Ivy's Origins

Chapter 1

        "Ms. Hill? You have a call on line one." I told my boss over the telephone, "They're calling for the new lipstick you've been working on?" I said the last part more like it was a question. 

        My boss spoke in a soft voice with a slight English accent. "Yes, I've been expecting their call. Send them through, darling. Oh, and Pamela? You can call me Clara if you'd like."

        I could practically hear her smile through the phone. Clara and I had been pretty close. She always looked at me as if I were her daughter. Honestly, I loved that. Only motherly figure I had. My real mother died when I was a child so I barely knew her. My father was there but... that's a story for another time. I hung up the phone and continued working on my computer screen. I felt a tap on my left shoulder. I looked over and saw no one. I turned my head to the right and saw Jeremy chuckling at me. I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore my co-worker. I continued typing but I could hear his disgusting comments about me from across the room. He spoke to another male co-worker of mine. It was so hard to tune them out. I hated working with those pigs.

         "C'mon, Pammy. Lighten up a bit." Jeremy called to me.

         I've always hated when people called me that. It's so demeaning. I ignored him and pushed a piece of my red hair behind my ear. He walked closer to me and put his arm around my shoulder. I tried to push it off. I looked away from his blue eyes and spoke in an annoyed tone.

         "Get your hands off of me."

         He grabbed my face and turned my head to look him in the eyes.

         "With a pretty girl like you, I don't think I can." He smirked at me as I gritted my teeth.

         "You can look, but you can't touch." I threatened as strongly as I could, but inside I was weak. I didn't want to cause any trouble.

         "Oh? And why's that, Pammy? Got a boyfriend or somethin'?" I swatted his hand away and he backed up a bit. He leaned on my cubicle and looked me up and down slowly which made a chill run down my spine.

         "Actually I do." I said softly and used a pen to point at the framed picture on my desk. Jeremy picked up the photograph and walked a bit away from me.

         "Yeah? Who's this guy?" He interrogated. I spun my chair around and reached for the picture.

         "Give it back!"

         He pulled it out of my reach.  I got up from my chair and grabbed it from him. I quickly placed it back down on my desk and glared at him. Then, I  noticed a few other co-workers were watching. Emily had peaked over her desk to see what was going on. I felt my cheeks get warm and I knew I was blushing. I glanced at Emily then looked down to escape contact with her judgemental eyes. I straightened my shirt, hoping not to seem too embarrassed.

        "This is highly unprofessional" I whispered. Jeremy smirked and took a step closer to me. I took one back.

         "Who is that guy?" He ignored my statement and pointed to the picture of the handsome man with blond hair and blue eyes. I looked at it, then back at him.

         "He is none of your concern. Now, please leave me to my work." I sat back in my chair. He sighed. 

        "Fine, but I'll find out. He looks familiar anyway." Jeremy remarked before walking back to his cubicle.

         I sighed and gazed at the photograph. He should look familiar.  He was Harvey Dent. A Gotham City lawyer. Sure, he hadn't won too many cases at the time, but he would eventually. I looked around once more. Then, shook my mouse to remove the screensaver from my computer. I opened my email in a new tab instead of going back to work.

         Still feeling watched, I shrunk down into my chair and refreshed my inbox. I received an email from Dr. Jason Woodrue! My eyes widened  in excitement and I perked up. I clicked on it and read it quickly, causing a smile to spread across my lips. I had been accepted into the part-time internship at his lab! I would finally get to work with plants as a botanist like I've always desired!

        Dr. Woodrue was a plant biochemist. I had read all about him. He was very famous in the scientific world and I wanted to be just as successful as he was. I would be able to get out of working with those idiots. I glanced at Jeremy and the other men at his cubicle. I instantly replied to the email, thanking him for accepting me. I couldn't wait to meet him. He wanted me to visit his lab that very evening!