"Did you get those files sent up to Grayson?" Justin asks as he walks by my desk.

"Yes, sir." I reply.

"Great. Next time we have a project like this, you need to manage your time efficiently in order to get things done. A huge part of this job is being able to juggle multiple things at once." He tells me.

"Yes, sir." I say with a tight smile. I roll my eyes as he walks away. All I ever see him doing is fucking around on the internet. He rarely does actual work. I swear I see him on YouTube more than I see him doing any coding work.

Brian walks over to me with a sad smile.

"Didn't get any time to finish it?" He asks knowingly.

"Nope. And to top it all off, I had to go upstairs and talk to Grayson about it." I groan.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"I had to go upstairs to hand him to app designs, right? Well, he ended up bringing me into his office and asking me why mine wasn't in the pile." I tell him. His eyes go wide.

"What did you say?"

"I told him that I just didn't have time to do it." I say, cringing at the thought of it. I made a complete fool of myself in front of the boss of the entire company. He doesn't think I am capable of creating a simple app design on top of my work.

"And what did he say?" He asks, taking a seat next to me.

"Well, then he asked if it's something that I wanted to do. I told him yes, and then he said that I could leave." I shrugged.

"Is that like good or bad?" He asks with confusion.

"I literally have no idea. It probably isn't good, but let's just hope that it isn't bad." I sigh.

"I'm sure you're good. I mean, it's not like it was mandatory. I'm just surprised he even talked to you if we're being honest." He replies.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...literally no one talks to him. Well, except for Shane. That's literally the only person he really speaks to. Well, people in HR and stuff too, but that's just about work stuff. I really I have seen him speak to anyone else."

"Really? Why?" I ask.

"Grayson is just...socially awkward, I guess. Who knows. Maybe he thinks he's too good for us or something." Brian jokes.

Mandatory meeting in the conference room in five minutes. We hear over the intercom.

"What's that about?" I ask.

"Who knows. Probably just touching base about the deadline or something." He shrugs as we both get up from our seats and head down the hallway. When we enter the conference room, all of management is either lined up against the wall waiting for everyone or sitting in the front row. I see Grayson and quickly try avoiding all eye contact.

Brian takes a seat next to me in one of the tables to the far left. We purposely stay as far away from Grayson as possible. I feel his eyes burning into me as I'm sitting. When I glance over his direction, I confirm his staring. He doesn't try and look away or pretend like he wasn't staring at me. He directs his gaze to his phone a few moments later. I don't even know why I continued the eye contact, but I think I should have just looked away.

I watch Justin walk in and go to sit with some of the people in our group. He doesn't even try to get all of us to sit next to one another. A few of Brian's friends sit at our table, and only a few ever acknowledge my presence.

"Okay, everyone. Grayson wanted to hold this meeting today to discuss the app development project he had assigned." Heather announces loudly. Everyone gets quiet as she speaks and turns their attention to the front. Heather is the head of HR and is usually the voice in all meetings. Every meeting I have attended has been directed by her and her team. Grayson has never attended these.

Grayson clears his throat and looks out at all of us. His fingers are spinning a red fidget spinner. I haven't seen a fidget spinner since 2017. The fact that this guy still actively uses one is surprising to me.

"Hello." He says, nodding at everyone. "I just wanted to touch base with everyone and see where they were with their app development." He informs us.

Brian raises his hand, drawing Grayson's attention to our table. Grayson nods at him, signaling him to answer.

"Yes, sir. Team 4 has completed all of their designs and will have those sent up to your office at the end of this meeting." He tells him.

"Great. Was everyone in your team involved?" He asks.

"Everyone except Diana, only due to her most recent app development. She chose to focus her time on that instead of starting something new just quite yet." He replies confidently.

"Understandable. How about the other teams?" Grayson asks, looking out at the crowd. Justin is the next person to raise his hand. Grayson nods the same way to him as he did to Brian.

"Team 3 had their app designs sent up earlier today. They should all be on your desk." Justin says confidently.

"Interesting. And was everyone on your team involved in this project?" He asks Justin, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, sir." He says.

Grayson nods and begins to pace slowly. "If you are on Team 3, will you raise your hand?"

I raise my hand reluctantly and look around to see that the rest of my team has done the same. Grayson looks over us and signals for us to put out hands down.

"Raise your hand if you are on Team 3 and completed your app design." He instructs. Everyone on the team but me raised their hand. This is embarrassing. This is so fucking embarrassing.

I was wrong about earlier. He is mad that I didn't participate in this project. I should have just thrown something together quickly. Having him view a shitty idea would be better than being called out in front of everyone.

"Justin, I will ask you again. Did everyone on your team participate?" He repeats, looking at Justin.

"I guess I was unaware of Natalia's lack of participation." He says. "She's only an intern, so I wasn't aware that she wanted to even be involved in this project."

Bullshit. Justin was completely aware of this. I had asked him to give me some time to complete my design and he refused. He's lying straight to Grayson's face. He's lying to everyone.

"Your intern is more than just a personal assistant. This is a message to every leader in this room. If you do not include everyone on your team, then you will be asked to step down. I will not tolerate others being excluded from work activities and projects. And the next time I ask you directly for an answer, do not lie to me." Grayson says sternly to the entire room. I feel a few eyes glance over at me and panic. Brian nudges me under the table, indicating that everything will be okay. I don't feel like everything will be okay, though. Everything feels completely wrong.

"Yes, sir." The team leaders say in almost perfect unison.

"Good. Now, Natalia." Grayson says, turning to me. "I would like to speak to you privately." He informs me in front of everyone.

"Me?" I ask quietly.

"Yes, you." He says. "You are all dismissed." He tells the group. I turn around and see Justin glaring at me with annoyance.

Great. This is fucking great. Amazing. Not only is he going to assume that I just snitched on him, but he's going to make work a living hell for me. No one is going to want to talk to me after this. I have just become more disrespected than I was before.

I stay behind as everyone leaves the room. Brian is one of the last to leave. He looks at me with a smile of confidence.

"You're good, Nat. Don't worry." He reminds me before leaving the conference room. When everyone else is gone, only Grayson and I remain.

"I am sorry that you have been excluded from this project." He tells me.

"It's okay, really. It's really not a big deal at all." I say honestly. It definitely wasn't worth this humiliation.

"I am going to extend your deadline date. Just get your design to me as soon as possible." He says. I look down at the fidget spinner in his hand and almost get distracted by it's quick movements.

"Really?" I ask quietly.

"Yes." He says with a nod.

"Thank you so much." I say with a small smile.

"Not a problem. I look forward to seeing your design." He tells me. I nod my head in response and we stand there for a few moments in silence. He doesn't say anything, and neither do I.

"I should probably get back to work." I say, pulling myself out of this awkward silence.

He hums in reply and turns to leave without another word. He passes everyone in the hallway without so much as a hello. I watch him to straight to the elevator and give me a quick glance being the door closes.

With my app design back into business, I quickly rush back to my desk and try my best to avoid any glares from the men in the room. Justin comes up to me and leans on my desk.

"So. You did a little more than just deliver the files, yeah?" He asks with a laugh.

"No, I swear I didn't say anything. He asked where mine was and-"

"Listen, I get that you might feel left out or whatever, but it's not our job to babysit you. I meant what I said about the time management. I have never referred to you as my assistant, so I'm sorry if you feel that I have. I'm giving you the same amount of work as anyone else in the office has received. Everyone has to start at the bottom to make it to the top." He reminds me.

"I'm aware of that." I reply.

"Okay. Well, work on getting your design to Grayson as soon as possible. But don't forget that you have a job here, and that the app design is strictly a side project." He snaps before leaving my desk.

I was right about one thing. Justin is going to make my life a living hell.