Hello Readers!
I'm SO happy with the positive response to the first chapter. I kind of expected it to be completely ignored, so two reviews was exciting. Sorry for the wait to post this. I blame analog electronics (look it up).
Slevin walked through the doors of Harvey Specter's office as smoothly as possible. She hardly ever got nervous, especially in situations like interviews. If there was anything that she was good at, it was talking herself up. The handsome man sitting behind the desk rose slightly from his chair to shake her hand.
"Hello Miss Peterson. I'm Harvey Specter, as you probably know."
"Of course I know. It's nice to meet you," she said, shaking his hand with a smile.
"Oh really? What else do you know about me?" he asked, clearly trying to put her on the spot.
"Well, you're a bit of a legend at Harvard. 'Best closer in New York' is what they call you."
"Well, it's nice to hear that my reputation proceeds me," the senior partner said with a cocky grin on his face. "Please have a seat." He grabbed her resume, skimming through it.
"So, I could go on and on asking you questions about what you did in law school and about how you would deal with failure or some bullshit behavior stuff, but I just want to get down to business, because, frankly, I want to get this over with."
"Sounds good to me." She immediately decided that she liked this guy. He was straightforward, but incredibly charming, two qualities that don't tend to play nice with each other.
"My last associate, Mike Ross, has a photographic memory. He can read something and it sticks with him forever. When practicing law, this makes him nothing short of a miracle. Now, I know that I can't expect lightning to strike the same place twice, but what about you makes you think you can uphold the standard that I have for my associates?" She paused for a second, making sure that she could answer the question with confidence.
"Well, first of all, I'm very good at problem solving. Frankly, I probably would have gotten a degree in engineering if the idea of it didn't bore me to death. I can't even watch movies anymore cause I already know what's going to happen after the first few minutes. Second, I am extremely intimidating when I need to be. Once, a guy tried to mug me and he ended up begging me for forgiveness."
"Is that true?" Harvey asked. "That seems incredibly far-fetched."
"It does, doesn't it?" Slevin said, realizing how fake her stories sounded despite being completely true. She yelled at the guy for an hour, telling him that his mother would be ashamed of him. "But its true, trust me."
"Well, we can add confidence to the list."
"Yes, well, being self-conscious never got anyone anywhere. Finally, I am very ambitious. I worked part time all through college and law school to make sure that I didn't have any big student loans to pay off, and I managed to stay in the top 20% of my class."
Harvey went silent for a few minutes, processing her answer. She could tell what was going through his head. She knew that her answer came off as a bit egotistical, and that he was a bit put off by it. He was also clearly not a huge fan of interviewing. She just hoped that the people that came before her were incredibly boring.
"Well, Miss Peterson, you better watch yourself, because I really don't want to regret my decision to hire you."
"I can't believe you actually got a job," the voice on the other end of the phone laughed out. "I didn't know you were so good at pretending to be normal."
"Oh no, I'm not at all. In fact, I told my new boss's secretary that I have more balls than everyone in the firm combined." Slevin still couldn't believe it. Besides working as a sandwich maker at Erbs and Gerbs during undergraduate, which barely counts because a moron can make a sandwich, and as a waitress at a sports bar, this was her first real job. She would have an office to go to, a desk to sit at, paperwork to do, and health benefits. So, of course, the first thing she had to do when she found out was call her little sister.
"Please tell me you didn't do that!" Saber said on the other end of the line.
"I panicked! I didn't know what she wanted me to say," she recalled the most badass moment of her existence up until this point with relish. "Then, I told my new boss about that time that guy tried to mug me. And, it worked! So whatever."
"Yeah, sure, but now you're going to be that weird chick who talks about her metaphorical testicles."
"More like a weird chick who is getting a starting check of twenty thousand dollars. Do you know how many care packages I can send you?"
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but they probably wouldn't reach my post until after my tour is over. Mail in the army sucks. At least, that's what the others tell me."
Slevin couldn't believe that her baby sister was leaving for the military. Ever since the kid was little she just always had this determination to go to the military. When she got out of high school, the first thing she did was enlisting in the army, though she, her mom, and Maverick all tried to talk her out of it. She was convinced that it was something that she was put on this earth to do.
"Ok, I'll try to send something over to you before you leave. I gotta go. I'm want to get a good night sleep before my first day!"
"Oh, shut up. Your optimism is terrifying."
It's funny how quickly a place can change depending on perspective. When Slevin first walked into Pearson Hardman for her interview, it was a shining beckon of hope for her future career. When she walked in for her first day, it felt like she was entering the level of hell with the pit of fire.
She walked up to the receptionist at the front of the office, the one she that was a complete bitch.
"Good morning, I am here to see Rachel Zane." The receptionist looked up from her computer and repeated the same cycle of faces that she made when she first met Slevin.
"Name?" she asked, keeping her look of disbelief.
"Slevin Peterson."
Before the receptionist had the chance to do anything, a young woman with impossibly perfect brown hair approached her.
"Hi, you must be Slevin. I'm Rachel and I'll be transitioning you." After briefly shaking Slevin's hand, Rachel turned around and started walking away, with Slevin trailing closely behind.
Rachel then started spewing loads of information, which was probably very important, but Slevin couldn't listen. She was too excited with all of the activity happening around her. Associates running around trying to appease the partners. Partners sitting in their offices and arguing with other partners about god knows what. All happening with New York City as a scenic background. It was just the place she imagined working at when she decided to become a lawyer.
"So, this is your desk," Rachel said, stopping her tour in the middle of the bull pin. "Try to keep it clean. Louis doesn't like it when the bull pin is messy. Here is some paperwork that you need to fill out and get to HR as soon as possible. You can take your picture for your security badge around lunchtime," Rachel rattled off, barely pausing for breath. She clearly had done this numerous times.
"You primarily work for Harvey, as you know, but you also answer to Louis Litt, who is in charge of the associates."
"Which one is he?" Slevin asked, looking around at the different mega-offices that the partners occupied.
"He'll introduce himself. Trust me." Rachel said with a knowing smile on her face. Slevin immediately knew that this Louis Litt person would annoy the hell out of her.
"Other than that, let me introduce you to Mike. He was Harvey's last associate, and I'm sure he would love to give you some advice."
Rachel led Slevin over to a small, closet size office with a nameplate on the door that said 'Mike Ross, Senior Associate.' This was the boy wonder whose shoes she would have to fill.
So, my creative juices ran out right about here. I'm excited to show Mike and Slevin's friendship. If any of you have any suggestions for cases you want Slevin to tackle, let me know. I would also be more than happy to add some Mike Whump in here, just for the fun of it.
Again, sorry for the wait, and Happy New Year!
Cheers!
Tora2010