Chapter 1

Lena woke up to the buzzing sound of her phone. It has been ringing nonstop, until she stretched her arm on the wooden cabinet beside her bed, and grabbed the phone. She had slept late the previous night and that made her too weak and reluctant to leave the bed.

Without looking at the phone, she answered the call and dropped it beside her ear. 

“Hello?” 

“Lena, are you still on bed?” a female voice spoke , and she immediately recognized the caller.

“Oh Trina, it’s you.” She said, in what looks like a mumble.

“Of course it’s me. It’s past 7 already, why are you still on bed?”

Lena had to force herself to sit up before responding to her. “I know it’s past 7. What do you expect that I should be doing? I mean, I was up all night, refreshing my email over and over, and looking out for other job opportunities. Babe, I need this rest.” 

“That, I’m afraid of, my friend. Your resting days are over…. “ Trina said, holding back the rest of her statement.  

She sounded like she was bearing a good news for her. 

“What are you talking about?” Lena asked, curiously

“Well, I think you should refresh your email again, because I just got a mail this morning.” She stated, but didn’t sound too excited. 

“C’mon Trina, of anything you could use to make jokes, you chose my dream. You know how much this will mean to me if my application gets approved. I’ve worked my ass out every single day, trying to prove to different publishing company that I am very good at what I do…..”

Trina didn’t say anything, while she was talking. She allowed her pour out her frustration of not being able to land her dream job, despite her good she is. 

Lena and Trina have been friends from college and are hoping to become journalists in any of the publishing company in New York. They both have submitted applications to different companies but none was responding to their mails, until that morning.

Lena didn’t only submit her application letter to the companies, she would also write different articles and send, for them to see what she could do. 

“Are you done? If you are done, kindly go refresh your email again.” Trina said.

“If this is a joke Trina, you better stop it right now.” 

“Gosh, just check the damn email, Lena.”

Lena jumped out her bed and rushed to sit on her working desk. She opened her laptop and quickly checked her email. To her greatest surprise, her own application has been approved.

She screamed in joy and threw herself back on the bed,

“Oh my God, Trina, we did it. After all this years, we made it.”

“Yeah you did it actually.” Trina’s said, with a deep sigh of relief. 

“What are you talking about, Trina?”

“Mine wasn’t approved..” She stated. “I knew I should have done something different just like you did.” 

The atmosphere in Lena’s room changed almost immediately. She wasn’t happy that her friend’s application got rejected.

“I’m so sorry Trina”

“ Thank you, I’m so happy for you Lena. You really deserve this even more than I do. You can finally live your dream. Now, go show them what you’ve got inside you.” 

“It was supposed to be our dream. We were supposed to go show them what we can do. I think I should turn it down, I can’t …..” 

“Oh not again, you are late for your interview. Stop talking and get going.” Trina cut her off immediately. She didn’t want her to get discouraged because she didn’t get the job.

“Interview, what interview?” Lena asked in shock.

“Didn’t you read the mail? The manager will be interviewing you. So give it your best shot, okay? Bye, I’ll see you later. And don’t forget to fill me with how it goes.”

“I will. Thank you Trina, bye.” 

Her joy came back and she began dancing and singing. Without further delay, she rushed to take her bath and get ready for the interviews.

Soon, Lena was ready to leave the house. She stood in front of her mirror and was admiring herself. Because it was one of her dream company , she had to dress in her best. 

“Lena, I’m so proud of you.” She said to herself, before showing off her smile. “You can do this.”, “You deserve this, and I trust you can handle.” 

She left the house and boarded a cap to 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018; The New York Voice, One of the biggest and well known publishing company in the city.

 It has been her dream to become a journalist, and the New York Voice is one of the places she has always wanted to be. She walked into the building; a very big one with 5 floors, two elevators adjacent to each other, and a staircase on one side. Every one seemed to be busy and focused.

 She approached the receptionist; a woman in her 40’s , had her eyes glued to the computer screen at all time.

“Hello ma’am” 

“Yes, what do you want?” the woman asked, her eyes still glued to her computer. She doesn’t seem to happy.

“ahmm, My name is Lena. I got a mail this morning that I am supposed to come here and….”

The woman finally stopped looking at her screen and turned to Lena. “What do you want?” she asked again, like she didn’t here her the first time.

“I’m here because my application got approved. Could you please take me to the manager or whoever is in charge here?” she raised her voice a little, also trying not to show she was offended by her.

It seems the woman woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She returned to facing her computer screen and randomly hitting the keyboard. 

“Sit there, he will be with you shortly.” She said, pointing at the waiting seat at one side of the wall.

Lena went to sit and was patiently waiting to be called in. While she was waiting, she was practicing how she’d respond to any question from the manager. Prior to that time, she had done enough research on the company.

After few minutes of waiting, and still no sign that she will be attended to, she walked back to the receptionist,

“Hello ma’am, it’s me again. Lena. Could you please call the manager and tell him he’s keeping someone waiting. I’ve been waiting for over 20 minutes now.”  

“Do you want me to say that? I think I should said that to him.”

“ Of course not. I didn’t mean it that way. Please just let him know I’m here”

“Oh now, you want to teach me how to do my job.” The woman flare up. 

“No, I’m not teaching you your job. You can do better, don’t you think? A little smile on your face could help make one’s days brighter. You are first person everyone sees where they walk in here, you really should represent this company very well.”

The woman got offended that she was scolding her. She kept quiet and continued striking the keys of her computer. 

While Lena was still talking, one of the elevators opened and two men walked out of it, conversing. One dressed in black suit and the other was casually dressed; Mr. Peter, the manager and another of his journalist. 

“I’ve heard all that you said, Mr. Peter. I promise to get back to you as soon as possible sir.” 

“Fine, be very quick with it. What I don’t have to give is time. Remember, time is money, and I don’t want to lose any money here.” 

“Yes sir. I assure you sir, I won’t disappoint you.”

“Of course you won’t, because if you do, there’s no point coming back”  

The man left the building and the manager turned, to return to the elevator. 

“ Hey Susan, once it is 10 AM, whoever comes to look for me, tell them I’m busy.” 

The time says 9: 45.

“Yes sir.” The receptionist responded immediately. 

Lena stood there and was expecting her to inform the manager about her waiting to see him, but she didn’t. She rolled her eyes a

t her and ran after him.

“Excuse me sir. Sir, excuse me please