Chapter 3

"Morning Taylor."

Taylor turned her head as she walked towards her desk, in an attempt to locate the high pitched, nasal voice that had addressed her. She inwardly grimaced as she saw Shelby smiling falsely at her. Taylor eyed her. Her platinum blonde hair, straight and long, fell over her shoulders. She wore the tightest mini skirt that you could imagine, with the lowest cut top you could imagine, topped off with a pair of stilettos. She felt herself gritting her teeth together. Her and Shelby had never got along. Shelby was the ditzy gossip of the office, whereas Taylor tended to keep herself to herself, and with more dignity than what Shelby had. She could always be found to be flitting between the men's desks, offering to make them cups of coffee, and to Taylor, she found it demeaning.

"Morning." Taylor replied, with a light smile hurrying her speed so she wouldn't have to converse with her, but it obviously wasn't quick enough.

"I hear you're being shipped off to some foreign country for an exclusive interview." She may have been smiling widely, but Taylor picked up on the jealousy in her voice.

She nodded slowly, coming to a halt.

"Yeah, yeah. I am."

"Oh. Got any idea who?" Shelby flicked her hair over her shoulder and fluttered her eyelashes. Taylor knew she wasn't asking out of interest, she was asking so she could be the first one in the office to find out. She revelled in being the first to know things, being the one to inform everyone about events happening in the office. Shelby was also infamous for being extremely jealous and full of poison. Taylor hadn't had first hand experience, and from what she had heard, she didn't want to experience it. Judging from the piercing looks she received from Shelby's otherwise friendly-looking face, she would do all she could to avoid her spite.

Taylor shook her head.

"Nope. I'm being told later." She looked around and saw her friend, Chloe sitting down at her desk situated next to her own. "Erm…yeah, I'd better get on. See you later."

She smiled politely before she scuttled off to her desk, under the watchful eye of Shelby.

Taylor sighed exasperatedly as she sat down at her desk. Chloe looked up from what she was typing and smiled.

"Hey. You alright?"

"Yeah." Taylor turned her head. "Just had a run in with Devil Bitch."

Chloe giggled, peering over her monitor towards Chris' desk which is where Shelby had draped herself.

"Oh dear, looks like it's Chris' week. Wonder how many coffee's she'll make him today."

"I'll get the notebook." Taylor giggled as she opened a drawer and pulled out a tatty notebook. She flipped through the pages. "Well, so far, I think Nick has had the most. Seventeen coffees on Wednesday the 14th."

"Good god!" Chloe exclaimed, wide-eyed. "I'm surprised his bladder managed to hold out."

"It didn't. I saw him leg it to the toilet about fifteen times in three hours." Taylor threw the notebook down onto the desk, her pearly white teeth on show underneath a smile. Chloe threw her head back and laughed, and continued to giggle as she set back to typing.

"So." She began, not looking up from her keyboard. "When do you get told about who you're off to interview?"

"You know as well?" Taylor exclaimed, as she pulled out a brown file from her drawer. She opened it, and pulled out a bunch of papers and laid them down, ready to type up.

"Erm yeah. Shelby knows and therefore, everyone speaking the English language knows. She couldn't wait to tell me this morning." Chloe's eyes flickered from the keyboard to the monitor and back down to the keyboard. "I was getting a coffee and she practically leaped on me asking if I'd heard. I stupidly asked what and she was all like 'Taylor McConnell's being sent out to interview someone exclusive. Do you know who?' and I told her I didn't, and she looked pissed off."

"Ah. As usual she was trying to find out. Nosy bitch." Taylor began to type her notes up. "I need to find out myself before telling the local gossip. I'm getting quite worried as to who it could be. I usually get told straight up who I'm going to be interviewing."

"Well, this has to be someone of high importance, like the Queen, or…or Pavarotti." Chloe replied, chuckling.

Taylor glanced towards Chloe, a twinkle in her eye. "Yeah right. As if they'd trust me to interview the Queen."

"But seriously, what time is Simon going to tell you?"

"About nine o'clock I think he said." Taylor looked at her watch. "And it's eight thirty now."

"Oooooh!"

There was a short silence between them, with only the typing of the keys to be heard.

"Hey, if it's someone dead famous like Mick Jagger, or Jade Goody, get me their autograph please."

Taylor rolled her eyes, and smirked. "Will do. Now, can you shut up about it so we can get some work done?"

"Okay." Chloe replied, giggling quietly. Her eyes continued to flicker from her papers to her monitor, but Taylor's were resting on the recent issue of Hello which had a close up picture of Samantha Dawson smiling out at her. Her brain was racking with who she was going to be interviewing and why it was all under wraps. She bit her lip nervously before returning to her work.

Half an hour passed, and Taylor glanced at her watch again for what seemed the thirtieth time. She looked eagerly down the room towards Simon's office situated at the other end. She saw Shelby filing her nails behind her desk, with her long, model-like legs hoisted up on the desk. Taylor watched as she eyed up any man that walked past her, and shook her head. Suddenly, she saw Shelby reach over and answer the phone. She nodded a few times, before a look of disgust covered her face. She put the phone down and stood up, dusting herself off.

Taylor pretended to carry on with her work, and watched out of the corner of her eye as Shelby walked down the office, towards her. She glanced up and found Shelby looking down upon her, a fake smile plastered across her face.

"Simon wants to talk to you. I would have just telephoned you, but I….er…" She took a glance over at Chris, fluttering her eyelashes. "I felt like having a stroll. Looks like you're going to find out now then."

Taylor nodded, and stood up wondering why she had butterflies in her stomach. It was probably down to the fact that this was one of the biggest job opportunities she had ever had, and was intent on not blowing it.

She walked straight past Shelby, staring at Simon's door as though it might disappear if she looked away. Shelby folded her arms crossly, annoyed at being blanked. She turned and saw Chloe staring at her, a smile on her face.

"Shouldn't you be…working or something?" She said snobbily, waving a hand at Chloe.

"Shouldn't you be….applying another layer of nail varnish or something?" Chloe replied, taunting Shelby by performing the same hand movement. Shelby glared at her icily with her piercing blue eyes before turning on her heels and wandered back down the office. Chloe shook her head of brown curls and got stuck back into her task.

At the other end of the office, Taylor advanced towards the blue door and tapped on it gently. A rough voice told her to go in so she reached forwards and pushed the handle, opening the door.

"Ahhh Taylor!" She heard Simon's cheery deep voice as she shut the door. Turning around she was met with his beaming face, his green eyes and his hand. She shook it. "Why don't you sit down here and we'll discuss your task?" He pulled out the seat in front of his desk and he sat behind it. Taylor, slightly nervous, parked herself down in the plush red chair.

"Right then, this interview. I'm sorry to have kept it from you for a couple of weeks, I bet it's been running through your mind, eh?" He smiled warmly, which made Taylor smile. Simon was probably pushing fifty, and he was a jolly looking man with slightly greying hair. He had bright green eyes with wrinkles at the corners which enhanced them.

"Yeah, just a bit."

"I had a few final arrangements to make, sorting out the interview and the interviewee. So, you ready to find out who it is?"

Taylor nodded. "Yep, hit me."

Simon flicked through his paperwork, before looking at Taylor with a bright twinkle in his emerald eye. "You'll be going to Florida, in the next week, to interview Alex Crewe."