This is it. Maleah worked the hardest of any of the interns. She knew everything about True Green, and she had earned her place at the company. Tears threatened to make an appearance. She needed this job and really needed the increase in pay. Living on an intern’s salary had been worse than making minimum wage, but she loved what she was doing and the sacrifices had been worth it. But Holden wasn’t looking at her.
“Davis. We think the work you’ve done over the last year, and especially the progress you made with the hemp polymers, has earned your right to be a full-time chemist with True Green. I sent you our offer. If you will look it over and give us an answer as soon as possible, then Terence and I will know how we are going to move forward.”
Holden finally looked at Maleah and then the other interns. Sadness and stress emanated from his sapphire-blue eyes, or maybe he was only mirroring Maleah’s inner turmoil. Davis? They want Davis?
Davis said, “I’ll all in, McNutt. I’m sure I’ll be staying with you and Terence. I’m ready to get back in the lab right now.”
Davis was an extraordinary chemist, and that had to be the reason he was chosen over her, but Maleah had been equally responsible for their findings on the last project. She helped with every step and had written the entire report. Holden and Terence hadn’t even acknowledged her role in the mycelium and hemp polymer project. How was that fair? If she hadn’t helped Davis, he would have never made the breakthrough.
She was about to speak up when she realized Holden had been talking and she missed what he’d said.
“If you will look over the new intern contracts and let me or Terence know if you are able to stay with us, that would be great. We understand if the new terms are not a viable option for you at this time. We’re terribly sorry. Today is not how any of us imagined our third-quarter meeting would go.”
What? She couldn’t admit she hadn’t been listening and glanced at her fellow interns. Brandy, who sat to her left, was clicking on her email, so Maleah did the same. The email heading read “True Green Bioplastics Internship Program.” Maleah opened the message and read. The new internship offer was an unpaid position. She blinked and read the offer again. Images of her future flashed like a slideshow inside her head. School loans, credit card debt, and homelessness were not how she pictured her future. Her car was paid for, but she couldn’t live in it. When she’d accepted the internship, the pay had been minimal, and she’d somehow managed to make it work, but working forty to fifty hours a week for zero dollars was impossible. She’d have to find a second job… at night when she was supposed to be sleeping. Maleah had put in her time with True Green. She had worked so hard. Why is this happening?
By the time she stopped obsessing over the email, most of the room had cleared out. Embarrassed by her lack of awareness, she closed her email app, stood, and headed to her desk. The frenzy of overbearing doom settled into a dull numbness.
She didn’t notice anyone or anything until a familiar voice asked, “So, are you going to stick around, Hale?”
Maleah turned to face her rival. “I worked as hard as you did on our project. I wrote the entire report while you watched online videos. I know everything about this company.”
“But I know the exact chemical composition that makes hemp polymers bond with the mycelium to decompose in one hundred and eighty days or less in both land and marine environments.”
“If I hadn’t been in the lab with you that day, you would have never added the fungus mycelium in the first place,” she said.
“But Holden and Terence don’t think so. I told them the formula was my idea.”
“Why would you do that? I deserve recognition for my part of the project.”
“You do, but I beat you to the punch. Now I have the job we all wanted and you don’t.”
“What is wrong with you?” she asked, disgusted and mystified by Davis’s callous and hurtful words.
He didn’t have to think about it, as the answer rolled off his tongue without hesitation. “I’m a dude. We get what we want because we’re not worried about hurting the feelings of our competition. You women think you’re equal to us men, but this proves you’re not. If you wanted the permanent position with True Green, you would have done what it takes to get the position. We all know Holden and Terence like you more than me, yet I will be staying. With a paycheck. You didn’t answer my question. Will you be sticking around? You are pretty useful, in your way.”
Maleah had so much to say in response that her words tangled and made speaking coherently impossible. And truth be told, Davis didn’t deserve an answer even if she could manage to spit out her response. What insulted her more was how he said everything as a simple matter-of-fact statement.
“You can piss off. I’m going to talk to Holden.” She left Davis standing by her cubicle and didn’t look back.
“Running to the boss won’t change anything,” he called.
She flipped him the bird. Davis laughed, his mockery fueling her temper.
Two
MALEAH KNOCKED ON Holden’s office door and strained to hear if he was inside. The door swung open so quickly that she jumped. Brandy, her fellow intern, flashed a sympathetic look and then dropped her gaze to the floor before hurrying down the hall.
“Maleah. I knew you’d come. Close the door behind you,” Holden said.
He stood in the center of his office and had the aura of someone who had been defeated but refused to stay down. Her sympathy meter shot off the charts, and she instantly wanted to make everything better. Davis’s declaration of “I’m a dude that gets what he wants because he’s not afraid of hurting other people’s feelings” went off like an air horn inside her head. But dammit, she had feelings and empathy. Unlike her dipstick coworker, she couldn’t turn off her emotions, especially when the person who was hurting was someone she cared about.
“Oh, Holden, I’m so sorry about losing the grants.”
“You, me, and everyone. But thank you. The last couple days have been challenging.”
She approached her boss and placed a hand on his arm. Holden covered her hand with his. His touch was slightly clammy and not at all what she would have thought. But still, he was touching her.
“What can I do?” she asked.
“Maleah, I know you’ve been living on a shoestring budget. I don’t expect you to work for free. Terence and I have always been adamant about paying our interns. Having to ask people to work for free is killing me, but we can’t figure out any way around it. We’ll be applying for new grants and searching for investors, but for now, we are stuck.” His hand fell away and he moved to the desk chair.
“I can help you with that. In fact, I have spreadsheets listing possible investors and private donors.”
“Email me what you have, and I’ll definitely use anything I may have missed. You’re incredible. You’re going to be an asset to any company that is lucky enough to have you. I can’t believe this is happening right now. I thought we had another year at least, and by that time, we would be making enough to expand. Cutting back now is going to stall our progress. It’s unbelievable. This couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”