The Alien Inside Me

Chapter 2: First Day

The next day, I walked into my new office and felt a sense of calm wash over me; It smelled like coffee and ink and paper. The entire area was open with some geometric shaped cubicles placed sporadically around the floor. It was only a one floor affair, but everything appeared to be alive, busy yet organized. This was the type of environment I had always yearned to work in.

I greeted the receptionist and he called over a girl in a bright red dress spattered with polka dots. The girl had her red hair pinned up in pristine curls, and her makeup was done like that of old movie stars. Her somewhat eccentric look was making me feel better about my simple cream pencil skirt and flouncy white blouse. I was glad that the dress code was clearly pretty relaxed here.

"Hello! I'm Rebecca, but people mostly call be Becca or Becky. Feel free to call me whatever you like, though!" She gave me a smile that stretched her perfectly painted red lips.

"Alright, Becca. I'm Daisy, uh, and clearly I'm new here." I responded, hoping I came across as friendly.

Sometimes people got the wrong impression of me, because I am rather internal in how I interact with the world. Instead of saying things outright, I analyze everything in my head and even if I like someone, I have trouble expressing it externally.

"Of course! I'm here to show you around!" Becca linked her arm through mine and pulled me towards the cubicles. "These are our work stations, the boss makes us call them that, because he doesn't like the idea of cubicles. Anyways, you my friend are above us lowly writers, because you will be set up in an office along the back wall here!"

I followed her through the work stations, waving or introducing myself to anyone who Becca deemed worth meeting (which was basically everyone). We eventually made it to an office door with my name on it and Becca dramatically swung the door open. The office was painted a soft white, had several shelves already stocked with books and past editions of the newspaper, had a single large desk with a swivel chair behind it and several wooden chairs in front of it, and had one window facing out to the parking lot.

"What a view!" Becca chuckled. "It's better than having to look at Dawn's face all day though."I laughed a little, remembering Dawn was working right across from Becca and she didn't seem too impressed by me. I'd have to remember that, just for future reference, because I knew how cutthroat some people could be when it came to working their way up the ranks.

"It's actually quite nice in here." I commented, running my fingers over the dark wooded desk I would be spending a lot of my time in. "Will I be getting a desktop or something?"

"Oh, absolutely! You're going to have to talk to the tech lady, Candice, though. She only works night shifts, but she's really sweet and she will hook you up in a jiff."

I nodded, hoping that didn't mean I would have to stay overtime already.

I figured it was time to fit in some sort of small talk to get the scoop on the paper and maybe Berksfield itself, "So, Becca, how long have you been working here?"

"Oh, only about a month! They contacted me right after I graduated with a degree in journalism. Once I saw how cute this town was, I just couldn't refuse, so I moved down immediately!"