Chapter 1 — The Interview
Camilla Cortes’ POV
“Baby, I’m preying on you tonight, hunt you down, eat you alive, just like animals, animals, animals…”
I jumped out of bed when I heard my best friend, Alex, singing off-key. I got up, rubbing my eyes in an attempt to rid them of the blurriness from being awoken too early. I walked down the stairs of our three-bedroom apartment to find Alex singing her heart out while making pancakes. Usually, I would laugh my ass off at her for trying to sing, but I felt this needed special attention.
I quickly snuck back to my room and grabbed my phone. Coming back down the stairs, I hid behind a wall and recorded Alex with my phone. It was hard not to laugh while I recorded her.
Alex was a blonde-haired beauty with blue eyes and pink lips. She was around 5’7”, a whole inch taller than me. Most people thought blondes were dumb airheads who had no idea what was happening around them, but Alex wasn’t like that. If anything, she was the most intelligent and diligent person that I’d ever met.
She always puts others before herself and was really funny when she wanted to be, of course. I watched her as she jumped around to the bass in Nicki Minaj’s hit “Only.” Did I forget to mention that she loves to rap? She knows all of the latest rap hits as if they were her symphony.
I couldn’t help it this time, so I did the unthinkable. I laughed. I laughed so loud that Alex jumped and turned around, surprised to find me standing there. I quickly hid my phone and shuffled my feet nervously.
“Morning,” I mumbled to her, shifting from side to side.
“Hey,” she smiled brightly at me, a little too brightly.
“Did I wake you?” she asked, piling pancakes on a plate before handing it to me.
“No, I woke up all by myself,” I said, annoyed with that fact.
“Well, humans tend to do that.” She smiled; her sarcasm was not lost on me.
We stared at each other for a good few seconds before we both burst out laughing.
“What’s the plan for today?” she asked me while sipping a cup of coffee.
“I don’t know. What’d you have in mind?”
“I’m not sure…it’s 7 now, so you tell me.”
“What?!” I gasped, grabbing my phone to check the time, and just like Alex said, it was seven o’clock.
“Oh crap,” I groaned, stuffing a pancake in my mouth before running up the stairs and straight to my room.
I headed straight for my closet and started to go through all the clothes I had. I threw them on the bed one after the other. I didn’t even notice when Alex came into the room.
“Hey, are you—” I cut her off when I accidentally threw a black jacket in her face.
“Well,” she said as she took the jacket from her face, “that answers that question.”
“Lo Siento mucho pero…”
“Woah, hold up,” she said, her hands in the air as if to stop my words, “Deep breaths.” She pulled me to sit in a chair that was in the room.
“In,” I followed her instructions taking in a deep breath.
“Out,” I exhaled slowly. That was pretty relaxing.
“Now tell me, Mama, what’s wrong?”
I took a deep breath before I spoke. “Remember that interview I have to be the assistant to the CEO of Williams Corp.”
“I remember.”
“Well…it’s today at 9 am, and I’m not ready yet…I didn’t even remember until you mentioned the time,” I rushed the words, starting to freak out.
“Hey! Don’t freak out; we got this.”
She turned around and quickly glanced around the room before turning back to me with a smile on her face.
“Up…off you go,” she said while pulling me towards the bathroom.
“What am I going to wear?” I asked, a pout on my face.
“Leave that to me,” she said, a smirk on her face.
“Okay,” I mumbled, confused.
I closed the door behind me and quickly shed my clothes. I took a quick shower, all the while making sure not to wet my hair. Stepping out of the shower, I grabbed a towel and quickly dried myself. I wrapped the towel around me and stepped into the room.
“Great, you’re done,” she squealed, “Put these on…you can borrow my black pumps to go with it. I’ll go get them.”
I silently watched as she left the room. I went into my chest of drawers and took out a matching pair of black undergarments. I quickly donned the outfit that Alex picked out for me, and I’ve got to say that I love the look. It’s a black knee-length skirt with a red camisole and black jacket, the very one that I accidentally hit her with.
“Here we are,” she said as she entered the room and handed me the shoes.
“Take this too,” she told me, holding out a red handbag for me, “I already put in everything you’ll need like your phone, charger, notepad, and some cash.”
“Oh my gosh,” I squealed, “thank you so much.”
“It’s no problem,” she smiled before a slow smirk took over her face, “it’s time for makeup.”
I groaned when she mentioned it.
I hate makeup.