A/N: I Do Not Own Austin & Ally
*beep beep beep*
*beep beep beep*
*beep beep beep*
She rolled over and fiddled to shut her alarm off. She took in the crisp morning breeze blowing through her window and slowly sat up in her bed. The sun was shining brightly through her 7th story apartment window. She got up, put her morning robe on and smiled as she overlooked the Chicago streets below her. This was definitely not like her beach front home in Miami. Over there the salty morning air and sounds of waves kissing the shore was her morning canvas. Out here it was rustle and bustle of the busy streets, a lively place to be.
After her morning routine, which consisted of 15-minute yoga stretches with her roommate in the living room and a nice warm shower, she was off to start her day.
"So how's that big project thing coming along?" her roommate asked while they took the subway downtown.
"Oh you know, same ol' same ol'. I just sit there and take notes, fact checking and stuff."
"Girl, you should be more involved with the project. I mean, whenever I hear you working in the kitchen while I watch Video Countdown Live, you have all these great ideas."
"I know, but it's not my position to be the 'idea maker'," she air quoted. "I'm not that high up."
"Then do something to make yourself high up!" her roommate exclaimed.
Soon enough, they reached their stop and got off the transit. Making their way up the stairs to the main street and before going off to separate directions – she went to the west side to the business district, and her roommate worked at the art gallery near city hall – her roommate gave one last piece of advice.
"All I'm saying is that one day you'll miss your chance to be heard. I don't want that to happen to you. You're brilliant, Ally!"
"Thanks Kira," she smiled at her roommate.
"Well, go crunch them numbers then!" her roommate, Kira waved as she walked toward the art gallery.
"I'm not an accountant!" Ally hollered at her friend.
"Well all you suit-wearing business people look the same to me," she snickered. "Go... make yourself be heard then!" Kira said with a fist pump in the air.
"Duly noted," Ally giggled. "See ya!"
Meet Ally Dawson. Born and raised in the beautiful city of Miami Florida, Ally was your average girl next door – sweet, smart, and shy. Ally's life was pretty average; she wasn't an athlete or in the drama club. She was a junior scholar with maybe one or two friends and worked part time at her father's music store at the Miami Mall. After her graduation from business school, Ally got an incredible opportunity to work for a renowned Fortune 500 company in Illinois. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity, she accepted it immediately and left her life in Miami to start anew. To anyone else, this would seem like a dream, and to Ally it was. But it was also a terrifying journey. Remember, Ally was a bit shy. Like her roommate Kira pointed out, Ally wasn't always noticed. She was passive, to say the least. She was a very bright, straight A, 4.3 GPA student, but she was lacking in the self-confidence department. The reason she was invited to Chicago in the first place was because of her exemplary senior project – she created a recycling program for a local magazine publication in Miami, and the program launched, giving Ally and her team some 15-minutes of fame for a bit. A hiring manager from Chicago found out Ally was the brains of the operation and offered her a job with their firm immediately after graduation. Ally was a nice girl. She didn't like to play dirty, and she was too comfortable in her 'mediocre' world. Her best friend and coworker Dez, along with her other best friend and roommate Kira, would always push her to speak up at work, but no matter what, Ally was too shy to follow through. Maybe Kira was right. Maybe she had missed her chance to be noticed several times already, but for now Ally was comfortable.
"Hey Alls," her male best friend greeted her in front of a corner coffee shop, like they did every morning.
"Hey Dez, did you see they have the fall coffee flavors already?" Ally pointed out. The pair went inside and stood in line.
"Thinking about going bold and actually trying them this year?"
"I don't know maybe. Does it taste good?"
"I wouldn't know because I haven't had a cup of coffee in like 2 years," he chuckled.
"I still can't believe you quit drinking coffee like cold Turkey," she shook her head.
"I needed to, Ally. Coffee gave me the jitters!"
"Dez, you need to stop with your weird diet phases," she laughed.
"Diet phases? I wouldn't call cutting off caffeine a diet phase. I still drink tea you know?" he said.
"Not just coffee. You went on this crazy diet and stopped eating gluten for like 6 months. Then you decided to go Vegan. But I know how much you love steak so you didn't last long," she pointed.
"Two weeks! I didn't have meat for 2 weeks! That's gotta count for something," he defended.
"I know, I know," she laughed. "'I'm just pointing out that you have a weird diet plan for yourself."
"Nothing wrong in trying new things," he pointed out.
"I guess," she shrugged.
She heard that all the time. Especially from Dez. Mostly because he was her best friend and coworker. Ally moved to Chicago the same time Dez did - three years ago. She and Dez started their first day at their company together; Ally being in the Sales and Product Marketing team, and Dez being in Graphics. Since they were new, and spent a few days together doing orientations and Skype meeting the international team with their boss, the two spent several lunches getting to know one another. Dez moved to Chicago from San Francisco, so he too was new to the city. It was natural for the two new employees to become friends. Ally didn't mind, she could use more friends. Dez came from a family of doctors. Being the only one in the family to pursue in graphic arts and business, he was the black sheep of the family. It didn't help that he was the only ginger-headed one in the family, inheriting this trait from his great grandfather, being the first ginger in 80 years within his ancestry. His sister, though she joined the air force, was a nurse, so she was still counted in the medical field. Dez had a nice group of friends back home, but he never found the support he needed from family. That's why when meeting Ally when he got his first chance to leave home, she reminded him of his only family member that was nice to him, his sister in the air force. They saw one another as brother and sister (Ally was an only child), and that in itself comforted them both in this new city. They've been friends for the past 3 years, and eventually Dez caught on to Ally's personality of being too "comfortable" to try new things. He saw potential in her like everyone else.
"Welcome to the Coffee Cup, what would you like today?" the barista behind the counter greeted them.
"Hmm.. I'm feeling adventurous today. What would you say is the best brewed tea you got, buddy?" Dez asked.
"I would say the seasonal flavored ones, pumpkin spice chai tea."
"Hmm..."
"Do you even like the taste of pumpkin?" Ally asked her friend. "Or is this a ginger thing where you like things the same color as your hair?" she joked.
"Har har," Dez fake laughed. "I don't know, I guess I'll try it out," he said to her and ordered the drink.
"And you, Miss?"
"Why don't you try the same thing?" her friend suggested.
"I don't know, I've always wanted to, but I've never had that flavor before," she hesitated.
"Well you'll never know unless you try."
"It's pretty good I promise you that," the barista admitted. "I'm a coffee guy and this is a quality brew."
Dez and the barista were hopeful that she try it and eventually she gave in.
"Okay, I'll take the same thing but the latte please," she told the barista.
"See, Ally. Nothing wrong with trying something out of your comfort zone," Dez cleverly said.
"I agree," the barista said and handed them their drinks. "And hey, if you don't like it, come back tomorrow and I'll give you your usual order, on the house."
"You know my usual order?" she quipped an eyebrow.
"Mocha latte with a shot of vanilla and soy matcha green tea," he recited perfectly while pointing out Ally and Dez's drink orders, respectively. "Have a nice day," he cheekily grinned at the two.
"How did he know our orders? Is he a stalker?" Ally wondered as they walked out the door and headed down the block to work.
"How could he not?" Dez laughed. "We've been going to the same coffee shop every day since we both moved here and have ordered the exact same drink. Plus, the barista owns the coffee shop! He's taken our orders countless times."
"Oh yeah, huh?"
"We're predictable, Ally. Face it," Dez laughed.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
"Happy Friday everyone! It's almost the weekend," Steve Carter, vice president of The Gold Group, greeted the Sales and Marketing teams. "Now our fourth quarter expo is right around the corner and in our last meeting, we agreed to focus on our new mobile logistics application. We'll have a lot of our customers there, plus a ton of other prospects who would LOVE to get their hands on this product. I'm going to need us to whip up a great presentation for the crowd to demo our new product and service. Now, I'm happy to announce that Brooke's team will head this project, with the assistance of Cassidy's management team. I would love to bring you all with us to New York, but we can only send the necessary people. Nevertheless, thank you for your contribution."
Ally liked her boss. He genuinely cared about his employees and took time to get to know them. He wasn't stuck up, what you'd expect from a manager of a huge corporation like theirs. He was the one who actually called her up, once his recruiter gave her their company pamphlet, to make sure Ally would take the job. He saw potential in her. Even if she couldn't see it herself.
Now Brooke, she was another story. Brooke played dirty. Granted, she was a sly business woman, but ethics to her went right out the window. Brooke knew when to put up a front, and she knew when she could get away with things. Ally never intentionally did anything to get Brooke to hate her, but the sole reason was because of how Ally got recruited. A graduate from college, Ally was already assistant to her director, Cassidy, who had an equivalent role to that of Brooke's. Brooke had been with the company for 10 years, and it took her a good majority of it to get to her directorial position, despite cutting a few corners along the way. She wanted to be top dog, and wanted everyone to know it. Which was why 3 years ago, when Ally was hired and announced assistant director of a team, Brooke immediately deemed her a threat. Ally had no other intentions but to do her best and work alongside her team, not caring for a promotion this early in her career.
"So Brooke, I hear your team already has a plan for the presentation?" Steve mentioned.
"Yes we do, Steve!" Brooke announced. She instructed her team to make their way to the front and set up a couple of easels to share with the crowd. "Okay, so our new app will revolutionize the logistics world. With the sleek design and graphics, it's sure to impress." Brooke shared some screen shots of amazing graphics that the mobile application did in fact feature. "We need to make this very visual for the crowd. They'll be drawn in to what they see."
The teams nodded, impressed with the graphics. Until now, no one really saw the actual application, so this was new to them. Steve was impressed himself with the images. Ally was proud of the graphics, knowing her best friend took part in it. Though since he wasn't in the management team like Ally was, he wasn't included in these meetings, only the director of his department. She made a note to praise him after the meeting.
"Not bad, Brooke. Not bad. What else?" he asked.
"What else is there?" she countered. "Logistics - it's not the most exciting thing in operations, but it's important. When you think logistics, you think UPS. And I'm sorry but brown is so 2014," she joked, prompting them all to laugh. "We'll be the first company to make Logistics stand out."
"Interesting," he nodded.
That's it? Ally thought to herself. Brooke clearly had a lot more work cut out for herself.
Cassidy, Ally's director and head of her team, noticed the confused expression and nudged her.
"What's up, Ally? Are you lost?"
"No Cass," Ally chuckled. "It's just... She's missing a huge chunk there. What about the actual technology itself?"
"Oh don't I know it," Cassidy laughed. "But it's her project. Let her be."
"You should've gotten this project," Ally told her.
"Any other day I would challenge her, you know I would," Cassidy winked, "but with this little one coming any day now, I gotta save up my patience." The girls laughed.
Cassidy was the only person to ever get under Brooke's skin, not being afraid to challenge her. She was as much a workaholic as Brooke, but played fair. More so, the woman was 7 months pregnant and was supposed to go on maternity leave after 6 months, but wanted to stick around to help her other management team for the expo. And since she was heading on maternity leave soon (by the force of her boss and the rest of her team), she had no plans to add more to her plate before her baby was due. Granted she loved to work, but she also wanted to stay healthy when her baby comes.
Hearing the girls giggle in the back, Brooke was tick at their possible interruption and decided to call them out. She lived for embarrassing others.
"Ahem!" she cleared her throat, "Is there something you ladies in the back would like to say?" she snidely remarked.
They all turned to Cassidy and Ally.
"Yes, we are always open for comments," their boss happily offered them to speak up.
Ally did not want the attention, especially seeing an evil expression on Brooke's face. Cassidy knew Ally had potential, that's why she asked Steve to put Ally on her team once she got hired.
She, like Dez and Kira, wanted Ally to stand up for herself.
"Ally pointed out something real good," Cassidy blurted.
Ally turned to her supervisor, wide-eyed and suddenly nervous. What are you doing?! Her eyes spoke for herself. Ignoring her death stare, Cassidy nudged her and gave Ally an encouraging nod to speak up.
"Ally, what's your suggestion?" her boss asked.
"Uh..." she said before clearing her throat. "Um... well, I mean Brooke's idea is great. We have amazing graphics and it definitely doesn't look boring," she lightened the mood. The group lightly chuckled. "But, I was wondering if you should also highlight the mobility of the product. I mean, it's an app anyways, that's what apps are for."
Suddenly, the group came to their senses. Ally was right. They wanted to know more about the app itself.
"That," Steve said before standing up. "... is a great point. Good job, Ally," he smiled at her. "Maybe you should consult Brooke on a few things," he suggested.
Cassidy smiled cheek to cheek, happy for her team member. But Brooke could not have that.
"Wait- Steve! She's not even qualified to come to the expo. She's not on management," she rebutted.
"Oh right," he almost forgot. "Oh well, maybe Ally can give us a few pointers before the presentation then. Good job everyone. We'll reconvene Monday!"
As the girls walked out of the conference room and back to the main hall, Dez spotted his best friend and waved them down towards his direction. "So how was the meeting?" Dez asked.
"Dez, you should've been there," Cassidy said. "Ally spoke up and made Brooke look like a lost puppy."
"What?! Nice!" He held his hand up for a high-five. She weakly complied, her mind being elsewhere.
"Yeah, that's only because Cassidy put me on the spot!" Ally nervously chewed her hair.
"Oh stop! You knew Brooke's presentation wasn't even good. Steve needed to know. Don't sweat, Ally. You did good."
Once Cassidy left, Ally and Dez headed to the break room.
"I wish I would've been there to see the look on Brooke's face," Dez laughed.
"I wasn't trying to make her look bad," Ally pointed out. "Oh an by the way, we caught a glimpse of the app's screen-shots. Nice job on the graphics."
They poured some water into their styrofoam cups and sat down at one of the tables.
"Thanks, Ally but I barely took part in the app," he chuckled, "just some color schemes. My manager had me and another guy started on Christmas themed web designs. And enough about me, back to Brooke."
"What about her?" Ally wondered.
"I would so pay to see her get showed up!" he cheered.
"Quiet down! You don't want to start a commotion," She hushed her friend.
"Hey guys," Trish, a girl who worked in HR stepped into the break room. "What's up?" she asked as she poured herself some coffee.
"Oh nothing, just another Friday at the office," Ally chuckled.
"Just another Friday? Ally made Brooke look bad!" Dez shared.
"Dez! You really want us to get in trouble with HR?!" Ally told her friend.
"No worries," Trish laughed. "I may be in HR, but let's be real. Who really likes Brooke here?" she took a seat next to the pair.
"Wow, I didn't know we weren't the only ones with the problem," Ally was surprised.
"Oh Ally, so naive," Dez shook his head.
"Nope. She's got beef with everyone. She's cut a lot of corners to get to where she is," Trish said. "And between you and me, if she wasn't so high up in management, that girl should've already been fired."
"What do you mean?" they asked.
"I mean," Trish looked around to make sure no one was around. She was in HR for goodness sake and she was gossiping. "From what I hear, she's got a lot of secrets that even HR doesn't know are real or not, but we can't find anything to go against her."
"How do you know it's her though?" Ally wondered.
"How could you not? Every time something shady happens, she's always somehow involved. But she clears her name almost immediately."
"Sneaky," Dez commented.
"Yeah well I didn't even do much, just pointed something out. She still gets the project anyways."
"Really? Why couldn't you get it if you had a better idea?" Trish asked.
"Because the project is only qualified for a higher level and I'm only assistant to my director. Not allowed to take over."
"Ah. What a shame. Would've loved to see someone boil her blood," she chuckled, earning a high-five from Dez.
"I just don't want to get even more on her bad side already, so let's just drop it you guys," Ally said.
The day ended with nothing as exciting since Ally called Brooke out. She just wanted to get through her work day without Brooke harassing her, and she managed to dodge her by 5 o' clock. Her weekend wasn't too energy-consuming. Ally usually spent her weekends in her apartment, catching up on reading the latest best selling novels, cleaning or rearranging some furniture, and video chatting with her parents on Sunday. Three years she's been there and the most Ally did to get to know her city was take a one-day tour around with Dez and Kira to the Willis Tower and Navy pier. That, to Ally, was a very adventurous day. Ally liked routine, she liked simple. She was comfortable that way. Of course, like any other person, she would love to have more excitement, though she would always choose to dream instead of do. Maybe someday, was Ally's mantra. Maybe someday she'd find her self-confidence.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Monday morning came too soon and Ally woke up that morning just like every other Monday. Her yoga, shower, subway ride, and coffee run before heading to work was timed almost perfectly.
"Ah, we made it in time! I was a bit worried back there," Ally exclaimed while she and Dez rode the elevator up to their floor.
"Ally, we always make it to work around 10 minutes before we clock in. The point is to give us leeway if there's a long coffee line or excessive waiting at the crosswalks," Dez said before he sipped his tea. "Or in this case, you forgot to set your alarm."
"Thank God for my internal alarm clock," she said. That morning, Ally over slept by 3 minutes. And even those 180 seconds lost threw Ally off the entire morning."
"So relax, Ally. Our grace period is there for a reason."
"Yeah but you never know," she pointed out.
"Yes we do know," he chuckled. "It's our routine!"
Once they reached their desks, which to their favor were adjacent to one another, Ally was prepared to get to work. Any other person would dread Mondays, but Ally Dawson lived for them. To her, it was a new start every week to get her job done as best as she could.
"Ally," their boss called from down the hall, turning a few heads.
She poked her head out of her cubicle to show herself.
"Would you come here for a sec?"
Dez popped his head above the adjoining wall of their cubicle. "Did you do something bad, Alls?"
"I don't think so?" Ally furrowed her eyebrows, wondering why her boss was calling her in.
"Oh no," he fake gasped, "What if he's giving you a strike for coming in 7 minutes early instead of 10?!"
"Shut up," she rolled her eyes. She was already nervous, and even though Dez was only joking, she grew even more nervous for thinking of that silly reason to get in trouble.
When she reached his office and closed the door, he gestured for her to sit at one of the chairs in front of his desk.
"Is there something wrong, Mr. Carter?" she asked anxiously.
"Ally, how many times do I have to tell you? Call me Steve," he chuckled.
"Sorry sir, just habit," she shyly chuckled.
"Ally, you're not in trouble. Cassidy just wanted a conference call between the three of us."
Once she heard that, she breathed a sigh of relief. He dialed a number and Cassidy was on the phone a couple of rings later.
"Good morning, Cassidy. Steve and Ally here," he began.
"Hey boss, hey Alls. Sorry to call on short notice."
"No problem, is everything okay?" Ally asked.
"Everything is great you guys don't worry. No emergency with this little one," she chuckled.
"So what's up?" Steve asked.
"Well, my husband wanted our baby to be born at our home town in Vermont, and when he was going to buy tickets this morning for next month, the travel agent told us that they wouldn't allow me to fly that late in my pregnancy. So he said that we need to take our leave like right now so we can be at my parents' house before I deliver."
"No worries, Cassidy. We completely understand!" Steve encouraged. "You've got an amazing team here and your assistant director is of course very gifted."
"That she is," Cassidy agreed. "Ally, you going to be okay managing everyone for an extra month on top of my leave?"
"Of course, Cass. Don't worry about us. You've taught me well," Ally smiled to the phone.
"Listen, anything you need from us, let us know. And we expect a full report and lots of adorable photos when you're baby is born!" Steve cheered.
"Will do. Thanks you guys. I'll see you in 4 and half months!"
Once her boss hung up, he turned to her.
"So Ally. You up for the challenge?" he asked regarding taking over the team.
"Yes sir. I've worked close with Cassidy to be able to help the rest of the team finish the project before they head off to the expo."
"Great, let's go out and make the announcement."
The two got up and left his office, making their way down the hall towards the middle of the room.
"Excuse me, may I have everyone's attention," Steve called out.
They all stopped and lowered their murmurs, giving their attention to their dominant.
"So as you all know Cassidy is expecting a little addition to her family in a couple months," he began. "But she needed to take her maternity leave a bit early, due to traveling while pregnant for safety precautions. That being said, Ally Dawson, her assistant director, will be acting executive director for their team until Cassidy comes back in about 5 months."
Everyone clapped for Ally, her core team cheering her on.
"Now, Ally for the time being will complete the itinerary for the expo so her executive team will be prepped for it, and then she will take over all of Cassidy's other responsibilities afterwards. Let's give it up for Ally Dawson you guys!"
An even louder applause from before erupted and Ally was extremely flattered. Immediately, a person from Ally's team spoke up.
"Hey Ally, that means you could take part of the project too!" he said.
"That's right, Ally's on the executive team now," another team member said.
"She could even work with Brooke too on the presentation," someone else commented.
Murmurs were heard around the room and her boss was also coming to terms with the new shift in management. Ally was given pats on her back, anxious about the sudden responsibilities given to her. She started to blush, having to get used to the flattery and attention for the coming months.
From the corner of the room, the green-eyed monster in Brooke was about ready to burst.
"Wait!" she exclaimed a little to loud. They turned their heads to her. "Ally is only a temporary member of the executive team, excluding her from any full-time executive level responsibilities," she retaliated.
Suddenly, faces drew blank, knowing Brooke was right. When it counted, Brooke used the rules - though only to her advantage. Ally, though at the back of her mind was a bit excited to work on the project, wasn't as affected with Brooke's revelation. She was still given a load of responsibility, so she had nothing to be sad about. Though she knew this was just typical Brooke not wanting to shy away from the spotlight.
Trish, who along with the rest of HR, scoffed that Brooke 'cared' about the rules just to make sure she wouldn't lose her seniority, really didn't want Brooke to have her way again. After talking to Dez and Ally the other day about Ally doing better at a meeting than Brooke, she wanted her co-worker to get her shot. And she had a feeling she could enlighten the situation. While everyone was talking about the news, she quickly pulled her handbook out of her desk drawer and searched intently for a specific section. When she found what she was looking for, she smiled, knowing her thoughts were spot on.
"Actually," she popped up from her seat to grab the attention of the room. This time, heads turned to her. Trish, even though she was standing, was pretty short – blame it on her mother, who Trish would always describe as a "short Latina lady" and inherited most of her genes from, had to step out of her cubicle to be fully seen. She walked towards Ally and Steve with her handbook and began to recite a specific section.
"It says here in our Gold Group official handbook; Section 4, Paragraph 12 – Any acting, temporary, subcontracted or part-time executive employee is exempt from executive level full-time responsibilities..."
"See!" Brooke smirked, crossing her arms in victory.
"Hold on, I'm not finished," Trish said. This made Brooke nervous. "Except in the event if the executive employee is given the position for more than one (1) business quarter..."
"Ally's going to be acting director for 5 months," a team member pointed out. "So that means..."
"Then said employee is hence given full executive responsibilities for their time of holding the position until termination of promotion," Trish finished. "Ally is technically qualified to work with Brooke on the project AND attend the expo, in Cassidy's place."
Brooke's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Dez, Trish, and everyone saw it.
"Yeah Ally, way to go!" her ginger-headed best friend shouted. Cheers were heard throughout the room and Ally was indeed excited.
"No! That is my project!" Brooke cried, surprising everyone from her sudden outburst.
Trish tried her very best not to let a laugh sneak out, as did many others.
"Uh.. Brooke, let's talk about this in my office. Everyone let's get back to work," he said. "Ally, you should come too," he told her.
Following him and Brooke back to his office, she passed Dez's cubicle. He flashed a smile and fist bumped her on the way, proud of his friend.
"Give her hell," he whispered, making her chuckle.
Once the doors were closed, Brooke paced back and forth in the office. Ally swiftly walked over to the chair she had previously sat in earlier and Steve walked over to his desk to prepare for a cat fight.
"Alright, what's up Brooke?"
Brooke stopped pacing back and forth and stood at the edge of the desk, slapping a palm to the table top, startling Ally.
"She is not qualified to take over my project!" she spat.
"Brooke, please," her boss demanded professionalism. "Trish just read it, Ally is more than qualified for any responsibilities Cassidy had, including going to the expo. And no one said she'd take over your project. It's still yours."
"Well of course she can't take over. We've been planning this expo for months."
Outside, Dez passed by, stopping behind the door in hopes to listen in.
"Eavesdropping are we?" Trish popped up behind him.
"Wha- what are you talking about," Dez spun around, failing at acting casual.
"You're lucky I'm not that typical crazy HR person," Trish laughed.
"Hey, that was a cool thing you did for Ally there, finding the loophole."
"Dez, there's always a loophole. And besides, you were right. Someone should stick it to Brooke. I would love to see Ally do that."
"Yeah, but it looks like she's not standing up for herself," he motioned to the trio in the office.
Trish glanced over. Ally was sitting quietly in her chair, Steve was trying to calm the situation and Brooke was being her typical rambunctious self. "Man, I wish she'd speak up."
"Me too. Ally deserves to be heard."
Back in Steve's office...
"Yes, that's true, but need I remind you, we didn't just pick Ally out of a random group of names. She's next in line after Cassidy. Ally knows the project as much as everyone else involved. Come on Brooke. Be a team player, alright? Ally?"
"Um... I'm game. I'm on your side, Brooke," she finally spoke up.
"Oh really? Trying to take over my project in the last meeting doesn't seem like you're on my side," she rudely answered.
"I was only trying to help," Ally said. "You have an amazing idea."
"Yeah, Brooke. Let Ally help you. We are one company after all."
"What are we a high school basketball team?" Brooke rolled her eyes. "Why not throw a contest for prom queen for God's sake while we're at it!"
"Brooke, I thought of all people you'd be very welcoming and showing the Gold Group comradery," Steve said. Steve had a lot of patience for Brooke. He believed she had talent, but even he saw that she was difficult to work with from time to time. This was one of the times she tested her patience with him. "And you know what, I think I'll take you up on that."
"On what?" Ally wondered.
"This contest."
"Contest?" Ally and Brooke said in unison.
"Yeah, why not? But we're still a team. From what I remember, Ally had some good points, and you had good points too. How about on Friday you both present to me your ideas for the project, and the best idea will go to the expo."
Ally was dumbfounded. Was this really happening?
"But Steve-"
"But nothing, Brooke. Remember we're a team. And we need to do what's best for the team in our most important event of the year. Ally, you up for the challenge?"
"Uh... Y-yes sir. Thank you," she said, half excited, half terrified.
"Great. That'll be all." he dismissed them.
Ally got up and walked out, absolutely stunned at how the confrontation went. She got to her desk and sighed with contentment. This was real life. This was actually happening. All the times Kira and Dez talked to her about getting her shot was now handed to her in just one morning. And it wasn't even 10:00 AM.
"Hey so what happened with Brooke?" Dez popped his head up from their cubicle wall. When he glanced at his friend, she was still in her state of shock. Coming from around his cubicle and walking to her desk, he waved a hand and snapped his fingers at her face.
"Ally, hello?"
"Oh hey, Dez," Ally was snapped out of her thoughts.
"You okay buddy? Didn't get eaten alive by Brooke right? Cuz I remember telling you to give her hell," he chuckled.
"No," she giggled, "I'm just... what a Monday right?"
"Yeah, congrats Ally, you really deserve this. I'm happy for you," he gave her a high-five.
"Guess what happened in there."
"Brooke blew up and her guts are splattered all over the wall?"
"No weirdo, she's still yelling in Steve's office," she pointed at Brooke still pacing back and forth and yelling, while their boss rubbed his temples wishing for her to stop.
"Yeah, why is she all riled up? I mean, it's just a temporary promotion."
"Well... Steve kind of... gave her project to me..."
"He what?!" Dez said a little too loud, prompting a few heads to turn their way.
"Shhh Dez!" Ally whisper yelled. "Well, Brooke was acting childish and Steve decided to give both me and Brooke the chance to come up with an idea and present it to him this Friday. The best idea gets to go to the expo and gets to head the project."
"Oh my God, this is huge!" Dez hugged his best friend. "Anything you need. I want to help. I want to see Brooke melt," he mischievously grinned.
"Thanks Dez," she laughed. "But..."
"But what?" he wondered.
"I don't know, this is all happening so fast..."
"Yeah, and?"
"Do you think I can beat her?"
"Ally, of course you can. This is the change I've been telling you that your life needs. You got this, Dawson!"
A moment later, Brooke finally stepped out of the office. No one dared to make eye contact with her – especially since they knew she was pissed. She walked briskly to Ally's cubicle. Seeing her, Dez stood up so Ally could meet face-to-face with Brooke.
"Hey Brooke," Ally began. "Um... listen. No hard feelings okay?"
"Pffft," Brook responded. "Oh Ally. Do you really think a newb like you could come to my level in just one week?"
"Um, I-"
"And I know what you're up to."
"I'm not up to anything?" Ally was confused. She really had no ulterior motive.
"I will not let you get in the way of my plans with this company. So stay in your little circle and stay out of my way."
"I just wanted to wish you luck," Ally tried not to start anything.
"Luck is for the weak, Dawson," she sneered.
After she walked off, Dez spoke up.
"Wow. Ally please beat her. I'm begging you."
"You know what Dez." she turned to her friend with a stern expression, "let's do this."
A/N: To my Austin & Ally ff readers - Like I said, I had more Auslly coming your way and here it is. I remember writing this idea down a while back, and since I didn't go to work or do anything for almost 2 weeks (due to sickness), I managed to finish this story. Hope you guys like it.
To my Victorious ff readers who get alerts from me with new updates/stories - I apologize for disappointing you with Auslly instead of Cabbie. I've retired from Fanfiction, but I'm trying to finish what I started with Austin & Ally solely because there's still some inspiration there since it's still airing, and because I made a promise to the A&A fandom.
To all my readers - my temporary return will end in March. That will be my permanent retirement (for reals this time lol) I've got big news to share but I won't find out until then (kind of waiting in the mail for an important letter). If I happen to find inspiration from Victorious, Austin & Ally, Shake It Up, or even another disney/nick show from now until then, I will drabble something down and share it with you guys.
Thanks for reading!