Haunted

November 27th

Today I was going back to the Crown's offices. Hopefully today would go better.

10:00am
We had just come back from breakfast.
"I'm going to get into the shower." Finn said.
"I have to get off." I said.
"I hope your day goes okay." Finn said hugging me.
"Thanks. I'll speak to you later." I said, heading for the door.

11:00am
I reached the Crown's offices and walked inside.
"Good morning." Molly the receptionist said.
I smiled. I was meeting Megan in the lobby.
"Lola!"
I turned to see Megan.
"Hi. I was worried you had already gone in." I said laughing nervously.
"Now that would have been breaking a promise." Megan said taking my arm and walking into the lift.

"We just have to make a stop on the media floor." Megan said pressing the button for the third floor rather than the fourth.
I nodded.

The lift stopped on the third floor and we walked out.
"Derek!" Megan called out.
The chair in front of us spun round to reveal a young man with dark hair.
"Alright Meg." Derek said.
"Yeah this is Lola." Megan said gesturing at me.
"Nice to meet you." I said.
"And you." Derek replied.

I looked around the office it was full of computers and screens of all different sizes. They were constantly going off with notifications.

"So what do you need?" Derek asked.
"Kristina asked me to get you to talk to Lola about media regulations."
"Okay." I replied.
Then Derek pulled up my social media profiles on the big computer he was sat behind.

He scrolled down through my instagram profile. Then he stopped and read the caption.
"This is something that you can't do if you continuing working for crowns." Derek said pointing at the caption, where I had "shouted out" Victoria's Secret because of my makeup bag.

I nodded. It was stupid but I understood that it was their rival company.

"That was all I had to say. Your other posts comply with guidelines." Derek said.
"Oh right okay." I replied.

"Come on, Kristina's waiting for us upstairs." Megan said taking me by the arm and bringing me into the lift.
"Do you really have to keep to guidelines?" I asked.
Megan nodded her head.
"Why? It's just weird surely your social media should be the one thing where you can just be you. Sure I get about promoting other products but other than that it's weird."
"It's all because of what Saffron did." Megan said.
The lift stopped and we walked out.
"What did she do?" I said as we walked into the room, like I had done with Kristina yesterday.
Again everyone was standing in the room.
"Don't leave me hanging." I whispered.
"I'll tell you later." Megan said grimaced.
"Good morning you two." Kristina flashed a smile.
"Good morning." I replied.

Kristina turned to face the other girls and told them what they had to do for the day.
Then she turned to me.
"Lola if you'd like to follow me."
Kristina turned on her heels and began to walk out of the conference room.

Saffron was in my path and as I pushed past her she whispered "You think you're so special."
"I'd rather think I'm special then think I'm the best thing in the world like you do because you're wrong." I hissed.

Kristina stopped in the next room and I abruptly stopped so I didn't bump into her.
"Lola you really will have to learn not to retaliate to Saffron."
"Sorry. It's just I've always stood up to people who make others feel less than they are or people who criticise others for doing what they want."
Kristina nodded. "Well please just try your best. Now I assume Megan took you to see Derek this morning."
"Yeah he deleted a post from my instagram." I said unhappily.
"Well it obviously didn't comply with the guidelines."
"It was my most liked photo." I replied.
"Don't worry dear you'll definitely get more likes than that picture ever had if you sign with us."
I didn't reply.

"This is Max." Kristina said gesturing to a man with a large camera who was stood in front of us.
"Now remind me. When is your flight?"
"In about two hours." I replied.
"Okay I want you to do a quick shoot with Max. I'll be back in about half an hour."
I nodded and walked over to Max to discuss the shoot.

12:00pm
It had been about 45 minutes now and Kristina had still not been back. I needed to get back to the hotel room so that I could pack everything.

I was looking through the photos from the shoot with Max. He insisted that they were some of the best pictures he had ever taken.
I heard the clip of heels along the tiled floor. I hoped that it was Kristina.

The heeled feet then walked into the room.
"Lola. Sorry to have kept you waiting."
"No problem. But I need to pack my suitcase."
"One to leave everything to the last minute?" She asked.
I nodded and smiled cheekily.
"My daughter's the exact same."
I laughed.
"Max have you got all the pictures you wanted?" Kristina asked.
"Yeah I have. Some of the best photos too Kris."
Kristina nodded "Come on then Lola."

I followed her once again down the hallways of the Crown's offices.

"I think you have a good chance of making a career out of this."
"So are you not the one who makes the decision?" I asked.
"No I'm not. That's down to my husband."
"The secretive Mr Crown." I said.
"Ah you've heard the name rumour?" She said as we stepped into the lift.
"Who hasn't? Is it true?"
"Now that would be telling. I will definitely put in a good word to him though. But I can't make any promises. At the end of the day it's his business and I just work for him."
"Don't worry. If I don't get the job I'll still have had the experience."
"It's nice to know you have a positive outlook Lola." Kristina said smiling brightly.

We reached the reception and we both stepped out of the lift.
I offered my hand to shake Kristina's but she pulled me in for a hug instead. I put my arms round her back. She pulled away soon after.
"Megan told me about your fiancée and his pictures online."
I hung my head.
"Hold your head high girl and fight for what you want and if you are not sure then it probably isn't what you want."
"Thank you Kristina. I truly will never forget this."
I gave her a slip of paper with my mobile number on.
"Will you give this to Megan for me?"
I had not seen Megan since this morning and so I had not found out what Saffron had done which had meant the enforcement of social media guidelines.
"Yes of course." Kristina said smiling.

I waved as I walked out of the building that could one day be my place of work.

12:20pm
I had rushed back to the hotel. I was now frantically packing my belongings back into my suitcase. I hadn't thought that I had taken out that much but looking around my half of the room, it was obvious that I had.

"Lola the taxi is going to be here in five minutes are you ready?" Finn called.
I pulled round the zip on my suitcase and attached the padlock and luggage tag.
"Ready!" I called back.

I pulled the suitcase up from the floor and did one last check round of the room.

"Okay let's go." I said.
We walked out of the room towards the lift.
"How did everything go today?" Finn asked.
"Good. Kristina thinks I have a good shot of securing a job." I said as we stepped into the lift.
"Isn't she the once who decides?" Finn said pressing G for ground floor.
"Apparently not. She told me it was her husband who does all the deciding since it is his business."
"Oh right." Finn said as the lift came to a standstill on the ground floor.

We exited the left and I dropped the room keys into the bowl on the reception desk.
"Thank you." We both called as we pushed open the main doors and stepped into the cold New York air. Our taxi was waiting outside. We put our suitcases into the boot and got into the taxi.

I looked out of the rear window at the city which I would possibly one day call home.

I felt excited at what was to come. Anything could happen from now. It was daunting but exciting.