Chapter 1

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I was in a rush to get to my 8am meeting, and of course Murphy's Law kept rearing its ugly head.  I finally got myself out the door, when I realized I'd forgotten my coffee inside.  Not good.  I didn't have the time to go back in for it, and so I would just have to suffer the consequences of not being properly caffeinated when I was due to make a super important presentation to my boss, Michael, trying to convince him of why the story I've been tirelessly following deserves to be blown up by the media, but no one will touch the story.  He has never believed me that it was anything worth reporting on, but decided to give me 24 hours to put together a proposal.  I swear, I felt like I was getting nowhere with this new editor.  It seemed as if all of my hard work, and all of my potential fell on deaf ears, and no longer mattered.  I felt that my career was spiraling out of control, and there was little I could do to salvage it.  Michael has already shown great distaste for me, although to talk to my mother, you'd think it was out of spite because he was in some way intimidated by me.  But, if you were to experience it first-hand as I have, you would see that can't possibly be the case, he just downright hates me.

I rushed into my office, barely had time to set down my personal belongings before I was already being paged through the intercom on my phone.  "Any time now would be lovely, Ms. Gilmore" the voice hissed, prompting me to move even faster.  It was a face-paced job, and I relish in that.  I do most of my best work on a strict and seemingly impossible deadline, but a girl's got to be able to take a breath once in a while!

I composed myself and walked into Michael's office with poise and my head held high.  I went on with a ten minute-long presentation of why HPG needed to be exposed for their shady business transactions, their unethical practices, and most importantly, their deceitfulness to their stock holders who truly believe that they're investing their money into a wholesome, and trustworthy company.

When I was finished, Michael stared at me blankly, with his fingertips to his mouth.  Seeing as how I've never rendered him speechless thus far, I considered this a victory.  I was most certainly mistaken.

"Ms. Gilmore...  How do I put this gently?  I believe that everything you've put together for your presentation today, every last detail and every painful accusation, only just confirms my theory – I believe you're just simply a woman scored.  You're upset about the fact that your dear ex-boyfriend, Logan, got married another woman instead of waiting around for you to be ready, and now you're trying to take it out on the entire company, because to put it simply, you feel they ruined your life.  You are a bitter, shrew of a woman, and I feel that your presentation was neither professional, nor was it warranted.  I think if I don't see improvement from you and your story choices before the week's end, I will be forced to let you go.  And we all know how much I'd love to keep you around" he said, the expression on his face, and in his eyes seemed, as though he were full of the devil himself.

"You're kidding, right?  Look, Michael, my history with the Huntzbergers' has absolutely nothing to do with the direction of my story, and to be honest, my history with them is also none of your business.  Let the record show that I have no hard feelings for anyone in the Huntzberger family, nor should that be any more relevant than there being a history at all.  None of this should be taken into consideration as motivation for the work I've put into this.  I have approached this from every angle, trying to find the most unbiased way to propose it, and I feel confident that I have proven myself for doing just that.  I feel that you're treating me unfairly, and that it's not the story that you don't like, but that it's me personally.  You shouldn't allow your personal feelings of a person cloud your judgement on their work.  It's unethical" I said, standing up for myself.

"Ms. Gilmore, I assure you, I do not have ANY personal feelings of you to allow my judgement to be clouded.  I see you in the office, we speak at the office, and I leave you at the office.  That's it.  I don't give you a second thought whenever I leave this office.  And as a matter of fact, if you don't leave my office right now, I will file a harassment suit against you with our Human Resources department, seeing as how you're trying to get 'personal'.  Have a nice day, Ms. Gilmore" he said, and then turned his attention away from me, and back to his computer screen.  I was so flustered, and angry, that I left in a rush.  I wanted to cry from being so angry.  How dare he talk to me that way!?  A harassment case?  How in the world could he have founded that?  I felt trapped, and I felt like I needed to get away for a while.

*                                                          *                                                          *

I was working away in my office, and my phone rang a few hours later.  It was my mom on the other end, so I answered quickly.  "Hey mom, I'm at work, is everything okay?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm just simply wondering when I'll get to see my long lost daughter who never comes to visit me or her little brother or Luke anymore" she pouted.

"Actually, I've got the weekend free, how about I head there tonight and stay through Sunday?  It would be a welcomed distraction, actually" I offered.

"Work still horrible, huh, kiddo?" she asked.          

"More than ever.  Look, I've got a few more things done here at the office before I can leave, but I can call you when I'm on my way home, if you'd like?  I can give you a better ETA at that point, anyway" I said.

"Can't wait!  See you soon, kid!" she said, and we both hung up the phone.

Maybe a trip to Stars Hollow for the weekend would be exactly what I would need to take my mind off of the horrors that I call my sinking career...

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