Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 91058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“God you’re insufferable.”
“Me?” I snap, whirling around to face her.
She rolls her eyes.
I cross my arms and stand up tall; suddenly I’m over it. “Did you move my desk?”
“No. I didn’t move your desk.” Her mocking tone makes it clear she thinks I’m nuts.
God, have I lost it? With a heavy sigh, I try for a different tactic. “You know we don’t have to keep doing this. It’s day three—surely you’re starting to get tired.”
“Tired? Of what?” she asks, pretending to be stupid now that I’m actually calling her out on her rude behavior.
I don’t even keep the sarcasm out of my tone when I reply, “What’s your goal exactly? To make me suffer?”
She looks at her computer. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m not that different than you. We could be friends, you know.”
Her mouth thins with disgust at the idea. “I’m all tapped out on friends at the moment.”
Fine.
I go around my desk and take my seat. I’m about to refocus my attention on a contract when she speaks up again. Her tone isn’t nasty, but it’s still harsh. “For the record, you are different from me and my friends. Most of us don’t have daddy dearest as a safety net. We have hundreds of thousands in student loans to pay back, a career on the line. We’ve worked to get here.”
My jaw tightens in annoyance. “I earned my place here. Same as you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Sure.”
“I scored a 169 on my LSAT.”
She laughs. “Like I care? I’ll bet you had every single tutor imaginable, someone to guide you through step by step. I’m actually surprised you didn’t get a perfect score to be quite honest. Meanwhile, I took the LSAT while I was working part-time at a law library and putting myself through college and taking eighteen hours of upper-division courses.”
“That’s incredibly impressive. You should be proud.”
She rolls her eyes.
Suddenly, I know, no matter what, I’ll never win with her. I could tell her I finished second in my class at Columbia Law and she’d find some way to twist it around on me. No amount of hard work will amount to much in her eyes.
At the end of the day, she’s right. Out of the two of us, she had the harder road getting here. I won’t argue that. I just don’t understand what she wants from me now.
I steady my voice, trying my hardest to smooth things over once and for all. “I understand that I had a leg up in this industry, and I’m not trying to lord that over anyone. In fact, I’d like to separate myself from my last name as much as possible. I want to work and prove myself here, same as you.”
“Okay, Kendall Jenner…”
Her snide remark is the last straw. Is she kidding?! I’m not using my long legs to strut down a catwalk. I’m using my brain to practice law. I want to explode in a myriad of ways, to argue my point until the cows come home, but Hudson’s advice from yesterday comes through just when I need it the most.
Ignore them and get to work.
He’s right.
I grab the contract I need to review and work straight through lunch. Sophie wanted me to edit a letter of intent and get it back to her by 3:00 p.m., so I do one better and get it to her with additional notes by 1:00. Then, I also draw up an exclusivity agreement for her to review.
A lot of my work as a lower-level associate involves constant communication with clients. Even though it’s only my first week on the job, I’m already sending and receiving over a hundred emails a day, easy. A large portion of that communication results from being part of a team. Since I’m working beneath Sophie, most emails she gets, I’m CC’d on as well. Compared to Hudson’s workload, Sophie’s deals are small potatoes, but it’s still a lot of responsibility.
There’s a closing scheduled for next week and another scheduled for the week after that. Both deals require a lot of documentation, and it’s my job to confirm we’re getting everything delivered to our clients to review in a timely manner, signed, and filed away appropriately. Staying on top of paperwork in mergers like this is half the battle, and though it takes time (unpaid time) for me to do it, I’m trying to stay as organized as possible.
I don’t leave my office until 7:32 p.m., and Elwood Hoyt is far from empty. Half of the office is still going strong, which makes me think maybe I should still be working too. Kendra’s gone. In fact, none of the first-year associates are still here. It’s Hudson’s corner of the office that’s abuzz with life. Upon closer inspection, I see Lucy’s at her desk, but other attorneys file in and out of Hudson’s office. Some are even splayed out on the floor or the couches in his reception area. Whatever is going on must be big if it’s requiring all hands on deck.