The Philocalist 〰 ♡ 〰 Volume One

Plain Clothes Day

Elle groans when there's a knock on her apartment door at 11 pm. Elle stands up, putting a blanket over herself since she's currently breastfeeding Dashia. She had the news on in the background and was doing some last minute studying before Plain Clothes Day, which is tomorrow.

"Lucy?" Elle asks when she opens the door and sees her fellow rookie standing there.

"oh god, you're breastfeeding, I shouldn't have come-" Lucy starts to ramble out.

"No, no, no, it's fine, is something wrong?" Elle inquires, stepping aside so Lucy can enter.

"you barely know me and I-" Lucy continues.

"Lucy, Lucy, it's okay, and I like to think we know each other pretty well after we were almost killed together a few days ago" Elle assures her. 

"I can't sleep" Lucy admits.

"is it about Plain Clothes Day?" Elle guesses.

"yes! oh my god, it's killing me inside, do you know how many rookies fail after Plain Clothes Day?" Lucy exclaims.

"a lot" Elle sighs. "I'm up late studying for it, hold on, let me put Dashia to bed and we can study together if you want"

"really?" Lucy asks.

"that's what you wanted to do right?" Elle clarifies, gesturing to Lucy's backpack which Elle can reasonably guess is full of study materials.

"yeah, yeah" Lucy nods.

"I'll be right back" Elle promises.

[Thirty Minutes Later]

"is Tim really that bad?" Elle asks.

"no, he's not... bad, per say" Lucy answers.

"he's always been nice to me" Elle offers.

"because he hates how Lopez has been treating you" Lucy explains.

"I don't really understand that" Elle frowns.

"oh come on, I've heard the passing comments Bishop has made about you and Jackson was convinced you were well... a slut, and I've seen how Lopez always favors Jackson" Lucy says.

"I mean, she teaches me somethings, that's all I can really ask for" Elle shrugs.

"wow" Lucy gapes.

"what?" Elle asks.

"you're like such a pushover" Lucy answers. 

"is that an American term?" Elle inquires.

"yeah, yeah, um, it means that you're really easy to be taken advantage of" Lucy responds.

"is it a bad thing?" Elle questions.

"yeah" Lucy advises. "it's amazing how extroverted and sweet you are, but you should also allow yourself to be selfish sometimes and not let people walk all over you"

"okay... I think I get it" Elle nods.

Lucy opens her mouth to say something else when there's another knock at the front door.

"um, hold on" Elle says, getting up and answering the door.

"Zoe" Elle exhales. 

"here" Zoe hands Elle an envelope.

"w-what is this?" Elle asks, staring down at the envelope.

"five years ago, I made a mistake, my rookie took the fall for it so that I would be promoted, it could get me fired" Zoe explains.

"why are you giving this to me?" Elle frowns.

"to prove I trust you" Zoe answers.

"what?" Elle asks.