"Tennant! Get to my office now!" a harsh voice barked from the intercom in David's office. Wincing at the sharp tone, he wondered what problem Gary had with him today. His footsteps felt heavy as lead, walking to his boss' office. It wasn't usually this hard but ever since David discovered a secret security camera hidden in his office, he had been paranoid that there were more of them in the room ever since. The reason why Gary installed them there, he had no clue, but he hoped that the cameras hadn't caught him slacking off during his work hours.
David knocked on the door twice before entering without Gary's response. He plopped down in one of the chairs and smiled widely, determined not to let his anxiousness surface. "Now I'm sure you're aware of the major decrease in readers of our magazine," Gary explained formally, his eyebrows knitted together. "So I'm afraid we're gonna have to let some people go." David's heart dropped to his stomach as he realised what his boss was hinting at. Gary was going to fire him. There was no other explanation for why they were even having this conversation.
"Now when I thought about who to let go, you were one of the people I would choose to fire, with all that slacking you've taken to recently." his boss told him and David's blood ran cold. He couldn't get fired. No, he just couldn't. "But I remembered how you were also the one to score us the celebrity article we needed to get big. So I decided against it." Gary assured him, chuckling at the obvious look of relief on David's face.
"But," he began, seriousness back in his tone. "Don't think I haven't noticed the measly articles you've been producing. Half of those didn't even make it onto the final print!"
Ashamed, David remembered all those half hearted articles he had written in a hurry to get home. None of them displayed any of the passion that he had started off so strongly with. "So to make up for it, you're gonna have to work extra hard with this new project I'm handing to you." Gary said to him and slid over an impossibly thin folder. Gratefully, David thanked the man and opened up the cream folder to reveal a single page. It was a very vague and meagre profile on some small time actress, Rose Tyler. All the profile contained were references on a few films she had acted in, her birth date, and a blurry photograph of a blonde woman walking. He squinted at the grainy image but he still wasn't able to make out her face. David scanned the short profile in disbelief before turning back to Gary. "You've got to be kidding me."
Wiping his sweaty brow, Gary gave him a weak grin. "That's why we want you on this interview. You were our top journalist before it happened." David's face hardened when he realised what his boss was talking about. "Yeah I got it. I'll take this one." he replied tightly before forcing another smile on his face. "Well, thanks for this opportunity. I'll be off now to prepare. When is the interview scheduled?"
Clearly noticing the change in the journalist's mood, Gary was hesitant to bring out another piece of bad news. "Well it was originally meant to be on Thursday but her agent told us she'll be starting to shoot a short film on that day so we've been forced to reschedule." he answered uncomfortably, hand running through his thinning hair nervously. The journalist knew what this meant. His eyes narrowing, David asked for the answer to the question Gary was dreading. "When?" "Tomorrow morning," his boss blurted out, trying to assert some control into this situation. "And you'd better go or you're fired."