Chapter One-Could It Be Any Harder?

“That can’t be right.” Felicity Patterson mumbled to herself.

She quickly started punching numbers into her calculator.

“Plus twenty five, minus one hundred.” She said.

Felicity’s eyes grew wide at the number she saw and suddenly felt nauseous.

“What am I going to do?” Felicity asked as she repeatedly slammed her head against the desk.

The ringing of the phone broke her rhythm. Felicity slowly lifted her head off the desk.

“Good afternoon Jive Records.” Felicity said.

“Mr. Johnny Wright please.” The voice replied.

“One moment sir.” She told the caller as she connected him to Mr. Wright’s line.

Felicity’s eyes caught sight of the calculator again and she groaned.

“Hello there girlie.” Justin Timberlake said.

Felicity looked up and smiled.

“Hello Mr. Timberlake.” She replied.

“Felicity.” Justin warned. “What did I tell you?”

“Oh sorry. Hi Justin.” Felicity said.

“Better. So what’s up with the groaning?” he asked her.

“Nothing for you to worry about.” She replied.

“Are you sure?” he questioned.

“Yes. But thanks for your concern.” Felicity said.

“Alright. Any messages?” he asked.

Felicity nodded and flipped through the message slips.

“Here you go.” She said handing him a slip.

“Thanks Felicity. See you tomorrow.” He said.

“Bye.” She replied.

The phone rang steadily for the next few minutes. All the while Felicity kept thinking about that calculator. How in the world was she going to be able to pay her rent that month? Sure her receptionist job at Jive Records paid well but since she could only work part time because of school money was still tight.

“Hey.” Natalie Anderson, Felicity’s best friend, said walking up to her desk.

“Hi.” Felicity said as she finished writing down a message. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought maybe you’d want to go get some food with me before I went to work.” Natalie said.

Before Felicity could reply she heard a loud cough. She looked behind Natalie and saw Gwyneth Porter standing there. Gwyneth Porter was Jive’s biggest female artist. She could sell out concerts faster than you could say Jive Records.

“Can I help you Ms. Porter?” Felicity asked.

“Yeah, can I have my messages?” she asked in a very bored voice.

“Of course. Just give me a minute.” Felicity said flipping through the papers on her desk.

Gwyneth began tapping her foot very loudly.

“Here you are.” Felicity said handing her a few slips of paper.

“Finally.” Gwyneth snapped.

She quickly snatched the papers out of Felicity’s hand and stalked off.

“What’s up with her?” Natalie asked.

“Who knows? She’s always been kind of snobby but lately…” Felicity said.

“Oh, the whole Lance thing.” Natalie said knowingly.

Felicity nodded. “Yeah, I guess she took the break-up rather hard. I mean he broke up with her and then it was all over the press.”

“I suppose. But still.” Natalie said.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Felicity said. “I don’t think that girl has one nice bone in her body.”

Chapter 2