"I've noticed." I retorted. He came towards me, and I moved away, but it wasn't far. The doors to the elevator had closed, and he had me trapped. I was getting more and more scared and nervous by the second.

"Why are you running from me?" He said as he trapped me in one corner of the small elevator. I didn't answer, I just pulled my knee up, and hit him where I knew it would really hurt. He double over in pain, just as the elevator doors opened.

"I was wondering where you ran off to, Tim..." The man standing outside of the elevator looked at me, and at his friend. "What have you done to my employee?" His eyes connected with mine. Before I could speak, Tim spoke up.

"Thank God you're here, Steve. This girl assaulted me. She pushed me into this elevator and was trying to force me into offering her a job here!"

"That's not true! He took me up to his office, he tried to make a move on me!"

"Of course he did, because when everything comes back on you, your first instinct is to try and pin the blame on Tim. I'll have you know, Tim is one of my best employees, and he would never do such a thing. He's happily married, and has children at home! I'm going to see to it that you are fired from your institute for what you've done! We will be pressing charges!" All the yelling must've caught everyone's attention, because they all came rushing down the hall towards us.

"What's going on?" Amanda questioned, looking to me for an answer.

"You're employee just assaulted my employee. I suggest you escort her away from the premises. I'm going to see to it that she is fired for the damage she has done!"

"Now, I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for all of this." Amanda tried to reason with him.

"The only explanation here is that your employee is jealous and crazy enough to assault one of my employees, and try to force him into getting her a job here!"

"Come on, Amanda, let's go." I said, as I grabbed her arm and pulled her away. I was tired of listening to all of this shit.

"What the fuck happened back there?!" Amanda yelled, as we got back to our hotel room. I calmed her down enough to explain what had happened. As I had figured, she knew I was telling the truth, and believed Tim was scum, but there was still nothing she could do to change Steve's mind about having me fired, it was his word, and Tim's, against hers. "I'm so sorry, Bradley. I will do everything I can to keep you at the company. I'm sure Steve will forget about it anyway."

--

As it turned out, Steve didn't forget about it. The next day, Amanda got a call from her boss bright and early. She was firing me, and Amanda had no say so in the matter. No one believed me, and I felt so alone.

I explained to Amanda that I was ready to go home, but I wanted her to stay and enjoy the rest of her week. I caught the first plane home that I could, and was so thankful when I finally arrived back in good ole Cali.

I took a cab back to the house, and carried my bags inside, sitting them by the door. I looked around, astonished that the place was still somewhat clean, after all the time I'd been gone. I was also surprised that it was really quiet. I walked to the back, where I looked out the window, and saw them all either in or near the pool. I walked out, and they turned to look at me.

"What are you doing home so soon?!" Matt greeted me, and came to envelope me in a hug, which I gladly returned.

"Well it's kind of a fucked up story..." I started.

"Fucked up is our middle name!" Jimmy yelled from the pool. I went over and sat by the edge of the pool, dangling my legs in the water, and Matt sat beside me.

"I no longer have a job at the fashion institute. Amanda is still my best friend, it wasn't her decision, it was her boss' decision."

"Why would they fire you, you're probably the best employee they have!" Zacky said.

"I'm glad you think so, but no one else see's my side of the story. We went to a meeting last night at the institute there. During break, I went out to use the bathroom, but I was approached by a man that worked at the institute saying he wanted to offer me a job. I thought it was a little weird that he was going to offer me a job without even knowing me first, but I went along with it. I followed him to his office, and sat down, thinking we were going to talk about the job, but he had other ideas." Anger flashed across Matt's face.

"Other ideas? Like what?" Matt said, his tone making it obvious that he wasn't happy.

"I guess he thought I slept around to get jobs or something fucked up like that. He tried to put his hand up my skirt, but I slapped and pushed him away from me. I told him he was a disgrace, and left the room, but he stopped the elevator I got into, and followed me on it. He waited until the doors closed, and trapped me in a corner. He was going to try to hurt me, but I kneed him in his crotch, and he fell over. That was right when the doors opened, and his boss saw, of course. And, of course, he told his boss this lame ass excuse that I was making a move on him, trying to force him into getting me a job there! His boss bought the whole thing, and called Amanda's boss to have me fired immediately, there was nothing Amanda could do about it, even though she knew the truth, after I told he my side."

"I'm so sorry, babe." Matt pulled me to him, and hugged me tight. "You'll get your job back, I know you will. They won't get anywhere without you, you are awesome. I love you, and I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too... that all that had to happen to you." Brian said.

"Yeah, well I guess it's true. You have to sleep your way to the top, and if you don't, you don't have the job." I jumped in the pool, still in my clothes