Chapter Three.

Gabrielle 

   It's been one week, one week as vice president and I'm already tired of it but I can't possibly say that to my mom or else she'll freak out. I never really liked the idea of being a fashion designer and I know nothing about it since I didn't exactly study anything in fashion in college.

 Since I started here, I've had paperwork, and outings all week and I'm so damned tired of everything. 

"Layla, cancel all my appointments for today, I don't feel too well," I instructed my newly employed secretary who of course knew I wasn't really sick, I was just bored.

  After thinking of what to do for a while I decided it was best to go sightseeing, that might inspire me to actually design something. 

****

   I leave the office and head directly to one of the city's popular cafes, Ahoy. Weird name, right? Whoever owns the place must have some kinda obsession with pirates and fortunately, his little pirates make great coffee. 

 "I'd like to have a cup of black coffee, with no sugar," I ordered in a hurry so I could get out of here. I remember very well that the daughter of whoever owned this place hates me and that's probably because I snatched her boyfriend but you can't blame me cause he was really cute. 

   "Here's your coffee miss," a plump looking dude appears and I'm pretty much irritated by him. Did that thing really make my coffee? That's absolutely repulsive. 

"Here's your money," I say, immediately handing him the money and walking out. While running out, I pay no attention to where I was headed and I end up bumping into someone and judging from the hard impact, I'm pretty sure it's a man and unfortunately for him, I spilled hot coffee all over him. 

"Watch where you're going Missy!" he growls angrily and I deadpan for two good reasons. 

  Firstly, he's surprisingly good looking and secondly, he's absolutely rude. How dare he call me Missy? 

  "Who the fuck do you think you are to refer to me as Missy?" I raised my voice immediately but instead of looking upset, he looked somewhat confused. 

"You again? Are you always this clumsy?" He questions and I fume. Did this birdbrain just call me clumsy? HOW DARE HE! 

"Clumsy? You run into me like a blind fool and now you call me clumsy? What part of being a gentleman weren't you taught?" I hiss at him and he stares back at him still looking confused. 

 "Hold on a second, I don't think I know you so why do you keep looking at me like that?" I snap very loudly, making a few people stop to stare at us. 

  "Aren't you Gabriella?" he asks and I swear I almost throw up on hearing that stupid name.

 "Oh, I see you've met my sister," I exclaim, still wondering how he even knows someone like that dumb sister of mine but I definitely won't ask him cause I don't even care to know.  

"I'm sorry, you're a twin?" he asks and I hiss. Is he deaf or is he stupid? 

"Unfortunately, I am. Now if you'll excuse me, I have way  better things to do than to keep talking to another one of my sister's trashy friends and don't expect me to apologize for the hot coffee cause you deserve it," I say to snappily before pushing him out of my way and getting in my car. 

****

  "Hey mom!" I squeal excitedly at the sight of my mom, pecking her on her cheeks. Whenever I do that, it reminds me that she was actually my first kiss.

 I know it sounds weird and disgusting and trust me, It still creeps me out that I've kissed my own mother but it happened a long time ago and it was an honest mistake. 

"How was work today honey?" She asks. 

  "It was quite stressful mom, and because I didn't feel too well, I had to leave early," I replied to her. 

"Did Ella finally show up?" My mom asks and I roll my eyes. 

  No offense to her but I could care less where she is now, in fact I hope they find her dead body in a slum or better still in pieces. Yes, that's how much I hate that bitch. 

"No mom, she didn't and I heard she turned in her resignation. In fact everyone at the office kept spouting trash about me stealing her job," I answered, frowning feebly at the thought. 

   "You shouldn't listen to them dear. All you have to do is prove to them that you're much better than your sister and that will help you clear that title. You also have to be nice to people. It scores you more points in this industry, okay?" She rants and I nod my head, feeling absolutely bored out of my mind. 

 Sometimes my mom can be such a bore and that's always very annoying but as usual, I pretend to listen to her to avoid any more long speeches and I find my way out before she goes all preacher mode on me. 

Gabriella 

  "I can do this, I can definitely do this. I'm a fighter and I won't let them get to me. Not now, not ever Ella. We can do it!" I mutter to myself, trying to boost my confidence. 

  If you're wondering why I'm doing this, well, let's just say you can't blame me for preparing mentally for another day at the office. If you think the fall off the chair was my only nasty experience, you're very mistaken. 

I, Gabriella Johansson, for the first time in my life tasted coffee made with actual toilet water and it didn't end there.

 I got locked in the office from the outside after everyone had left and my instincts tell me it wasn't coincidental, thank God for the security guard who heard me screaming or else, I'd most likely be the laughing  stock of the entire company by now. 

 "Good morning Jack." I greet politely avoiding the menacing gaze of my evil team members, who were out to get me. 

"Oh, you came back!" Jack exclaims, sounding pretty surprised for some reason. 

 "So you didn't want me back?" I ask amusingly, wondering if he was also in on their pranks. 

"Oh no, don't get me wrong Gaby. I have no issues with you but as you can see, it's not easy to work here and many people come here to work but don't make it through an hour and although you stayed the day, I honestly never thought I'd see you again," he replies honestly. 

  I, at first start to wonder why he lets them get away with bullying the new designers for reason but then I realize he probably can't stop them since it's their way of pushing off newbies who might be a threat to their dumb squad  but it's gonna take more than that to get rid of me.

  "Don't worry Jack, it's all nothing but measly pranks. I'll get over it soon and I assure you, they're not gonna get the best of me." I say to him with pure determination.  

"I wish you the best of luck Gabriella," he replies.

  "Also, I need you to create a dress you believe can be used as a grand finale at our next fashion show. I'm only giving you this chance, because of your recommendation but if you can't get it done, you'll find it much harder to survive here and as a challenge you have to submit a sketch of your idea within today or tomorrow, best of luck to you," he instructs before focusing back on his work. 

  Something tells me I'll face a similar situation like yesterday but this time, I need to be prepared for the worst and as for Jake's assignment, that should be a piece of cake for me. 

Later that evening... 6pm 

  Finally, it was time to go home, or at least that's what I thought. Since I was given such a task, I had to pay more attention to my work than to those maniacs and this time, I didn't collect any welcome on board coffee, I refuse to be dumb twice.

 Well, I wasn't actually done with the dress but it only needed some finishing touches and I'll be all done but since I was too tired, I decided to go home and complete the design tomorrow. 

This time, I was prepared for any kind of prank like maybe if they already put glue on the door knob, so I came prepared by buying things I'm gonna need in case of an emergency and this time I brought fresh clothes, just in case.

 It turns out I was right cause they had locked me in again and this time, the guard did not come to my aid but lucky for me, I made preparations. 

   I have cloths for the next day and I'll definitely get up early to finish up the designs, I bought a toothbrush and a toothpaste, and I bought some chocolates and a bottle of water just in case I get hungry, so I'm all good and I'm totally unbothered this time. 

I feel so proud of my awesome intuitive self right now and I was definitely looking forward to rubbing their failure in their faces tomorrow.