Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 164

Chapter 164

Walking to the office that Joy was in only took about fifteen steps, and you shouldn't have been worried. It was all bullshit at the end of the day. The problem was, there was this little 'But' in the back of your mind. Those little nuggets of doubt that wanted you to consider that things might be going sideways. That she might be a step or two ahead of you and the others.

You squashed the 'But' and went to the open door of the office, knocking lightly.

Joy looked up and smiled. Sweetly.

She was attractive when she wasn't acting like a raging bitch, and you could tell that between her family connections and her Pretty Privilege she probably got her way about 98% of the time in her life. You still weren't sure what might have happened if she had started at the same time as the rest of you for the internship and had set her sight on you - if she'd aggressively pursued you sexually, you likely would have appreciated the attention and fallen in with her.

What a shit decision that would have been considering what you had now.

You moved into the office, mostly just a box of a room with a standard desk and chairs inside and an empty filing cabinet. The window was looking out at the neighbouring building so it wasn't much of a view, but it did let in more natural light than the conference room had.

"John, hi," Joy said, still maintaining that 'sweet girl' persona. "Please sit. As you know, this is your performance review."

"If you say so," you said, taking a seat and doing your best not to fidget or give off any sign of being nervous.

"Could you do me a favour and take out your phone and turn it off?" Joy asked. "This is an important meeting and I would rather make sure we aren't going to be interrupted."

"No, sorry," you said. "I can't do that."

"And why is that?" Joy asked.

"Because that isn't a necessary step for this sort of meeting," you said. Which was true, but you were also currently kicking yourself because you hadn't just forgotten to turn on your recording app before stepping into the room but your phone was currently sitting next to your laptop in the conference room. You'd sent Gemma that little heart emoji, set it down, and hadn't put it back in your pocket.

You didn't have any protection. You couldn't gather any evidence.

Fuck.

Joy's smile broke into a small frown. "I really must insist," she said.

"I promise it won't be a distraction," you said.

Joy pursed her lips slightly and narrowed her eyes, looking you up and down. She reached over to the side of the desk and picked up two small stacks of paper, setting them side by side in front of her. "You know," she said, speaking slowly and carefully picking her words. "Employee reviews are very important tools of bosses and HR departments to track progress and decide whether an employee is worth keeping around. Or if an Intern is worth making an offer to."

"I'm aware of this, yeah," you said.

"Well, some reviews," she said, patting one of the stacks of paper. "They go fairly well. Nothing to note, maybe even a decent word or two about the employee. Things are taken in a kinder light, you could say. But sometimes reviews go poorly." She patted the other stack of papers lightly. "Other reviews, well, sometimes things can't just get overlooked. Sometimes they go poorly, and an entire group can see repercussions coming down because of it. They are the only way to know if correction is needed or not, after all."

The implication she was making was clear. Joy had made up two different sets of reviews, and judging by the size of the paper stacks they must have been for everyone on the team and not just for you. She was offering a trade. What she wanted for you and the whole team to get good reviews.

You already knew what she wanted. And, to be honest, it wasn't like it would be hard to do. Give her what she wanted, get what you and Gemma and Sabrina wanted. Save Eric to boot.

Except she was a snake, and you and your girlfriends had already decided the cost wasn't worth it.

"I just want to have an open and frank discussion with you, John." Joy said.

You shrugged in your seat. "I can turn off my phone," you said. "But to be more comfortable with that circumstance I'll need to go get a witness for this meeting."

"You don't get a witness for a review," Joy said, her demeanour dropping more.

"No, I'm pretty sure I can if I want," you said. "For any sort of disciplinary or HR meeting I can elect to bring a witness."

She fully scowled at that point and then pulled a garbage can out from under the desk. It had a contraption on top of it, and you quickly realized it was a bolted-on paper shredder as Joy picked up the stack of 'good' reviews and fed the top page into the shredder.

"If you want to enforce a rule like that I can't stop you," she said over the noise of the machine. "But I think it would be inmost of our best interest if we just have our frank talk one-on-one."

"I'm good," you said with another shrug.

She fed another couple of sheets into the shredder. "Are you sure, John? Because the way I see things, either you've decided you're in trouble or you're being personally insulting to me on purpose. And I definitelydo not enjoy being insulted."

"You can take it any way you want," you said and stood up as she started feeding the rest of the 'good' reviews into the shredder. "But I think this meeting is over."

"Well, in that case, unfortunately I can't say your review is going to be very positive if we can't even start the meeting positively," Joy said. She was talking loud enough that you assumed she was trying to put on a show for the non-existent recording you were supposed to be making. "Anything that happens from here on out is going to be on you."

You wanted to snap at her. Wanted to level an accusation, but then you realized - she could be purposefully pushingyour buttons. Or those of the others.

Joy could be recordingyou to try and get her own evidence for blackmail.

"I guess we'll see, Joy," you said.