To tell an awful truth*

The placements started that very week, so one suddenly miserable rainy morning Stacy found herself diverting from her usual path through the park towards school out into the grey concrete labyrinth of town. The boys had both been excitedly texting her all morning, full of enthusiasm for the vocations they themselves had personally picked out ages ago. Mark in a local photo studio and Peter in some swanky IT firm all the way out in the city. She cursed them both… how had she managed to glaze over every time they’d even mentioned this upcoming travesty?! ...Too focussed on the opinions of their lower organs she supposed.

She found the building easy enough, though it was just as grey, drab and nondescript as all the others around it. She half had the urge to just walk on by… head into town and see what other trouble she could get into. Go FULL delinquent… but the thought of spending even MORE time at the mercy of Mr. Chambers stopped her. Sordidly turned on by his attentions or not… the girl didn’t want that creep having TOO much fun at her expense… he was still a complete asswipe after all. So she clambered up the steps and in to the dingy light of a cramped little office.

‘Tom Bank’s Sales Insurance Limited’ was a small but up-and-coming business which her Dad’s accounting firm happened to work with. The staff were comprised of the titular Mr. Banks himself, a middle-aged go-getter on his third or fourth try of running his own company, twelve other men of various ages and levels of pencil-neckery who each seemed to stay glued within their own semi-divided desk cubicles; and one 20-something year old female secretary, who greeted Stacy with a huge amount of pent up enthusiasm at the prospect of finally having some female company… only to be quickly let down by the girl’s incredibly dour attitude. They were all. Very. Nice. Dull but nice. Their jobs were incessantly repetitive and boring but they each dedicatedly took the time to explain what they did to the near mute and grouchy young lady forced upon them. Stacy hated inflicting herself upon them, hated them for pretending like she wasn’t a bother, hated herself for making all this harder for everyone by being such a miserable bitch about it. It was a cruel and self-perpetuating cycle.

She was bounced between the various segments of the business all morning, as each group tried desperately to draw even a hint of interest out of her stubborn teenage sulk. Until eventually she was just sent off to find herself some lunch, with straws secretly being drawn as to whether she’d bother coming back. She did though, the threat of Mr. Chamber’s classroom still hanging over her head. By which time the boss himself, Mr. afore-mentioned Tom Banks had made himself some time he could spend with her.

His office was still a cramped and messy affair, though actually walled off from the rest of the building at least. It was stuffed with shelves upon shelves of old files and paperwork, some of which were still labelled with the logos of previous failed ventures. Still this was his kingdom, and he ruled it fairly benevolently, from behind that battered desk. Stacy let herself consider him to be quite handsome… in a middle-aged, all-business, lack-of-sleep sort of way. Still the despairing sigh he gave her said he hadn’t been completely unaware of how un-cooperative she had been being to his staff all morning.

“Stacy, Stacy, Stacy… What are we going to do with you? I let you come here on such short notice as a favour to your Dad… He does a whole lot of work for us week to week. I really don’t understand why you’re making it so difficult, he’s always mentioned you being a good kid over the phone…”

“... Sorr…” Was all he got from the girl, muffled and aimed down at her lap. He sighed again.

“It’s not about ‘sorry’ love… I mean we could just leave you sat in a corner sulking for the entire time, wouldn’t bother us none… but this is supposed to be some kind of… you know… ‘learning experience’ for you. We just want to find something… ANYTHING productive that you wouldn’t mind help us with…”

A bubble of that anger suddenly welled up within Stacy. She couldn’t help but let it out.

“But I don’t care about any of this! I don’t ever WANT to work in a crummy little office like this, tapping away at a keyboard all day! I don’t want to spend my whole life doing ANYTHING that the bloody school or my fucking Dad want me to do! So all this is just… so… pointless.” She deflated upon that last line, sinking down into her true apathetic feelings about all this. It all seemed so grey and flat and worthless. She knew what she enjoyed doing, knew what skills and talents she wanted to explore her limits of… it was just nothing that society seemed willing to accept of her.

For his credit, Mr. Banks stayed calm through this outburst. He watched the young woman before him with a measuring eye. Considering her carefully.

“So what DO you want to do then, Miss Stacy Lee? What ARE you good at… and interested in?”

Stacy felt an impish honesty and suicidal confidence flow into her, filling the gap that anger had left. She sat up straight in her chair, looked the older man square in the eye, and said:

“Sucking cock.”