Or perhaps I really was a monkey and less evolved than her.
I’d be cute with a monkey tail.
I swung my pack onto the desk and riffled through the contents, unsure what Angelica meant by settle in. I had half my leftover money in there, glasses, a spare top in case I met with another coffee disaster.
And a pen.
“Ha!” I extracted the pen and set it upon the desk. I glanced around the office. My office. “Mine.”
My new favourite word.
Officially settled in, I headed for the elevator, thankfully not encountering Angelica on the way.
Two hours seemed a long time and I had no idea how to fill it—until recalling that I needed to keep looking for jobs. I couldn’t quit Live Right until I had the proper numbers and documents, and if the first two hours of this job were anything to go by, I’d switch jobs as soon as possible. I couldn’t ever recall being so tired in my life.
I purchased a roll of bacon and avocado sushi, proud of myself for locating a cheap food option. Finding a newspaper was a harder task. Eventually, I found a place tucked inside an underground mall with books, magazines, and lotto tickets.
A stack of newspapers sat on a table just inside the door.
I hadn’t accounted for the newspaper in my budget, so I waited until the cashier was distracted and slipped on my thick-rimmed glasses, riffling through the paper until I found the job notices.
The pet job was still up. Jenny had unrelenting standards, so that was a given.
The newspaper run and tomato factory job were gone. I peeked at the cashier to make sure she was busy and scanned the page again.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
A cleaning job caught my eye. Ugh, it was for an address in the estates. I wasn’t cleaning the toilet of anyone I knew. A notice for a janitor job in a public school was printed beneath it.
That might be an option.
I cursed my decision to leave my pen at the office. If I hadn’t left my phone at the estate, I’d snap a picture. What the hell did poor people do in this situation?
The cashier looked over, and I hastily closed the paper.
Could I be a school janitor?
I’d never cleaned anything other than my hair and body. I did love my shave, wash, and hydrate routine, yet somehow I suspected washing my body and cleaning toilets were different things.
I read the price of the paper. Two dollars and fifty cents. I’d budgeted more than I would need, about fifty dollars more, in case an emergency came up.
Hmm, no, I wasn’t willing to spend two dollars fifty for a potential janitor job. I wasn’t sure it was for me.
With a quick nod at the cashier, I strode out, smiling at how much a few days had changed me. I’d gone from sleeping on the streets to being a renting, working woman in four days. And I’d turned my nose up at purchasing a newspaper. Go me.
The feeling of being precariously out of depth hadn’t disappeared, but I had a few handholds. And I’d only nearly died a couple of times. My encounter with Licky Lips was born of a foolhardy decision. Plus, I may have stepped out on the street into flowing traffic, but I was still inclined to blame the encounter with Black Tie on him.
Because his attitude sucked.
If I ever saw him again, I’d be sure to tell him. Maybe after removing said black tie.
I waited until 3:57 p.m. to re-enter Kyros Sky and return to Level 44. That was how much I dreaded feeling like a monkey again.
Four hours to go. Totally doable. And tomorrow? Well, I’d worry about tomorrow when it came around.
Ding!
The buzzing murmur from Monday greeted my ears. The other staff members were here. Thank Zeus.
I straightened my pencil skirt.
“You must be Basi,” a woman behind the desk said.
I couldn’t be certain, but she looked like one of the admins from yesterday. Her eyes were also bright blue, but she didn’t have the same terrifying effect as Angelica.
I echoed her cool tone. “I am.”
I was fluent in all three dialects of bitch—passive-aggressive bitch, sly bitch, and confrontational bitch.
“Angelica is gathering everyone in the staff room.”
I nodded and quickly deposited my bag in my office before walking to the staff room.
The murmur of conversation swelled as I drew closer. Right until I reached the door.
It cut off.
Everything and everyone.
Off.
My eyes widened. What was that about? My instincts said that one hundred people had been talking about me and somehow knew when I’d arrived to stop talking. But that was… crazy.
I stopped in the doorway.
“Basi,” Angelica greeted.
I looked at her and the same pounding heart I’d had all morning while in her company hit me all over again.
Then I glimpsed the other staff.
Bright eyes.
Looking at me.
Air wheezed in my throat.
My mind stalled.
Eyes like hers. The lot of them. Bright. Burning. Not all blue. A few greens. Some almost violet.
No one smiled, and the currently disconnected part of me was grateful because seeing their teeth would have tipped the terror surging unchecked through my body and mind into mindless territory.
No one spoke a word and sweat beaded on my forehead. My palms slickened with perspiration. My blouse stuck to my chest like I was in the tropics. Oh my god. My legs were shaking.
I had to be sick.
The symptoms started three days ago and became worse at random intervals… except for those times when I wasn’t, well, here.
Why were their eyes all so piercing?
Whatever the answer, I’d bitten off more than I could chew. Admitting that was easy as I stared back at one hundred heartbreakingly beautiful people who made my heart want to shrivel and die.
Whatever this breeding programme was, I was officially out of my depth.
“Basi?” Angelica’s face swam before me. “Are you alright?”
Looking at her was easier than peering at the one hundred staff.
“Alright?” I squeaked.
Someone laughed under their breath.
“There are a lot of us,” she said in apology. “I had no idea you suffered from stage fright.”
Stage fright.
I stared dumbly at her, regaining enough of my senses to guess what I looked like. Rational Basi, the tiny amount of her present, demanded I get my shit together. Because I looked like a fool.
“Stage fright,” I managed to repeat.
“Come with me,” Angelica said kindly.
I was ushered to a chair that thankfully didn’t face the gathered group. Profile to them, I kept my gaze averted to the cupboards lining the nearest wall.
“Everyone say hi to Basi,” Angelica said softly.
For the most part, the staff had kept quiet during my meltdown which seemed weird in its own right. At her words, they chorused, “Welcome.”
My eyes popped at the collective effect of their voices.
Predators.
I’d had the thought prior in regard to Angelica and had it again. There was no other way to describe their musical, silken sound. I gripped the undersides of the chair I sat upon, begging my bladder to stay full.
Someone laughed again, and a faint strain of anger edged in around my fear.
“Basi Tetley is our new trainee and will stay with us all year.” Angelica continued. “For the next week, she will shadow Katerina to learn the ropes. Basi, would you like to say a few words?”