“How dare you!” Christine raged, jumping to her feet and gripping the edges of her desk with rage, her eyes blazing.
“How dare I?” I demanded, my body shaking from head to toe now. “How dare you! You’ve treated me like shit since I first started working for you and made my life a total hell. You know, at first I thought it was worth it. I thought that, hmmm, maybe working for this vile, evil woman would open doors for me one day, and I’ll only have to suffer for a little while before I can find my own way. But you know what? Eat shit! Because it’s not worth putting up with it anymore. I quit!”
The look of utter shock on Christine’s face made my day and I let out a burst of maniacal laughter that I’m sure made Christine think I’d gone stark-raving mad.
This time, I didn’t laugh as long as I had with April, and when I was done, I turned to leave but stopped to add, “Oh and by the way, you can save your little threats about how you will ruin me and how I will never work in this city again.”
I flashed one last triumphant smile the witch’s way and swirled around and began to leave the office. But the sound of Christine’s voice brought me up short a second later.
“Victoria.”
I should’ve ignored her and kept going. After all, I’d gotten the last word in, and there was no reason to engage her further and listen to her empty threats about how she would ruin me, but for some reason, the tone in her voice made me freeze. I had to hear what she was going to say.
Slowly, I turned around to see Christine regarding me with amusement in her eyes.
Why is she smiling? I wondered. I just told her off. She should be steaming mad and wanting to kick my ass out of her office.
“Do you recall when you first came to work for me?”
“Yeah? It was on a day that—”
She interrupted me, obviously not looking for me to actually answer her question. “You signed a contract.”
Her words were like a sucker punch to the stomach.
I licked my lips that had suddenly gone as dry as a desert. “So? What does that matter?”
Now it looked like Christine was the one holding back maniacal laughter. “Do you recall what was in the contract, Miss Young?”
The room began to spin around me as panic began to seep in.
I’d been so desperate to get the job working for Christine, I hadn’t thought to go read through it all, eager to sign my soul away for the chance at a future career in fashion. A chance at reaching that first step in achieving my dreams.
“No,” I admitted.
Christine grinned. “The terms and conditions were that you cannot terminate your job with me without at least a sixty-day notice for any reason outside of a medical or family emergency without opening yourself to legal ramifications.”
It took a lot to steady myself. Any second and I was going to faint.
Christine looked me over while speaking with glee. “And since the only emergency it looks like you’re in is a dire need to lose another twenty pounds off your enormous rear end . . .” Christine’s smile took over her entire face. “I could sue your fat ass off.”
It was all I could do to stay standing. “Y-y-you can’t do that,” I stammered.
Christine crossed her arms across her chest. “Watch me.”
"That's not legal. Besides, it’s not like I actually have anything to sue for.”
Christine uncrossed her arms and leaned forward across her desk, boring into me with suddenly cold, calculating eyes. "Do you really want to take that chance with me, Victoria?”
When I didn't reply, Christine let out a chuckle, a heartless, evil sound that felt like a knife was being jabbed in my side. "I didn't think so." She snapped her fingers and did her customary ‘shoo the fly’ gesture. "Now go make my coffee."
* * *
"She's just doing this to keep me chained here!" I sobbed into my hands. “She’s too sadistic to let me out of my contract and pursue my own career elsewhere."
"I'm sorry, Vick," April cooed, "but you should've known better than to try Christine. In fact, I'm in shock that you're still here. Telling Christine to shut up and calling her a miserable hag?" April shook her head and let loose a chuckle of disbelief. "No one has ever dared to say anything like that to her before . . . at least no one who has lived to tell the story, that is."
I sniffed, taking the back of my hand and wiping at my tears.
April and I were sitting at a small table. I had an untouched bagel with cream cheese on it while April had one celery stick. I don’t know why she bothered. She might as well have had a plate of cotton balls in front of her for all the calories it contained.