Be my Starr (Ringo Starr)

Chapter 20: One choice

Only moments after walking into work and people were already asking Susan for coffees. She couldn't refuse, it was practically her job. She had sipped a few on the sly as she gave them out to give her a boost of needed energy. Plus, she was dreading the presentation. She had nothing planned. Nothing. She needed a miracle at this point, she was praying for it.

She sat at her desk, her jelly legs going crazy under the table as she tore her nails off with her teeth. Sitting still was impossible.

Karen, her manager's personal assistant walked over. "Susan." She smiled. That smile was the fakest smile Susan had ever seen. "We're ready for you." Karen led her into the manager's office, a room no one wanted to go in. No wonder Karen loved going in there so much. Susan had her suspicions about the two.

And there he was, Mr. Anderson, sitting in his chair, he looked bored. Had the presentations really been that bad?

"This is Susan Wright." Karen introduced her. Susan smiled at him but he didn't seem to care. This was going to be awful.

"So, Susan." Mr. Anderson looked at her. "You're one of the trainees right?"

"Yes sir," Susan replied with a smile. Mr. Anderson sighed. Looks like smiling wasn't going to work.

"I assume you have a presentation prepared for us?" Susan nodded slowly. Her body felt like it was burning up. The room was starting to close in on itself. What was she going to do???

There was a moment of silence. Mr. Anderson and Karen were staring at her.

"Sir." She began. "I need the toilet." Mr. Anderson did not look happy. Susan could hear Karen tutting in the background. Of course, she was tutting.

"Let me remind you miss Wright, there are a lot of people who want this job and a lot of them have worked very hard for the position." He looked at her for a moment. That teacher telling you off look. "You have 1 minute."

"Thank you, sir." Susan quickly hurried out of the room and fast-walked her way to the toilets.

Mr. Anderson said a minute but Susan was pretty sure she had been gone longer than 5. She was in the exact same position as she was on the double date. She knew she hadn't got the job. She sighed and got up. She had no choice but to face Mr. Anderson and his wrath. Maybe she wasn't cut out for the job anyway.

She walked back into the office. Karen, Mr. Anderson, and a guy she had never seen before were all looking at something. A newspaper Susan thought.

The guy looked up and recognized her instantly. "That's her." He pointed.

Karen and Mr. Anderson looked up. "Well well." Mr. Anderson smiled. "Sit down Miss Wright." Mr. Anderson was smiling now? Susan was confused as hell but did what she was told.

Mr. Anderson flipped the paper. Susan couldn't believe her eyes. On the front page was a picture of her and Ringo in the hotel with the others. She could even see Barbara getting lashed with John in the corner.

"You never told us about your little friend." Mr. Anderson grinned.

"Yeah..." Susan smiled awkwardly.

"Where'd you meet him? Hook up?" Karen grinned. Susan knew exactly what she meant.

"It's nothing." Susan brushed.

"It better be something otherwise you're out of here." Mr. Anderson snapped. He gave her a menacing look. "Now Miss Wright, tell me about you two."

"What?"

"Are you together?" The other guy asked.

"No." Susan retorted instantly.

"You are aren't ya. Ringo's got a bird!" The guy rushed out of the office. She could him yelling to the rest of the office "Ringo's got a bird! She's in there!"

"Miss Wright." Mr. Anderson smiled. "I'll give it to you straight. If you know this man, and you've got contact with this man, you've got the job."

"Sir. I don't understand."

"The Beatles are flying to America for their collaboration with Ed Sullivan. Did you know about this?"

"I think I've heard about it." Heard about it, Susan was a part of it, but she couldn't let him know.

"Are you going?" He questioned. Susan took a breath. She was horrible at lying and it showed. Mr. Anderson grinned, he had his answer.

"Perfect." He shared a look with Karen, a scary look.

"Sir-" She began but was cut off instantly.

"Look girl, all you have to do is go to America." Mr. Anderson pulled out a card and handed it to her. "That's my business card."

"Ok..." Susan still had no idea what was going on.

"I'm going to call you regularly for updates and I want you to call me in case anything big pops up."

"Sir, I don't..."

"You're going to be spying for us." Karen snapped.

"Excuse me?" Susan was gob-smacked. Spy, her? Susan could barely tell a lie.

"You wanted your chance to be apart of this firm, and this is it. I want you to go to America with the Beatles and follow them everywhere. Know where they are, when they are, and tell me everything they did." He explained. "Who they spoke to, who they didn't. And most importantly, songs, they're the most important. If you hear anything, tell me, if you hear any of the names, tell me. I want to know everything that goes on, you hear?" He stared at her. Was he serious about this?

"You want me to spy on them?" She half-whispered, still in shock.

"Not spy, just observe." Karen pitched in. "If you agree, we could have the best stories out there, and it would all be thanks to you."

"I couldn't." Susan shook her head.

"Don't do this Susan." Karen's tone darkened. "Remember who your allies are. We can make you but we can break you too."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I'm just saying, imagine if a story so scandalous, so disgusting was to be published about you. It could ruin your life. Everyone would find out how much of a thieving snake you were trying to rob from us." Karen leaned into her ear. "Including Ringo."

"So, you're blackmailing me now?" Susan scowled.

"Call it what you want." Karen smiled.

"He'll find out."

"That's not our problem."

"I'm leaving." Susan sighed and stood up.

"Just make sure you call us if anything pops up ok."

"Whatever," Susan said and left.