It's easy to win. She knows all about winning. It's all about the way you smile, the way you dress. All you have to do is walk confidently and wear the latest trends and nobody ever questions you. It's all about your enemies. You undermine them, you trick them. You don't even have to dislike them but you have to win so you do everything you can - it's amazing what a couple of well-selected words can do to demolish someone's reputation. She laughs, and tosses her hair around, and walks with her hand on her hips. She watches as women go into her boss' office, and she watches as they walk out, grinning. She can't hear what he's saying to them but she knows it because she's heard it before a million times. She knows that when they walk out they're thinking they're special, that they feel safe, as if nothing and nobody can hurt them. She wants to scream at them that it's never going to be true. She sits and watches them and waits until it's her turn. If they sit down at the same lunch table as her later she'll whisper snide comments, ladder their tights. Then she'll smirk and pretend she's won even though she's unsure of what she's trying to achieve; even though she knows they were never any closer to it than she is.

She's sitting daydreaming when she's disturbed by his voice. She looks up, tries not to stare or blush or stammer. Her instincts kick in and she smiles flirtatiously, nods as he tells her about the newspaper that want to interview him. As he walks into the elevator he turns. On impulse, he says, "Bye, Amanda." Her heart begins to pound, almost painfully, but she nods again as he disappears from sight. A moment later Betty emerges from the office, dressed in a lurid orange dress complete with red spots. Fashionable, she thinks to herself. She feels a twinge of annoyance that ugly, glasses-sporting, brace-wearing, unstylish Betty is closer to Daniel than she'll ever be. Betty gets in the elevator too, and Amanda can't help but notice - as always - that she's the only one in the entire building who actually smiles properly. (Except for the geek in Accounting who grins like a maniac every time he sees her, of course. They're such a pathetic and boring couple - although they probably aren't even a couple yet. Their dithering isn't even amusing.)

She receives a phone call. She answers, but her mind's only half on it. A while later the elevator opens yet again and he comes back through. She hopes that he'll talk to her but he just walks past. She turns back to the computer and her nails - freshly manicured - tap lightly against the keys. When the elevator arrives again she's the one getting in. She goes home and wonders about calling the guy she's currently sleeping with before deciding against it. Later a friend of hers calls and invites her to a party. She goes, and she drinks and flirts and talks and smiles. When she wakes up in the morning she doesn't even recognise the guy she's in bed with. Her head is throbbing and she feels sick.

She is lonely.