An Exclusive Scoop

Part 1

A heavy notebook and envelope lands on my desk. I jump, obviously startled. My coffee, which is iced thankfully, jumps over the lid of the cup and lands down my blouse. 

"What the hell?" I exclaim as I look around over my cubicle wall. A snicker comes from behind the partition and I kick it with my foot to see my perpetrator. It's my bosses assistant Stephen. He's the reason why my blouse is ruined. I stand getting ready to head to my locker to grab my cardigan.

I scowl at him. "Pay attention to the human being sitting behind the desk next time!" I say walking as he tails on behind me.

"Jeez relax Lottie! I didn't know you were so jumpy," I get to my locker and throw my khaki cardigan on. "You okay?"

"Other than the damp chest, I'm peachy," I say back sarcastically slamming the locker door.

"Sorry. Anyways," He says nonchalantly with a half-assed apology. "Movie premiere tonight, I left your ticket on the desk. I want you to go along and cover it for the film review section tomorrow."

Is he serious? That's been the dream since I started at The Orb! To be reviewing movies in my new home of San Diego. "Stephen," I say trying not to get too excited. "Thank you so much!" I smile a beam at him then dash back to my desk to see the ticket. He never told me what it was, but it had to be something amazing to prove myself as a writer. There was also a heavy notepad on my desk that came with the ticket. I'm guessing he wants me to take notes then and there.

The ticket is in an envelope, licked sealed. Since I didn't want to touch someone else's spit, I grabbed the letter opener next to my walkman and sliced it open carefully.

"The car will pick you up at 5 and the movie starts at 7, you should be outta there by 10. I want you to get on the carpet and talk to the people on this list. Lisa will give you your pass and badge." But his words are empty to me.

What the hell is this? I frown angrily at the paper.

"George of the Jungle?" I scowl.

"Yeah I thought I'd give you a real challenge(!)" He stomps away with giddiness in his strands. I follow.

"George of the jungle?! That's a kid's movie."

"So? They'll be adults there too." I jump around in front of him and stop him in his tracks.

"Stephen, please I'm begging you, do not send me on this assignment. I want to go to something serious. I've done all the clearances on others' work, tidied out that goddamn stock room and I've done my fair share of overtime including re-drafts of other articles, which you said had potential. This isn't the project I'm here to work on. I want something Oscar-worthy. I can't possibly write a worthy piece about this."

Stephen sighs and the others have stopped clacking on their typewriters and keyboards. The creak of someone leaning back in their chair causes me to feel embarrassed but I keep my posture tall.

"What do you want me to do? Cause here are your options. 1. You go home to your shitty 1 room apartment and eat your frozen dinner in front of the tv and then come back to work at 6 am tomorrow to work on the re-drafts of others again. Or 2, you go to the premiere and do your fucking job." With that, I drop my case and Stephen turns away from me and slams his office door shut.

The clacking of the keyboards resumes around me as I go to the bathroom and cry.