Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 155

Chapter 155

"John, are you OK?" Sabrina asked you, looking at you like you had three heads.

"No, seriously. Think about it," you said. "Sure, we're writing LSATs. But this isn't accredited. Garrison didn't tell us any rules. For the last month he hasn't cared one bit about how we divided work, as long as the work got done, because this isn't school. We're working in the real world. So we can just... work together."

Gemma opened her mouth and then closed it, looking thoughtful and cocking her head a bit. Sabrina blinked rapidly, then shrugged. "Fuck it," she said and lowered the cardboard divider that Garrison had set up. "I fucking hate tests anyways."

"Alright, I'm in," Gemma nodded.

So you wrote your practice LSATs together.

And it was actually... fun?

Studying and preparing for the LSAT had been a stressful addition to your third year of university. You'd had a full course load, and all that extra studying on top of things. Writing the test was even more stressful than applying to University to begin with. But writing it with Gemma and Sabrina made it fly by. One of you generally had the answer on the tip of your tongue, and for the more complicated questions you were able to quickly work it out between the three of you.

You not only finished the test, but you finished it early.

When the door opened and Garrison stuck his head in after three hours, he found the three of you sitting around the desk, chatting and laughing. Your tests were stacked neatly, along with the pencils and the dividers. Gemma, wearing a pair of nice slacks instead of a skirt, even had her feet up on the desk though she lowered them when the door opened.

"Things went well then?" Garrison asked.

"Absolutely," you said. The three of you had agreed that since you had come up with the reasoning for working together, you were going to be the one to explain it. "We finished the whole thing. Even checked it twice."

"We?" he asked pointedly.

This was the moment you had to own your shit. You were maybe 85% sure that this was 'a Test' and not just writing a test. Everything you knew about Garrison told you he shouldn't care about trying to enforce school rules or anything like that.

"Of course," you said. "You gave us a task, and we completed it. Together. To the best of our abilities."

"Hmm," he nodded. "Alright. Give me whoever's copy is neatest, and head back upstairs. Work as usual for the rest of the day."

"Yes, sir," we all said and gave him Sabrina's copy since she had the nicest handwriting.

Once we were all in the elevator, with Garrison having stayed behind on the first floor, we all let out nervous exhalations and laughs.

"I can't believe we just did that," Gemma said. "It feels like we got away with cheating, but it wasn't."

"God, we may have just ruined my view on every test and assignment going forward in Uni," Sabrina said. "Why shouldn't we be able to use the resources we would in the real world? Now I wonder how many of the Partners start off something new just by Googling something."

That got the three of you laughing, and you were still grinning as you got back to the intern conference room.

"Well?" Joy demanded, standing from her seat at the far end of the table as the three of you filed in and headed for your seats around the conference table. "Where were you?"

"Downstairs," you said.

"Doing what?" she scoffed. "I went and checked the basement and none of you were there."

"Garrison had us working on something," Gemma said. "It's private."

Joy took in a deep breath, and you thought you could almost see the gears grinding in her head as her peevish rage grated through her. But she held her tongue and didn't say anything to Gemma. Instead, she turned to you and the syrupy sweet, completely false smile that oozed onto her face put you on more of a defensive than anything else. "Well, John. It's good your back finally because while you were busy with whatever, we got another cleaning assignment down in the basement. You need to come with me."

"What?" Eric asked. "I don't remember anyone telling us that. I could have-"

"My mother sent it to me," Joy snapped and then turned back to you again. "Come on. We need to get the job done before the end of the day."

You glanced at Gemma and Sabrina. Was this it? Was this really her move?

"Sure," you said. You pulled out your phone and fiddled with it, turning on the camera app and then slipping it into your front shirt pocket recording video. "Let's go."

"Mm," she pouted, narrowing her eyes. "Leave your phone here. You shouldn't even have it at work, and we need to stay focused."

You furrowed your brow. "I'm not leaving my phone here."

"Are you refusing to do your job, John?" Joy demanded. "Because if you don't want to do it, I can make sure that's a permanent thing."

Either Joy was suspicious of you wanting your phone and that you could try and record her, or she was just that much of a control freak that she wanted to flex it every way she could. Either way, you had to think quickly.

"Well, first I'd like to see the direction from your Mother," you said. "I just want to know what room we're cleaning down there."

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Joy sneered.

"I'm not asking you to explain," you said. "I just want you to show me the directive so I know what I'm doing."

"She told me. There's nothing to show," she countered.

"Didn't you just say she 'sent' it to you?" Gemma asked.

Was now the time to push? You had your phone recording, but was this the best you could get?

"Why are you trying to get me alone in a room with you, Joy?" you asked her. "Is there some reason you want to do that?"

To Be Continued.....