Done Deal

"I'd like to withdraw my sexual harassment claim against Stephanie, ma'am," I said to Barbara who laughed in response as if she'd known this was coming.

"You already have, Nine," she said. "That was was part of the agreement, remember? You drop the sexual harassment claim in exchange for Stephanie signing a two year Mailgirls contract. The contract is signed and on its way to Human Resources. It's a done deal."

"By law she should have three days to cancel the contract, ma'am," I said, repeating something I'd once read about contracts.

"In this state that only applies to contracts for consumer purchases," she replied. "If she had signed a contract to join a health club or buy a house or a car that would apply. It doesn't apply to employment contracts. And withdrawing your claim wouldn't help her keep her job since her manager also witnessed the harassment. I'll tell you what, though, in the spirit of fairness I'll give Stephanie one final chance to get out of the contract without financial penalty."

Barbara turned her attention now to the naked girl kneeling on the carpet. "Stephanie, I'll rip up the contract in favor of your immediate termination. Do you want me to do that? Last chance."

"N-no ma'am," Stephanie blubbered, her eyes still wet with tears.

Barbara handed Stephanie a tissue and allowed her a minute to compose herself, then she turned to me. "Take her down to get showered and shaved, then to the security office to be photographed for her new ID badge," she ordered. "She'll be assigned the number three as her Mailgirl identification. There are some black pens down in the locker room now so I want you to apply the number to her body before she gets photographed. After that I want you to escort her to Donna Haverly's office on the seventh floor and drop her off. When you're done there return here to my office, Nine."

"Yes ma'am." My attempt to help Stephanie had gone Barbara's way just like everything always did. Stephanie rose to her feet and turned to me, her eyes downcast to the floor. This was the first time I'd ever seen her naked.

Stephanie had short blonde hair with noticeable dark roots, brown eyes, and a very pretty face. Her breasts were a full C cup I guessed, firm but with a slight sag because of their weight. They were complimented by a firm, round "bubble butt." Down below she was shaved except for a dark brown strip that would soon be coming off, and on her ankle was a small butterfly tattoo. I knew Barbara wasn't a fan of tattoos on mailgirls but this one must have been unobtrusive enough to let it go. Stephanie had always spent more time clubbing than working out so I thought she could stand to lose five pounds or so off of her waist, but a few weeks as a mailgirl would take care of that. Running naked around the DDE complex would soon give her a wonderfully toned mailgirl's body.

I felt a little embarrassed as I caught myself analyzing her body like that. "Follow me, Three," I said as I turned toward the door.

As we made our way through the ninth floor toward the stairs I kept an eye on her to make sure she didn't try to cover herself but Stephanie managed keep her hands at her sides. Her face was a mask of embarrassment, though, and her eyes darted wildly about the room as we walked. The appearance of a new naked girl on the floor was drawing a lot of attention.

We entered the stairwell and began our descent to the basement but Stephanie only made it to halfway between the eighth and seventh floor before stopping and grasping the handrail. "Oh my god, I can't believe I'm doing this," she said as she clung to the rail and for a minute I was afraid she might get sick.

"Are you okay, Steph?" I asked.

"No I'm not, Danica," she said angrily as she turned to face me. "I'm a very long way from being okay. Thanks for ruining my life you fucking bitch!"

Whatever sympathy I'd been feeling for her quickly evaporated. "Don't blame me for this, Steph. Your the one who grabbed my tits and slapped my ass right in front of Sanjeev's office, not to mention calling me a whore and a slut and a skank in front of all my friends. You heard Barbara, you were screwed even without me filing a complaint against you."

"Okay, I shouldn't have done that, but you sure as hell made it easier for Sanjeev by agreeing to sign that damn complaint. Did you really feel like I was sexually harassing you? After you'd just spent the morning on stage being treated like a mindless piece of meat by Barbara Anderson? That was a hundred times worse than anything I did to you!"

"No it wasn't. You were humiliating me in front of all my old friends and co-workers. Wait until you have to go back to Marketing as a mailgirl and you'll know what I'm talking about."

"Oh God, I can't believe I'll have to do that," Stephanie said burying her head in her hands. "This is a fucking nightmare!"

"Then why the hell are you doing it? Is the job here so damned important that you couldn't go find another one somewhere else instead of doing this?"

"No, I can't," she said angrily. "Don't you understand, Danica, I just bought a house. Every dime I've ever saved went into the down payment for it. I can't afford to go somewhere else and start at the bottom. I'll lose it!"

"What about Rob?" I asked. "Can't he help you?" Rob worked in DDE's Film and Media department and was Stephanie's live-in boyfriend.

Stephanie laughed bitterly. "God you are so out of touch with everything going on. Rob's gone. He moved out a month ago."

This surprised me. While I was still working in Marketing the two of them had been talking marriage. "Well you guys are the ones who froze me out after I became a mailgirl," I said. "How the hell should I know what's going on? And why have you been such a little bitch to me anyway? Don't give me that feminist bullshit either about how I'm setting back women's rights and all that."

"Why not?" Stephanie replied. "I worked my ass off for five years in that department trying to earn respect. Even after I finally got promoted you know what happened? The guys in the department would say to me 'Hey Steph, when are you going to become a mailgirl? You'd make a great mailgirl.' Crap like that. And now that there's a bounty on us, every pretty girl in the company is going to be pressured to become a mailgirl."

"And you blame that on me? I don't have any control over any of that."

"You helped them start this, Danica. You're a goddamn supermodel with an MBA, with every advantage in the world, and you decide to piss it away to become a mailgirl?"

"It's much more complicated than that," I said to her. "You don't know the whole story. And is that why you've been backstabbing me with everyone? Because you're jealous of my looks and education? Are you jealous because you were the hot girl in the department until I showed up?"

"There we go," Stephanie laughed bitterly. "That's the Danica we all know. 'I'm so freaking hot and I've got an MBA. This shitty little department is only a way station for me. It's only a matter of time before I'm an executive working at the top of the tower.'"

"That's not true!" I protested, but I couldn't help but wonder if there was some truth in it. Had I actually come off that way to people?

"You weren't that blatant about it, but it is true. That air of superiority was always there. Your act was wearing thin even before you left and became a mailgirl."

"So then why did you act like you were my friend if you thought I was such an arrogant bitch?"

"It wasn't an act, Danica. I liked you. I defended you."

"Then what happened, Steph? It couldn't just be about me becoming a mailgirl."

Stephanie remained silent for a minute before speaking again. "It's because of Rob. You're the reason we broke up."

"Me? What did I do?"

"For starters you flirted with him every time you were with us, even when I was right there."

"That's why you broke up with him? It was just innocent fun. He's a great looking guy. Nothing ever happened between us."

"Maybe not," Stephanie said, "but he was infatuated with you. I found a stash of nude photos of you as a mailgirl taken by people in the tower on his laptop. For all I know he was jacking off to your pictures every time he was alone. So I kicked his ass out."

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. "I'm sorry, Steph, but that still isn't really my fault," I said finally.

"Okay, whatever. I'm done with this conversation. Let's go downstairs and get this shit over with." Stephanie began walking down the stairs and as I followed behind her I couldn't help but try to get in the last word.

"Since you think I'm such an arrogant, stuck up bitch, Steph, I guess you'll be interested to know that I've discovered I'm actually a submissive."

"I don't think you know what you are, Danica," she replied. "I think you're whatever the hell Barbara Anderson tells you that you are."

Stephanie and I barely spoke to each other again after that argument on the stairs. The whole process of showering, shaving, having numbers scrawled on her body, then being photographed by a leering security guard must have been a humiliating experience for her but she refused to speak of it.

When I took her up to the new Mailgirls office on the seventh floor I got my first look at Donna Haverly. I'd been expecting an attractive young woman who'd been roped into doing this by Barbara as a way to eventually turn her into a mailgirl, so I had to stifle a laugh when I saw her. Donna was a heavy set middle aged woman with a no-nonsense demeanor. There'd be no demands by Barbara that she get first-hand experience as a mailgirl in her future. Anna was on the floor helping Donna with paperwork when I entered and she looked up and smiled at me. It never failed to strike me just how innocent and adorable Anna looked even when she was kneeling naked on the floor.

Donna greeted me with a gruff, "There you are, Nine." She informed me that Anna would be taking over Three's training and I was free to leave. I left Stephanie looking nervous and forlorn as I headed out the door.

What a day this had been and it was a long way from being over. Barbara wanted me back in her office now for God knows what reason. I entered the stairwell and began to climb.