Lilacs Forever

Chapter 1: Long Day

Despite embarrassing herself earlier that morning, Delilah was relieved that she came in 2 hours before. Janet explained to her the things she needed to do and how the company works. The printer was down the hall near the restrooms and the water machine in the middle of the cubicles. Janet showed Delilah to her desk. She still had time to spare because people were only starting to trickle in. In the desk, Delilah found pens, pencils, a stapler with staples, and other essentials. A computer sat on the desk.

"Here is your login, and I believe we're done with orienting you into our company . I have to go now, why don't you introduce yourself to everyone else."

"Thank you Janet" Delilah said, but Janet was already leaving towards the elevator. I hope she heard me, she hoped to herself.

Why don't you introduce yourself to everyone else. Janet's words played in her head. She looked around the room, there were about four people in total. She approached two cubicles side by side, each with a person tiredly typing.

"H-hello" Delilah stuttered, hoping to get their attention. They didn't respond, continuing to type. Maybe they didn't hear me, she thought. Her heart was already pounding. The room was deathly silent, save for the click-clacking of the keyboards. She slowly backed away, hoping that nobody saw her. Maybe this wasn't a good idea, I should just go back to my desk and pretend to be busy or somethi-

"Hello", a voice let out from behind her. Delilah turned around to see a large man with equally large glasses. He was heavyset, his shirt was a size too small for him, his large potbelly protruding from his seemingly skin-tight polo shirt. But that was something she didn't have the right to complain about, she's chubby herself. Of course, that came from a warm big family and a doting mother and grandmothers and aunts insisting that she eat well and didn't go hungry. But still, she wished she could go down a few pounds. She was sure that the man she was talking to also felt something similar, so the best thing she could do was not to judge.

"You're new here right?" the man asked her, he was peppy and upbeat.

"Y-yes", Delilah answered, "Janet said I should try to introduce myself to everyone. But, it's kind of nerve racking and it gets awkward easily..."

"That's alright!" the man assured her, "I'll introduce you to everyone,"

Delilah gave him a nervous smile. "T-thank you!" She was glad that she finally talked to someone other than Janet and Mr. West. She was finally mingling with other people for the first time since she moved here. "I'm Delilah Sanchez," she told him, "but you can call me Delilah".

The man grinned, showing his slightly crooked teeth. "I'm Dan. Nice to meet a pretty young lady like you".

She blushed with embarrassment, she's never been called pretty before, especially by a man. She smiled as her worries started little by little to melt away. Never judge a book by its cover, she thought to herself.

Dan led her around the room, starting with the two typing people who ignored her. "A-hem," Dan started, "Nate, Phil, I would like to introduce you to this nice young lady, Delilah." Nate and Phil, as they were named, tiredly turned their spinning chairs around and uttered an exhausted "hi how are you" before going back to work. "Don't worry about them," Dan told her, "they're just working overtime this week, they don't bite".

They went to another group of workers who just came in. They were sporting very similar high ponytails and shiny black pencil skirts. They were talking amongst each other. "Hello ladies," Dan said. They looked at him with disgust. "I would like to introduce you to Delilah". The ladies just rolled their eyes and walked past them. "Don't mind them too," Dan welcomed the awkward silence.

After skirting tirelessly around the room, they eventually had to start work. As Delilah printed some papers and handed them to some other workers, she then found herself eyeing the water machine, which reminded her that she was very thirsty. After bringing her papers back and forth to their designated area, she helped herself to a cup. The water was cold, and despite it being a chilly day it felt nice and refreshing. She filled up another cup and was on her way to her desk until she spotted someone rushing into the room.

She was an older woman, probably in her fifties, and had blonde hair and a grimace on her face, her lips pursed thinly. She had an intimidating aura, but Delilah decided that she wanted to greet her anyway. The lady looked mean and moody, but from Dan's heart of gold and words of encouragement Delilah felt confident, like she was on top of the world and nothing was gonna stop her. Don't judge a book by its cover, she repeated to herself. After all, she was on top of the world and nothing was going to stop-

Delilah tripped over the carpeted floor while walking to her. Her cup of water flew out of her hand and splashed the other lady. The lady shrieked as she looked down at her drenched clothes.

They say to never judge a book by its cover, but this time she was exactly what she looked like. The lady's face grew red and bared her teeth. "What's your problem?!" She snarled.

"I-I-sorry-I-" Delilah's confidence and bravado quickly disappeared as fast as it came.

"Sorry's not gonna get you anywhere jackass"

Before Delilah could speak the woman stopped her. "You think sorry's gonna get me dry?" She sneered. "This isn't elementary school."

"I-I know it isn't b-but-"

"B-b-b???" The lady mockingly imitated her stuttering. "If you didn't eat so much of your words you wouldn't look like such a pig." 

Delilah had heard enough. Her ears drowned out the slew of insults regarding her appearance and how smart she wasn't and the list went on. The lady was relentless, pounding words into Delilah's face. Who knew the grown up world would be so scary? It wasn't like college at all. It wasn't like home at all.

Delilah kept her head down as the lady kept jabbing hurtful words at her. Her head was suddenly spinning and her body became numb.

Don't cry. Don't cry. Please don't cry. She begged to herself. Her eyes burned as she kept her head down. I don't want anyone seeing me cry. I can't cry, not here. Not here.

As tears threatened to well up, the door to Alexander West's office came open. It was Janet. "Clarice, Mr. West is in a meeting right now so he would appreciate it if you lower your voice." She said sternly.

Clarice gave a long huff and narrowed her eyes at Delilah. Now she could see her name tag, her name was Clarice Johnson. Everybody's attention was on her now, their eyes wild with bewilderment. Delilah took the intervention as an opportunity to escape. She quickly walked to her desk and sat down, lowering her head as she hid under the stacks of papers.

She hates me, I know it. She's totally giving me the death glare. I know she hates me. And everybody was watching. Delilah bit her lip and stared at the clock, it was only 9:30. Work doesn't end until 5. This is going to be a long day.