Chapter 1

Because I was rushing to meet a design deadline, I asked our new intern to pick up a local courier package for me.

To show my appreciation, I sent her a $50 tip and bought her a Starbucks iced latte.

The next morning, the moment I arrived at my desk, I saw all the project reference materials neatly printed and arranged in front of my keyboard.

Chloe, the intern, leaned over with an innocent smile.

"Lauren, I saw how slammed you were, so I went ahead and printed and bound all your documents."

Just as I was about to praise her for taking initiative, she slapped a handwritten invoice right onto my laptop screen.

"Color prints are $2 a page, black-and-white is fifty cents, binding fee is $10, plus my labor... Rounding it down, your total is $380."

"Cash or PayPal. No credit."

I stared at the handwritten bill stuck to my monitor, completely stunned.

"Chloe, what is this supposed to mean?"

She blinked her wide, innocent eyes.

"Lauren, that’s literally what the print shop on my campus charges."

"I saved you a trip outside. Asking for a little compensation is only fair, right?"

I called her out immediately.

"You used the company’s printer, the company’s paper, and the company’s ink."

"Even the staples in that machine were just restocked yesterday by office admin."

"And now you’re charging me for company supplies?"

Chloe froze for a second, then immediately switched to a wounded, tearful pout.

"Lauren, how could you say that?"

"I formatted the slides and bound the booklets for you. That was my own time and hard labor."

"When I do freelance work at school, I charge thirty bucks an hour."

"I only stepped in because I felt bad seeing you drown in work."

"If you think it’s too expensive, fine, I’ll give you a twenty percent discount. Happy now?"

Dave, a senior coworker sitting across from us, poked his head out.

"Come on, Lauren, interns barely make minimum wage. You’re a senior employee here. Don't be so petty over a few hundred bucks."

"She was just trying to help."

Chloe immediately jumped on the opportunity.

"Exactly! Lauren, I just paid my rent this month, and I literally have twenty dollars left in my bank account."

"I couldn't even afford breakfast today."

"I was just hoping to earn a little extra cash to survive."

Her voice broke, and tears welled up in her eyes.

Watching the two of them perform their little guilt-trip routine, I ripped the invoice cleanly in half.

"I never asked you to print anything."

"I had planned to handle it myself this afternoon."

"Since you took it upon yourself, you’re not getting a single cent from me."

Hearing this, Chloe let her tears stream down her cheeks.

Dave sighed disapprovingly.

"Lauren, seriously? Why are you picking on the new girl?"

I snapped my head toward him.

"Dave, since you care about her so much, why don't you pay the $380 for me?"

"In fact, look at that messy stack of expense reports on your desk. Why don't you hire her to organize them?"

Dave choked on his words, coughed awkwardly, and pulled his head back into his cubicle.

Seeing that no one was backing her up anymore, Chloe bit her lip.

"Fine, Lauren, if you won't pay, whatever! You don't have to bite my head off."

"I'll never lift a finger to help you again."

She spun on her heel and stomped back to her seat.

I ignored her and went straight back to my design mockups.

That afternoon, I walked into the breakroom to grab coffee.

I overheard Chloe whispering to a couple of other interns.

"Lauren is such a cheapskate."

"I worked so hard to help her out, and she refused to pay me a dime."

"Don't ever do anything for her. She's a straight-up freeloader."

I stepped inside holding my mug. The room fell dead silent in an instant.

Back at my desk, my phone vibrated.

It was a SnapChat message from Chloe.

[Lauren, I didn't mean to talk trash about you in the breakroom earlier.]

[I'm just so broke, and I felt so hurt.]

[If you really don't want to pay $380, $200 works too.]

I put her on "Do Not Disturb" without typing a single word back.