Chapter 1
Amy's POV
I stared up at the skyscraper, the windows gleaming as they reflected the sun, and not for the first time I asked myself what I was doing.
I could have been at home right now, along with Dan and Nellie. I could have been taking extra classes, so I could finish college earlier. So why had I taken up the internship? Why, oh why, oh why?
Because, a stern voice said in my head, you wanted to try something new. You're not giving up so easily. Once again I stared up at the towering building, and started up the steps defiantly.
Passing through the double doors, I halted in amazement. I was in the biggest entrance hall I'd ever seen. There was white marble floor, lines of desks and tables, stairs - god, there was even a mini waterfall!
Hesitantly I headed over to the front desk. The man behind it glanced up at me.
"Name?" he asked in a bored voice.
"Um, A-Amy Cahill," I said. "I'm here as an intern. For Whitman Banks and Financing," I quickly added.
"Hmm," he said as he scanned a list of names. "Cahill, Cahill - Ah, here we are," then looking up at me, "New here?"
I nodded. He continued with the conversation as he dug around for my pass.
"Are you on your first year of college? You seem a bit older than that."
I murmured a "Yes" underneath my breath and left it at that. The truth was that it was my first year of college, even though I was 20. Each year I had found an excuse to avoid leaving Dan, even though the 39 clues hunt was 5 years over, to avoid moving away to New York, until I had finally known I could put it off no longer.
And so I had gone, and successfully completed my first year of college. And when I had been offered an internship over the summer, I had accepted.
Cheeks burning - it didn't take much for me to start blushing - I accepted the pass from the man and went over to the elevator and pressed the up button. Glancing at my papers to check that I really was due at the fifteenth floor, I looked up to find myself staring at a guy about the same age as me. He had hazel hair, light blue eyes, and perfect white teeth. He smiled at me just as the elevator doors dinged open.
We both walked in as the doors closed behind us, and I pressed the button for the 15th floor just as he pressed the one for the 35th.
"So, are you an intern here?" he asked.
"Y -Yeah," I managed to get out. After a few seconds of awkward silence I said, "Are you?"
"Yeah, this is my second summer for the same company, Lincoln Banking."
"I'm with Whitman B-banks and Financing."
The smile he'd had on flickered for a few seconds, but before I'd had time to figure out what I'd said wrong, the smile had returned, the door had opened at my floor, and I'd gotten out of the elevator with a hurried "bye". I glanced back in time to see him wave at me before the doors closed.
As I walked down the long hallway, looking for my door, I smiled to myself. I had just met the cutest guy, he worked on the 35th floor, he was an intern just like me, and - and - I didn't even know his name. So much for that.
Finally I reached the door I was looking for, and, scanning my new pass, I walked in to see a large work area with rows of cubicles and a conference room on the side.
I walked over to the front desk nervously and set my papers and bag down on it. The woman working behind it, around 30, looked up.
"Oh," she said with disapproval as she gave me a once-over.
"I-I'm the new intern," I said helpfully.
"Well, you obviously don't think first impressions count," she said smartly.
While I was still reeling from that comment, a younger -looking woman came over. "Hi, I'm Maggie," she said. "I'll be showing you around today. We're about to have a meeting, but I'm sure Mrs. Palico would like to see you first. Mrs. Palico is our boss."
I nodded. Maggie seemed nice, with her straggly dark brown hair and light green eyes. As we started walking, she added to me, "Don't mind Sabrina. She's always like that."
Soon I realized we were heading to the conference room. Inside was a long table with lots of chairs around it, and at the head of the table, sitting in a chair, was a woman in her early sixties with a laptop in front of her.
Leaning over her shoulder and pointing out something on the computer was a young, dark-haired man. As we walked in, he looked up at us, and I stopped dead. As I stared at him and saw his own eyes widen in shock, a million thoughts rushed through my head. He was someone who made me wish I had never taken the internship, someone who made me want to turn around and run away. Someone who made me want to scream, and cry, and laugh, all at the same time, someone I hadn't seen in five years - Ian Kabra.
Ian's POV
I stared up at the unimpressive building I had gotten so used to seeing the past two summers I had worked here as an intern. I asked myself again what I was doing back here for a third summer, but the answer was simple. I didn't want to go back to England and I didn't have any extra classes to take. Basically, there was nothing else to do.
And anyways, I had become a favorite of the boss, Mrs. Palico, and constantly got praised for my work. And though a few years ago I would have detested the idea of work, I had now adapted to it.
I casually strolled inside and over to Burt at the front desk.
"Back again?" he said and looked over a list of the names of interns. Before handing me a pass he said, "You have a new intern with you this summer, or at least it says so on the list.
I shrugged, uninterested. There were new interns last summer, too. I had just avoided them, and so I would this time.
After traveling up to the 15th floor in the elevator I walked down the annoyingly long hallway to the door. Swinging it open I walked inside, and immediately caught the attention of a few women.
"Ooh, Ian, you've come back," said Bella, a pretty twenty-two-year old with black hair and who always was with Cindy, a flirtatious blonde. They, unlike me, actually worked there.
Mark, a man around 40, waved at me, while Travis, a person not particularly fond of me, scowled. It wasn't like me to remember peoples' names, but after working with them for a while, it was rather impossible not to.
And yet I ignored all of them as I headed straight to the conference room. Mrs. Palico, just as I remembered her from last time - strict and intimidating even with her gray hair - was sitting, looking at something on a laptop.
"Ah, Ian. Here for another summer, I see," she said as she surveyed me with her hawk-like eyes. "No coffee?" she said after a few seconds' silence.
I shook my head. "Tomorrow I'll get it."
"Nonsense," she said. "Tomorrow the new intern will get it, and the day after that you will, and so on and there forth."
I simply nodded. She had a strong, stubborn voice that most people often obeyed and did not interrupt, Ian included.
"Now come over here," she said. "I need you to look at a few of the stocks we've invested in."
I halfheartedly walked over to the laptop and looked over her shoulder. After a few seconds I pointed to a stock and asked, "Are you really investing so much in that one?"
Just as she was about to answer two people walked in. I looked up to see who they were. One was Maggie, a quiet, shy woman, and the other - the other was -
It took me a few seconds to realize who it was, a few seconds to actually believe it, and another few seconds to react. My eyes widened in shock.
It was someone I had believed I would never see again, someone who I hadn't wanted to see, someone who I had, quite honestly, wanted to forget - Amy Cahill.