Journalists

Chapter 1

Nola and Colin are shown in the pictures above. Thanks for reading my book!

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Eat breakfast. Brush teeth. Wash face. Use toilet. Put on some makeup. Get dressed in something bold but not too revealing. Use toilet again (nervous bladder, don't judge). Pep talk in the mirror. Leave. Reach ten minutes early.

This is what Nola Arya had written in the notes app on her phone the night before to ensure everything went according to plan before her job interview. The last thing she needed was to forget to eat breakfast because of her horrible nerves and then keep fidgeting during the interview because her stomach threatened to growl and embarrass her.

She checked the time as she walked out of her building. She was right on time and everything was going exactly how she imagined it in her head. She raised her hand and called for a taxi and thankfully, one pulled up just a moment later.

Nola opened the door and was about to sit down when a man rushed past her and took a seat in the back of the cab that she had just called.

"Sorry, babe. I'm late for something. Hopefully this makes up for it," the man says and tosses a huge wad of cash carelessly at her before shutting the cab door and yelling at the cab driver to go.

Nola glares at the cab in frustration as it drives off, but picks up the cash, shoving it in her bag to think about later. Who doesn't like a bit of extra money? It was meant for her anyway. She glanced at the time again and groaned in frustration before calling for another cab. The man had caused her to be behind schedule by a few minutes and that changed everything, including the amount of time she'd spend in traffic and how many minutes she'd have to find the right office that her interview was being held in and then the amount of time she'd have to mentally prepare herself.

"Shit," she mumbled as a few cabs drove by her despite being not carrying any passengers. Her mom had warned her that sometimes people just try to ignore the things that scare them, like brown people, which Nola coincidentally was. Nola found herself despising her skin color for the first time that day, and she was sure there would be many more times to come in the next few hours.

After four empty cabs had gone by, one finally pulled over. Nola sighed in relief and quickly got in before someone else could steal her cab again. She hurriedly shut the door and told the cab driver where to go before leaning back, silently cursing the man who might have cost her the opportunity to get her dream job.

As they pulled up to the building, Nola had the money ready and tossed it at the driver before climbing out and walking as fast as she could into the building without messing up her appearance. It took several minutes to find the right room when she got to the right floor but when she did, it was exactly 8:32 A.M. She was two minutes late.

Although she didn't consider herself very religious, Nola sat in the waiting room and quietly prayed to every Indian god and goddess she could think of to allow her to get the job and not have the two minutes affect her interviewer's view of her.

After about ten minutes, a door opened and the man who stole Nola's cab walked out, shaking hands with Nola's interviewer. Nola's eyes widened and she found herself staring in shock for a long minute before she pulled her eyes away and looked down at her resumé. She was pissed, to say the least. Not only did this man steal her cab but he was also trying to steal her dream job.

"Thank you for coming in, Mr. Crawford. We appreciate someone from a well known family like yours applying for a position in our company," the interviewer, Tony Hayden, grinned at the man.

"Please, call me Colin," the man grinned back. Nola glanced at them again and wanted to roll her eyes at how fake Colin's smile was. It was so cheesy that she actually wanted to slap it off of his face.

"Then you can call me Tony. You'll hear from us very soon," Tony grins and shakes hands with Colin again before turning to Nola, the only other person in the room besides the receptionist. "Nola Arya?" He asked.

She nodded and stood up, shaking his hand with an easy smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hayden. You can call me Nola." Colin, who had started walking away but glanced back to see his competition, stared at her from a few feet away. He was also shocked that she, the woman he stole a cab from, was there.

"Good. Let's continue this in my office," Tony suggests and walks inside.

Nola hangs back a moment and makes eye contact with Colin who gives her a smirk and shoves his hands in his pockets. "Good luck," he says, but it was clear he didn't really mean it.

"Don't need it," Nola smirks back slightly and walks into the office, shutting the door behind her.

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Please comment and vote! Share your constructive criticism as well. I want to be the best writer I can be.

I also promise to post at least one new chapter a week.

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