Against the Odds

Chapter 22

"Alright, listen up." Camille's frigid eyes scan the office. "As you know, today we are presenting our marketing strategy for SunFire Technologies to the executive team at head office. I want this meeting to be flawless. You represent me. And you do not want to make me look bad, right? Of course, I will be the one to give the presentation but you should expect questions afterward."

We have spent the better part of two weeks preparing for this presentation. Camille asked all four of us to come up with marketing ideas to share during the meeting. SunFire is a start-up tech firm that is supposedly going to match with Apple one day. Their cellphones don't even have portrait mode, so I don't really buy the accuracy of those projections. That being said, I still worked my ass off to come up with a creative idea. Karl, Sanjay, Rachel, and I emailed our suggestions to Camille earlier this week. She praised us saying Gavin Tremblay, our CEO, will be ecstatic. All of our ideas will be presented, including Camille's. Apparently, Mr. Tremblay has to approve our plan before we pitch to SunFire, probably because this account is worth millions.

When I had coffee with Jen this morning she said everyone calls him a dictator. Honestly, he can't be worse than Camille.

I'm nervous the entire elevator ride to the top floor. That is until I glance at Rachel, who keeps picking at her dress. I think this is the first time she's ever had to wear pantyhose. Perhaps even a dress. Her discomfort is palpable, but the sheer amusement on Sanjay's face makes me softly snicker. Great, I'm getting pleasure from someone else's pain. How sadistic.

Camille clears her throat as we stand outside the boardroom. "Ready?" she asks.

We all nod in unison and make our way through the daunting frosted glass doors.

Mr. Tremblay is seated at the head of the table. He scans Camille up and down as we enter, and I swear she blushes.

"Ms. Harris," Mr. Tremblay shakes Camille's hand. "I've been looking forward to this all week."

"Good." Camille walks over to the podium as we take our seats. "Prepare to be blown away."

I can see why Camille is the Director. She runs through the presentation with ease, confidence, and even a couple of puns. Who knew? Ice-Queen has jokes. Karl, Sanjay, Rachel, and I keep taking turns examining Mr. Tremblay's face. He seems to be enjoying the presentation. Either that, or he's bopping along to a song playing in his Bluetooth ear-piece. I pray it's not the latter.

After the last slide, Camille takes a seat beside Mr. Tremblay as he claps his hands.

"Well done, Ms. Harris." Mr. Tremblay pauses. "And the team. Very promising ideas."

"Thank you, do you have any questions?" Camille asks as she smirks.

Mr. Tremblay rubs his chin as he thinks. "Whose idea was number four?" I swallow. Oh, God.

Camille glares at me, then turns back towards Mr. Tremblay. "We can ax that one right away."

Mr. Tremblay's eyes widen. "Why would we do that? It's clearly the most innovative."

Camille's mouth drops. "Really?" Hah! "You liked it, sir?"

"I loved it!" Mr. Tremblay exclaims. "Whose idea was it?"

I take a deep breath. Holy crap. "It was mi-" I begin to say but Camille cuts me off.

"It was mine, actually," Camille announces, and I drop my pen. This bitch! Did she just steal my work? Should I say something? This is incredibly unethical. This is why she asked us to send our ideas individually, not in a mass email. What a conniving...She-Devil. I can see why Marice calls her that now.