Page 18 of Rush the Edge

Cindy, dressed in a blue pant suit matching the colors of the mascot perfectly, clasps her hands together. “You like it? I thought it was fitting for the interview!”

Fitting for the interview? What does that mean?

If I ask her what the interview is for, I’ll seem unprepared, which is unfortunately the truth. So instead of asking any more questions, I play along and smile at the giant head before taking a seat near the end of the table with her blue folder.

“Okay!” She is clearly a cheerful person if her tone has anything to say about her. “Here are the basic requirements for the job. Just read through those, and then if you could initial each one, indicating that you master the skill, that’ll get us started.”

I grab a pen. “Sure.”

Cindy pulls out her phone and starts busying herself with it while I read through the requirements.

Must be in good physical condition

Must be able to ice-skate

Must be able to dance and/or perform basic movements on the ice.

What the hell kind of job is this?

“How tall are you?” she asks without looking up from her phone.

My mind is running circles. “Um, 5’5”.”

“And your weight?”What?!

Cindy shakes her head. “You know what, we will just get you measured. There is no way you’re going to fit in it with the current sizing.”

I place the pen down on the table slowly and blink a few times to get my thoughts straight. I read through the rest of the requirements and eventually drag my eyes back to the top of the paper.

Required skills for Blue Devils Mascot

I nearly fall out of the chair.

Mascot?!

The Blue Devils mascot?!

I flick my eyes to the Blue Devil head in the center of the conference table. My heart pounds with anger as I picture myself putting it on to sneak into Kane’s house to murder him.

“I’m not sure if Kane told you, but we’re in desperate need to fill this position. The other guy just up and quit in the middle of a game.”

Gee, I wonder why.It’s almost like he got tired of putting on a costume to skate around an arena with thousands of hockey fans screaming at him.

“I was told that you are in desperate need of a job, which seems to work out perfectly. Our schedule is already set, so you’ll know your hours ahead of time, except for a few random events here and there.”

My first thought is to decline the job.

The mascot? Really?

But the need to prove to Kane that his little joke won’t affect me far outweighs the embarrassment of putting on a smelly, sweaty costume for a living.

I glance at the devil's head again.

Kane set this interview up, thinking it would piss me off. It’s becoming clearer to me with each interaction I have with him that the boy I once gave my everything to has turned into a man who wants to watch me burn.

In that case…

“If you’re willing to hire me, I’m yours.”

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