Page 29 of The Dicktionary Club

I burst out laughing and linked my arm through hers. ‘Come on, Carol, let’s get fucking out of here!’

Chapter Nine

Ella

When Katy and I stepped back into the office, Andrea had the rest of the team lined up for a catch-up meeting. As soon as we clocked the firing squad, our chatty giggles subsided and we wedged ourselves in beside Zola.

‘Nice of you to finally join us, ladies.’ Andrea darted us a sharp glance with her beady eyes, and I felt my insides curl.Why does this woman make me so nervous?‘Continue where you were, Catherine, please, prior to the interruption,’ she added, just to make us even more uncomfortable. I knew I’d emailed her a copy of my morning schedule at the gym with Katy. Why was she pretending I went rogue? If she had an issue she could have replied and said she’d rather I stayed in the office.

Catherine, who worked on PR crisis control, continued, bright and bubbly as always. ‘Yes, as I was saying – I managed to get them in most of the press doing some charity work, and I even got them trending on TikTok. So, the story of the unsolicited pictures he sent has been totally forgotten about!’ Catherine smiled widely for a job well done. She seemed to be waiting for away to go!, which I knew would never come from Andrea.

‘Not forgotten by his wife,’ Zola mumbled.

‘Zola?’ Andrea said, raising an eyebrow.

Zola didn’t miss a beat. ‘Yes, so, I created the three new websites sent over last week, linked all their social media accounts, and they’ve all received way more interactions already.’

Andrea nodded. ‘And Katy?’

Katy immediately straightened next to me. ‘Yes, today I was at David Lloyd’s, and we handed out samples of Blaze Boost to fitness freaks orerm.?.?. gym goers. We also shot lots of content. I’ll put it together today and pop a teaser on the Blaze Boost socials.’

‘Uh-huh.’ Andrea sighed. ‘And finally, Ella? Who is looking very casual today, isn’t she, everyone?’

I watched the line of my colleagues nodding back, agreeing with Andrea judgementally.Jesus, last time I checked, there was no uniform policy here. Bastards. And what about Katy?She was in bobbly leggings and a hoodie, yet a pristine matching combo gets called out.

‘Yes, well, I helped out Katy this morning with her Blaze Boost campaign and—’

‘Sorry. Sorry. I have to stop you there. I must have misheard you.’ Andrea stepped closer to me. ‘You .?.?. what?’ She turned her right ear round to face me, but I wasn’t sure if she genuinely wanted me to speak up or if it was another intimidation method she was practising.

‘I helped Katy this—’

‘You helped out?’ Andrea interrupted again, sounding sterner this time. Her eyes were bulging and fixed on me now.

The room turned completely silent, and my legs felt like lead.Say something, I thought.Apologise for helping or stick your ground.I could make up a story of how Katy was struggling, but I didn’t want to get her in trouble.Shit, speak, speak!But nothing. I said nothing. Instead, I opted to have a staring contest with my boss. I could almost feel the heat radiating off her facewith the anger that was no doubt bubbling inside her.

Eventually she said, ‘That was a question, Ella.’

‘Erm .?.?. yeah, I helped out.’ I tried to act confidently, but my hands were trembling. ‘I emailed you a copy of my schedule,’ I added.

‘Wow. How kind of you. She is so kind, isn’t she?’

Andrea motioned to my colleagues, and again, everyone agreed. I wondered how far these clones would actually back her up. The way they were going, if she asked them to take a shit in their mothers’ mouths, they’d all probably drop their drawers and start squeezing. Besides, apart from Zola and Katy, I had never really socialised with any other of the Smart Reputations crew. I would of course help them on campaigns or with general work chat, but outside of the office they seemed a lot more reserved than our little group.

‘Well, I take it your Alexander Cambi art exhibition is finalised? If you have all this time to help Katy, that is. We can’t wait to hear where you’re hosting it, can we?’ She spoke in her usual dull, dragged-out way, then darted a glance at the others for a reaction.

‘Can’t wait!’ and ‘So exciting!’ came from my colleagues.

Cunts!They all knew I still needed to secure a venue.

I could feel my palms sticky with sweat. Until now, I was usually on the ball with my work; I am organised, great at time management, and genuinely fantastic at marketing. I really thought I could pull off the coolest, most elaborate art exhibition Scotland had ever seen, but I had well and truly fucked up. No one seemed to care, not even the press. Not to mention all the fancier venues were completely out of budget and, realistically, even if I managed to secure a top-notch place, I had no idea who the target market would be. I’d promised Andrea I would be the right woman for this campaign as I fancied a new challenge in the office. All of my previous marketing experience was in thebeauty or fashion division, and I really wanted to expand into various sectors. I’d pitched myself to Alexander when I heard he needed a Glasgow lead to handle his event north of the border, following one of our monthly zoom meetings we shared with the London office. Some posh twat from down there had pitched to him for the London exhibition and Alexander was a huge fan of hisexquisiteart knowledge, so much so that he had put his trust in Smart Reputations as a whole and I’d got the job. Although, ever since, I have seriously been missing the beauty industry.

‘Well .?.?. is it finalised?’ she repeated.

‘I mean .?.?.’ I paused, taking a breath for bravery. ‘Not exactly .?.?.’

Andrea’s sharp bob swung back around to face me. Fuck. Was I about to get sacked? In front of my friends and these people I’d worked with for years?

‘Sorry? I don’t quite understand.’ She held her thick black designer glasses in her hand, the tip of one leg resting on her lip. ‘But you were galivanting with Katy this morning, working on another project, yes? That wasn’t your assigned project. Correct?’

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