Legendary

Legendary - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The first few days of January went by so slowly that I was relieved to know it was finally January 5th. I looked up at the tall building that I'd be working in and smiled. I was so close to being the journalist I always dreamt of being.

"Hurry up and go inside already," huffed Drew who stood beside me and scowling at me.

"I'm taking my time," I said.

"If you carry on 'taking your time' you'll go BACK in time," he snorted.

"No need to be sarcastic," I sighed. "I'm savouring the moment. It could all go downhill from here."

"You're an idiot," Drew concluded and shoved me through the automatic front doors. I fell to the ground with an oomph.

My face flushed scarlet in embarrassment. "Are you okay?!" someone asked worriedly. Heels click-clacked towards me on the wooden flooring. I grimaced and looked up at the woman. Her blonde hair was up in a very neat bun. She wore navy rectangular glasses, a deep sapphire blue ruffled blouse, which showed off her impressive cleavage, tucked into a black pencil skirt and underneath a black blazer. On her feet were navy blue heels. "Are you okay?" she repeated.

"Erm, yeah, I'm fine," I grimaced again. She offered me a hand and helped me up.

"Would you like anything?" she asked, giving me a once over. From the appreciative look she gave me, I could tell she liked what she saw.

"Erm, I don't know. I'm here to start my new job," I said nervously.

"Oh, you're the new guy who's writing the advice column!" she exclaimed. I started to panic. If the main receptionist knew who I was, then who else did? "I'm your boss. I'm Ms. Smith, but you may call me Phoebe." I can't believe I embarrassed myself in front of my boss! I mentally face-palmed myself. Could this day get any worse?

"And this is your other boss, Mr. Castillo," she said, introducing me to a sharply dressed man who had somehow approached us without me noticing. Mr. Castillo wore a black suit with a red dress shirt and a black tie. He had black styled hair and a tan that suggested he'd recently been on vacation.

"Please, call me Angus," he said, offering me his hand. His voice had a Spanish accent.

"Pleased to meet you both," I said, taking his hand and shaking it. He squeezed my hand so tightly I felt my bones grind together, making me wince.

"Pleasure is all ours. Phoebe will show you to your desk," said Mr. Castillo and walked away.

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "It's always my job to show the newbies to their desk," she grumbled. "Oh well. Come on Trent."

I followed her to an elevator. We went inside and she pressed the button which took us to floor 18. When the elevator doors opened, I was hit by a cold blast of air. I shivered violently, pulling my jacket tightly around my body to try and keep warm.

"Sorry about that, it gets quite cold in here when the heating isn't on," Phoebe apologised.

"N-no p-problem," I stuttered, my teeth jittering like crazy.

"You'll get used to it, don't worry," she smiled. We walked onto the floor and she gestured around. "Floor 18 is where we have our advice columnists. There are more than one for each individual problem. Each person who writes the advice column specialised in a certain area; romantic relationships and love, death, friendships, family etc."

"Wow," I said, in awe of all the busy people working.

"Yep. And then we have all the other floors, but that's not important right now. We need you to show us what you're made of and start straight away with writing an advice column," Phoebe said, acknowledging the people around us with smiles and waves.

"Erm, okay," I said quietly.

"There's no need to be nervous, Trent," Phoebe smiled warmly. "This place is like a strict family. We love you until you royally mess up and then we disown you, maybe forever." My eyes widened. I expected her to say 'just kidding!' but no such luck. She gestured to an empty desk with a computer. It was connected to three other desks; two right next to, and the other diagonally across from it. It was like a square of desks. "This is your desk."

Three heads popped up above the boards that separated our desks. Well, more like cubicles but whatever. Two were women and one was another guy. "Oh and these are some of your coworkers; Janice, Kale and Penelope."

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Trent," I said, smiling.

We all shook hands. "Now that you are in their capable hands, I will see you later with a draft of your advice column," and with that, Phoebe strutted away, talking to people along the way.

"Phoebe's nice. You'll like her. We do. Just not Angus... He's a dick," said Kale, who sighed. Kale had short blonde hair, pale ice blue eyes, was tall, standing at about 6ft and was dressed casually; dark blue jeans, shirt and a jacket.

Penelope had long, lustrous black hair which hung half-way down her back, sharp grey eyes, stood at about 5ft 7inches tall and wore a floor-length dress which was pink, black and white with horizontal stripes.

Finally, there was Janice, who was the shortest of the 3; she stood at about 5ft 2inches tall, had a pair of rectangular black glasses perched on her little button nose, had green eyes with flecks of yellow and her hair was a dark blonde which was up in a ponytail. She wore a pair of black skinny jeans, black heeled boots, a purple top which said 'Wake Up And Be Awesome' and a black cardigan. I briefly noticed a black leather jacket on the back of her chair.

"You'll definitely like it here," Penelope agreed. "And call me Penny please. Penelope makes me feel posh and I am so far from it!" She rolled her eyes and sat down in her chair.

"Well you do have a posh accent and wear some of the latest fashion designs," Kale said, glaring at Penny.

"So? That doesn't make me posh," she stated.

"Kale, leave Penny alone," Janice scolded quietly. Kale backed down. He looked at me and gave me a pointed look. "So Trent, tell me, what's your favourite color?"

As the three of us talked, I relaxed greatly and managed to start my advice column. With a bit of help from Kale, Penny and Janice, I finally had a draft made up. Kale told me the directions to Phoebe's office and I made my way over there.

I knocked on the door. "Come in!" I heard, which was muffled by the wooden door. I entered the room and was surprised at how colorful it was. "Trent! What a pleasant surprise! Did you finish your draft for an advice column?"

I handed it over to her. She skimmed it and smiled. "It's brilliant! At least as you get better, you won't need any help from Kale, Janice and Penny." I blushed. "They all have very distinctive writing styles."

"Sorry, I'm not quite-"

"Don't be sorry, Trent. It's your first day here. You'll get used to it eventually," she said with a friendly smile.

I left her office feeling much more confident. I could do this! I was already feeling comfortable and I'd only been at work for about four hours! I had a good feeling about working there. Especially with people like Janice, Kale, Penelope and Phoebe there to guide me in the right direction.