‘Guys, stop it, please,’ I pleaded as I rubbed my sweaty palms up and down my tired face.
‘You know,’ Katy said quietly, taking a slight pause, ‘Zola’s right.’
‘Katy!’ I blurted, hearing my voice screech. As much as I admired my friends’ determination to back me up, I didn’t want them struggling with unemployment.
‘No. It’s not even about you, Ella. It’s not about last night.
It’s everything.’ Katy spoke slowly, as if everything was slotting into place in her mind.
‘You’re nothing but a bully, Andrea. And truthfully, I’ve only stayed here because of these two.
’ She let out a small laugh of relief, finally glad to have found the courage to stand up for herself.
I turned to both of them, completely gobsmacked. I knew how much we despised Andrea, but this was their lives, their careers, their livelihood.
Zola burst out laughing too, pointing towards Andrea’s face, noticing the smirk had completely vanished and she seemed anxious all of a sudden.
‘Well, there you go, Silvia. I think we’ve made up our minds then. If you could draw up the paperwork and send it out to us, we’re all more than happy to leave. Aren’t we, girls?’ Zola stood up from her chair, pushing it back, still giggling.
‘And yeah, good luck replacing us, Andrea!’ Zola added for good measure.
‘WAIT!’ Andrea’s voice thundered through the room. ‘SIT DOWN. NOW.’
Zola swung her braids back over her shoulder, raising a warning brow at our now ex-boss, then motioned her head for us to follow as she darted towards the door. Katy and I stood up and trailed behind our friend.
‘Perhaps we should reassess the situation, Silvia?’ I heard Andrea say. ‘Maybe a termination of contract for Ella is a bit harsh. I’m sure we could come to some form of agreement to keep you all.’
Together Zola, Katy and I glanced at one another and shook our heads in sync.
We’d finally had enough of her dictatorship.
We’d finally had enough of Smart Reputations, and truthfully, I had no idea what the future held, but the sense of leaving this job had already lifted an almighty weight from my shoulders.
‘You know what,’ I said, ‘how about you reassess this?’ I stuck my middle finger up, pulled the door open, yelled ‘FUCK YOU, Andrea!’ and walked straight out of that damn conference room.
Zola and Katy giggled like a pair of kids beside me.
‘We’re free!’ Katy threw her head back, then wrapped her arms around both of us.
‘We’re unemployed,’ I replied, popping her bubble in an instant, still not quite believing what we had done.
From the boardroom we could hear shouting and raging.
‘Fucking hell! Did you see her face!’ Zola snorted. ‘Come on, let’s clear out our desks before that crazy bitch calls security.’ My friend nudged me towards the entrance of the offices, but I could feel myself hesitating.
‘I don’t want anything from here. I think I would rather just go home,’ I managed to say, feeling my adrenaline crash from such a rollercoaster of high-intensity events from Alexander’s exhibition to the HR meeting.
‘What? Are you sure?’ Katy rubbed my back, realising how awful the past twenty-four hours had been. ‘Because I’m going to steal a shit ton of notepad and fill my bag with highlighters, the lot!’ she added, smiling towards me.
‘Nah, really, I’m all good. I’ll call you guys later,’ I replied, backing towards the lift, just wanting to be by myself.
‘Wait, Ell, what about the rampant rabbit?’ Zola called out.
I shrugged. ‘Shove it up Andrea’s arse. It can be her leaving gift!’