Page 108 of The Dicktionary Club

I turned to my friend, darting her a confused look.What was she doing?

Silvia seemed a bit more anxious now unions had been mentioned, and so she focused on shuffling some papers on the desk. After some heavy humming she raised her shoulders at Andrea for some sort of permission to proceed.

‘Fine by me.’ Andrea smirked. ‘I have a busy enough day as it is.’ Her beady eyes were wholly fixated on us, not flickering for a second. She was enjoying every second of this torment.

Silvia cleared her throat. ‘OK, right, well. I’ll get straight to it, then. Unfortunately, Ella, after the events that unfolded last night, which Andrea and I have discussed at great length, we have concluded that we have no other choice but to terminate your contract for causing severe reputational damage to the company.’

‘What?’ Zola blurted out bluntly.

Andrea’s smirk seemed to grow wider as she sat silently observing the pain she was causing.

‘No. You can’t do that,’ Katy pleaded. ‘Ella didn’t know Natasha was going up on that stage, she had no idea what was going to happen. It was out of her control!’

‘Mm.?.?. I see,’ was all Silvia could muster.

‘Look. It’s fine,’ I replied, reaching for both my friends’ hands to settle them. ‘I deserve it. It’s fine, honestly.’

‘No. No, you don’t.’ Zola’s voice was low and deep. I could almost see the blood boiling behind her eyes.

‘But you two, on the other hand, we have decided to let you girls off with a formal written warning. What with creating the website and jeopardising the reputation of the company – well, you should think yourself lucky Natasha didn’t call out your names on that stage and .?.?.’

‘Lucky?’ Zola interrupted her, almost cackling under her breath.

Silvia readjusted herself in her seat.

‘You seriously think anyone who works here is lucky?’

I elbowed Zola to keep calm, and I watched Katy’s face squirm as she knew our friend was ready to blow.

‘Youare the lucky one, Andrea. Lucky that we all put up with your bullshit for so long!’ Zola hissed.

‘I’d watch it if I was you.’ Andrea’s eyes narrowed sharply in Zola’s direction.

‘No, you know what, I’ve fucking had it with you. Look at you, sitting in that chair thinking you run some sort of marketing sweatshop here. I’m done. I’m done withyou. I’m done with all of it! If Ella’s out, I am too.’

‘No, stop it!’ I could feel my heart rattle against my ribcage.

‘Zola!’ Katy cried, panicked.

‘Nah, fuck them, Katy. Look at how they are treating us, look how Andrea’s always treated us. All those snide comments, threatening us with losing our jobs every other day, making us feel inadequate and insecure.’ Zola scowled at our boss from across the table.

‘Guys, stop it, please,’ I pleaded as I rubbed my sweaty palms up and down my tired face.

‘You know,’ Katy said quietly, taking a slight pause, ‘Zola’s right.’

‘Katy!’ I blurted, hearing my voice screech. As much as I admired my friends’ determination to back me up, I didn’t want them struggling with unemployment.

‘No. It’s not even about you, Ella. It’s not about last night. It’s everything.’ Katy spoke slowly, as if everything was slotting into place in her mind. ‘You’re nothing but a bully, Andrea. And truthfully, I’ve only stayed here because of these two.’ She let out a small laugh of relief, finally glad to have found the courage to stand up for herself.

I turned to both of them, completely gobsmacked. I knew how much we despised Andrea, but this was their lives, their careers, their livelihood.

Zola burst out laughing too, pointing towards Andrea’s face, noticing the smirk had completely vanished and she seemed anxious all of a sudden.

‘Well, there you go, Silvia. I think we’ve made up our mindsthen. If you could draw up the paperwork and send it out to us, we’re all more than happy to leave. Aren’t we, girls?’ Zola stood up from her chair, pushing it back, still giggling.

‘And yeah, good luck replacing us, Andrea!’ Zola added for good measure.

‘WAIT!’ Andrea’s voice thundered through the room. ‘SIT DOWN. NOW.’

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