Page 107 of The Dicktionary Club

My stomach twisted; I couldn’t take any more bad news right now.

‘We’ve had over two thousand subscribers overnight!’ Zola laughed in excited glee.

I sat back, unimpressed at the figures.

‘It’s only seven a.m.!’ Katy replied. ‘That’s incredible.’

I was gobsmacked at how superficial my friends sounded and snapped back, ‘Yeah, seven a.m., and we might have two thousand subscribers, but we a disciplinary meeting in two fucking hours and counting – and no boyfriends between us. Girls, we have lost everything because of this fucking website!’ I stood up, pointing to the laptop, feeling myself shake with rage and fear.

‘Not everything,’ Zola corrected. ‘We’ve made over ten grand in one night, Ella. The subscription is £4.99 a month! I know we’ve lost a lot, but at least we can make rent now.’

I held my hands up. ‘Oh, yeah. Every cloud!’

‘Ten grand!’ Katy’s face was lit up with dollar signs. ‘Jesus sweet Christ!’

Zola laughed loudly.

I shook my head and picked up my bag and phone in a panic.

‘Hey, where are you going?’ Katy asked.

‘I have to go for a walk. I’m sorry. This feels so wrong. I feel awful. I don’t even want to be part of the Dicktionary Club anymore. We have just trashed Philip’s entire reputation and it’s like you don’t care. Not to mention Alexander Cambi’s first Scottish exhibition of his artandhis documentary. Fuck! Do you realise how horrible that makes us?’ My voice shook with emotion.

‘Wait, Ella,’ Katy said, standing up.

I held my hand up, not wanting to be reassured.

‘No, I’m going. I’m done. I’ll meet you both at work.’

‘Hey!’ Zola said, lifting her head from her laptop. ‘We can sort it, Ella.’

I sighed under my breath, knowing some things could never be fixed. I left Katy’s flat and took myself back home so I could get ready for Andrea’s meeting.

As I sat alone on my sofa staring down the ticking clock, my mind began replaying the events from the previous night over and over again. From the joy of seeing Philip turn up to the sheer panic of watching Natasha ruin everything. I heard my foot tap nervously on the wooden floor, and I stood up, shaking it off before heading through to my bedroom. I slipped on a hooded jumper and leggings, and bundled my hair into a small claw clip. If today was the day I lost my job, I was doing it in complete comfort, without a fight. I knew I deserved everything that was coming down the track at me.

At ten to nine, I was sat outside the conference room, Zola and Katy at either side of me, glued to their phones, seeming much more relaxed than I’d have anticipated them to be.

‘You OK?’ Zola asked, lifting her head from her phone.

I nodded.

‘Have you heard from him, Ella?’ Katy asked, and my eyes glanced at the article about the Dicktionary Club she wasrereading.

I shook my head, feeling a stabbing ache in my gut.

The conference room door opened and together we shared a look with one another as no one came out to call us in.

‘Well, it’s not a fucking ghost, is it? Let’s go.’ Zola was the first to stand, looking more fired up than the rest of us, and we headed into the room where Andrea and Silvia from HR were sitting.

‘Close the door behind you,’ Andrea said, arms crossed and poker-faced.

Katy did as she was instructed and we all took a seat beside one another, facing the two women.

‘Good morning, ladies,’ Silvia began, in a friendly tone. I’d only met her a few times at Christmas parties, and she always seemed pleasant enough, but like everyone in this building, she was completely petrified of our boss. ‘So, Andrea has filled me in on what happened last night, and that’s why today’s meeting has been called at such short notice. Now, we’d like to interview you individually on the matter, and take it from there. Who would like to go first?’

I turned to my friends, ready to offer myself up. If I went first, I could possibly save Zola and Katy’s careers. Even if mine wasn’t salvageable, I didn’t want my friends to be collateral damage to my shitshow of a life.

‘We’d like to have a group discussion, if that’s OK, Silvia. Since we haven’t been given adequate time to inform our unions,’ Zola piped up.

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