Chapter 3: The SmartShot Crew

I went up to my bed roughly, and shuts off the alarm that made me pissed due to ringing too soon. If only it's reasonable to blame a non-living thing for my bad day. This isn't really a bad day, it's a bad two-day. I was hoping that everything will be just fine, because I worked my ass off yesterday to compensate my late-coming to the event. But no, bad luck continues, what did I even do to be challenged like this. Now, my PC had probably died, pictures I worked hard to edit was gone, and I didn't have a good enough sleep today. What's worse? It's Monday, gotta leave my comfort zones again and go ahead and work. I kind of like going to work but I'm getting afraid of what's going to happen. I condemned myself for getting late yesterday and now, I can feel Boss' anger even I'm at my home yet and I need to explain that my PC is destroyed, probably delaying my project that I'm working on. Boss hates delays, too.

I sighed. I can sense hell as I approach my work today. I slowly left my bedroom, get some grub to eat, take a shower, wore my polo-shirt uniform and readied myself to what this day is going to give me.

The only good thing is... the power supply is back again.

I left my room, locked it in, as I met Mark leaving his room as well, wearing his school uniform carrying a small bag. He noticed me and greeted.

"Hey, Good Morning Rex! Nice day, today, huh?" he said while smiling at me.

"Oh, Hi Mark! But yeah, I-I guess so..." I replied without even a bit of an energy. I notice his smile slowly fade.

"Oh... Yeah." he said awkwardly. "By the way, the repairs later, let me know if you are available, okay?"

"Of course, I'm really glad you could help with the trouble I have, haha. "

"Happy to hear that," he smiles again. "Oh, and here's my phone number," he gave me a small strip of paper with numbers in it, "Just give me a simple text message if you want to meet up."

"Sure, thank you," as I received the strip and slid it in my wallet.

As we enter the elevator, I asked him a question. "So you are still a student. Where did you study? "

"I study at Whiteridge University, walking distance from here," he replied. "I am currently studying engineering."

"Ohh, isn't that tough?"

"It sure is!" he proudly said and laughed.

The elevator dings and the door opened. Mark and I left the building as we part ways.

"See you later, man." he said as I waved my hand in response. Boy, what a real nice man he is. I then proceeded to the parking lot and turned on the engine of my motorbike and went to work.

SmartShot Company.

This is the place where I work on. We specialize on being photographers and, videographers on a client's event. It can be birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, debuts, and other event there is. We also do graphic designs if our client is a business, we can make tarpaulins of it, fliers, design maybe their uniforms, their menu list also. We got it here. If some students want to print their project, they can also come on here. As long as it is graphics related, our conpany can help you.

Enough with the advertisements, I finally arrived at work. On this huge building, though we only really cover the first two floors, the rest were also apartment rooms. I got on work pretty early today, it's almost 6:30 in the morning, though work starts at 7:00. I entered the office as I met Boss and two other workers, Fred and Lara. They were somehow cleaning the place up before the company opens.

The two workers looked at me.

Good Morning, Rex," Lara initially talked.

"Hey, Boss look who's early today," Fred immediately followed.

"Good Morning Mr. Anderson, you arrived pretty early today," she highly said. "Glad you kept your promise today, hmm" she followed while she places her arms on her waist.

"Of course, Boss... Good Morning, everyone," I timidly said, while my hand was at the back of my head.

"Now, I also had a promise I left with you, yesterday." she scarily said. I gulped.

Boss then roughly grabbed my wrist and pulled me to her office. The two looked at us with a worried face.

"Good luck to you my friend," Fred calmly said.

"I will pray for your survival, Rex," Lara said as she places her hands palm-to-palm.

"What's with those warnings, guys?" I almost cried out.

"You two! Continue cleaning!" Boss shouted.

"Y-yes Ma'am," the two replied nervously.

After Boss dragging me all the way to her office, she sat down on her chair while she fixes her desk as well.

"Mr. Anderson, please sit down." she commanded.

The tension in the room gives me a vibe of 'I violated a school rule and I'm here sitting in the principal's office' . I followed her request as I sat down at the chair on the other side of her desk.

"What is the time that we should be in the venue, yesterday?" she said with increasing tone.

"7:00 am, Boss," I responded immediately.

"And what time did you arrive?" she asked as if she was a lawyer in a court.

"Se-seven fifty, Boss," I replied nervously.

"Exactly!" she said while slamming her hand on her desk. "I can understand if you are late by maybe 10 to 15 minutes, you can still catch up. But 50 minutes? Few minutes before the event starts? We got one less man to prepare for everything, we also got to attach your camera as well."

"I'm very sorry, B-boss," I replied with my head looking straight on the floor.

"'I'm sorry Boss' 'I'm sorry Boss'" she mocked me. "Wouldn't you explain why are you even late?" Boss asked me with high voice. I think the other workers can hear her now at this point.

"No,Boss, it just that I overslept... I don't think I can explain myself anymore," I replied, real downcast. I'm afraid to look at her face at this point.

"OVERSLEPT? You know it's a pretty dumb reason, but since you understood you are in the wrong, and you made a job well done yesterday, my lecturing to you was done for." she then began to lower her voice as she said these words and patted my shoulder gently.

I felt a bit relieved at myself but I have one more thing to worry about. Remember that my PC fried yesterday? Yes, that. I feel like I didn't need it to tell her about that since she was in a good mood today, but it seems that I still need to raise it up to her,since this was a pretty serious problem.

"Ah, Boss," I lifted my head and looked at her. "I got to tell you something."

"Hmm... What is it again, Mr. Anderson," she replied calmly this time.

"Umm.." still not confident to say it, because she might gone mad, but here goes. "Last night, while I was working on my project..."

She's just nodding at what I say and I then followed.

"M-my PC went in trouble, so I cannot access the files that I've worked on..."

I'm too afraid to continue, I can sense her getting mad at me.

"And? Please hurry up, company is about to open," she furiously replied.

"I think the project that I'll be doing will end up getting delayed." There I said it.

She taps her four fingers quite quickly as she looks up and sighed loudly. I couldn't tell on her actions if she is getting mad or she is trying so hard to calm herself. The tapping immediately stopped as she talked in a very very calm way.

"Thanks for making my morning different, Mr. Anderson, I really do." she then paused for a while and continued speaking. "Delayed? You say." she still talks calmly. "Yesterday, we also delayed the event for a few minutes, thankfully no one complained about it." she said as she pinches the bridge of her nose. "Now, we are delaying them again because of your goddamn PC getting broken!" she finally increased her voice.

"Whoops," I whispered to myself as I'm sweating all over my body.

"Do you know what they will think about us next time, Rex?" she angrily asked calling me now by my first name. Scary. "We are incompetent, always delaying our task, late for everything, to the point that we can't get anything done in time," she talked quite quickly while still having that high loud voice.

"I'm sorry, Boss, I'll find a way to get it done on time," I replied with a really scared voice.

"Don't worry, Mr. Anderson, I now know the way to get your project done on time," she said while speaking calmly.

"This place has many computers, you can work with any of them here," she said with an informing tone. "You now know what I mean, Mr. Anderson."

"I'll be working overtime... " I said with my shoulders slumped down.

"Exactly. Since we are open til 4, you'll maybe extend like two to three hours."

I think I agree to be overworking so that I can be able to finish everything. But I'll miss a lot of things that I love doing at home. I'll miss my favorite TV show, it sucks. But I got to agree for this, I don't want to be the cause of the downfall of this company, after all.

"Okay, Boss, does that mean I'll be the one closing this office as well?"

"Nah, I live at the apartment upstairs, so I can close this as long as you're done for the day," she replied while pointing upward. She's pretty calm at this point, I think another problem of mine has been gone, felt relieved again.

"Room 403, be sure to knock, okay?" she said in a flirty tone. Is this girl, messing with me or what?

"Oh sure, thanks," I replied.

It seems like our talk had been finished for now. She then proceeded to tell me to get out, and start working on my own cubicle, as I stood up and left her office.

Upon leaving her office, I met all my co-workers here chit-chatting with each other. I overheard some talking about the bad fate I had right now.

"Yooo, Rex you're finally out there," Blaise waved at me.

"Haha, how's the talk with Boss," Lara also followed while waving.

"Did you finally get fired?" Tony said in a very calm and non-caring tone.

"Hahaha, good one Tony, good one, ahahahaha," Sean talked with his very loud voice.

"Hey guys, stop being the paparazzi here, gimme a break," I said unenthusiastically.

The door behind me slammed open as Boss started to go outside of her office as well.

She claps her hand, "Stop chit chatting and get working, the business is about to open."

"Yes, boss," all of us responded.

"Okay, everyone," Jeff raised his hands clenching his fists. "Let's go!"

I'm pretty much fed up hearing 'okay, everyone' for obvious reasons but Jeff started the day again with super energy.

Meet Jeff Carter. 28 years old. Light-skinned, blue eyes, and blonde haired, average body-sized man. He is sort of the second in command in the crew. Unlike Boss, he treats very lightly and motivates us to the projects anytime. Jeff made lots of friends from our customers, he likes chatting, an extreme extrovert, everyone's friend! His energy never fades and even if he is sick, he is still tough and kicking.

"Man, this guy will really never gonna lose his energy, even on Monday!" Harry whispered from me at the back.

"Right on," I said. "If only I can have that energy everyday."

"I wouldn't really wish so to myself, I don't want to be wild anytime, haha," he replied while fixing his glasses and drinking his early morning caffeine.

This is Harry Wilson. 23 years old. Light-skinned, dark-brownish eyes, black haired, a bit shorter and chubbier than average. He also wears sunglasses to match it all off. He specializes in photography as well, and the newest recruit of the crew, just started 3 months ago. Harry is a part-time worker in this company, as he is also a law student! He is a good combination of a sophisticated and a quirky fella. He's not as friendly as Jeff, but he sure is one of my closest co-workers in this place.

"Hey! Don't shout so loud, Jeff! I just wanna chill around here..." someone from the other side commented with a very cold voice.

"C'mon Tony, have some energy! We need that to stay strong everyday!" Jeff replied still having his loud and energetic tone.

"Yeah... Whatever, wohoo..." Tony replied but that 'wohoo' doesn't sound powerful at all.

"That's right, Tony!" Jeff replied. Although it's really obvious that Tony didn't even listen to Jeff, Jeff's optimistic attitude probably blinded him to what Tony meant.

Uhh so yeah... Antonio Chez. 25 years old. Tan-skinned, dark eyes, and dark hair. He specializes on editing photo and video graphics. He is somewhat a complete opposite of Jeff, frank, very introverted and very distant from us. He also like staying in this office when lunchbreak, to be honest, I really don't understand this guy, but I can say that this guy at least loves what he is doing as he finishes his job wonderfully.

"Hiya, Rex!" I heard a high pitched voice call me from my right side.

"Hey! Good Morning Lara," I smiled and greeted. "How's the weekend going?" I followed just to start a relaxing conversation on this hectic morning that I had.

"It's good but it's too short, yesterday's work didn't really make it much fun," she replied. "Let's change topic for a bit... What did the boss told you, she seems pretty mad."

"Eh... Pretty much about my incompetence for my tasks," I replied while shrugging weakly. "And yeah... I'll be having overtime work this next couple of days, because my computer broke."

"Oh that's why," she said. "I see why she got mad," she smirked and pointed a single finger upwards.

"Oh really? How did you know so easily?" I said quite confused.

"It's obvious. She hates delays, remember." she said with a somehow insulting tone. "I can tell you probably told her that you will not finish your project on time. That's where you might screwed up."

"Oh..."

Yeah, she is Lara Ford. 22 years old. Tan-skinned, blue eyes and brown haired, with a pretty slim shape. She specializes on talking with company's clients everyday, talking about what we need to do. She also does photography. She likes talking to every co-workers in this company, and she always intrigues us especially after we talk to Boss. She seems to really idolize Boss' managing attitude and she told us everytime that when she became a manager, she want to be like Boss. Which makes me feel difficult to imagine, since she acts like a complete opposite of Boss, she doesn't seem to be the type of person to get hot-headed...

"Oh hey suckeroo," another guy called me and I don't like the tone of it.

"Oh Sean!" Lara greeted, I turned on my swivel chair 180 to face this guy to be greeted by a teasing smile.

"Mornin' Lara," he glanced at her and looks at me laughing hysterically.

Sean Richards. 21 years old. Light-skinned, blue eyes and blonde haired. With a figure that looks like an absolute dou... Anyways, he also specializes in photography, quite my rival, and most of the time, I can't get along with this guy. His skills are pretty good, but I don't like how they appeal sometimes. He doesn't like mine, either, that's why it's common for us to be to argue and create heat inside. What once started as a workplace rivalry went to a personal insult to each other.

"Sure, laugh all you can," I crossed my arms as I stood up on my chair.

"Of course I will, you've just humiliated yourself... like you always do, AHAHAHAHA."

I fold my sleeve as I clench my fist, "Pickin' a fight, huh? Come on! My day just felt worse by simply just seeing your stupid face in here," I grittedly said.

"What did you just say, you stupid failure of a photographer," as he furiously said striking the same stance as mine as a bit of a static connects through our eyes.

"Oh no, these two had it again," Lara facepalms at our conflict.

"C'mon guys, it's just Monday and you too are squaring off each other again," Jeff approaches us. "Can't your little cat-dog fight have a break?"

"This isn't about you," we both screamed at Jeff, as Jeff backs out with two hands open.

We then flamed our anger with each other as our foreheads bumped each other. As a door slams open. "BAM!"

"Why do I hear shouting from outside of my office again," Boss sadistically said.

Everybody stared at her, then pointed at our direction.

"Ah! Boss! Rex and I just greeted good morning to each other a bit louder," Sean reasoned while smiling and laughing while grabbing my shoulder with his one arm.

"Ah! Yes, yes~~~" as I grabbed over his shoulder with my one arm, too. "See? Fist bump," as I hit his fist with my fist gently.

"Fist bump! It's all good, Boss." he nervously lied while we are both sweating fountains.

Boss just folds her arms and looked at us with those scary discontented dark eyes. "Ok... I'm glad you two get along well..."

We all nervously laughed.

"NOW GET WORKING!" as she shut the door close.

The crew let a sigh of relief as we get back to our own stations. Sean and I glared each other furiously as we go back and start working as well. Dusting the disgusting contact I had against this guy.

Hours later, not really much had happened in the workplace. Few students come by to print, and a client talked about having us in an event, nothing unusual.

I felt sleepy. I began redoing my edits again since I don't have my edited pictures, it's in the fried PC. I notice that my work performance got slower and I slowly lose motivation. I looked at the time. 10:00am. It's just 3 hours in.

I never got a sleep last night and now my brain told me I should sleep... on work. I can't do that. I'll get my ass scolded again by Boss and I don't want Sean to make fun of me anymore but aghhh... I buried my face flat on the desk to give myself a small break, just one.

I hear a bunch of schoolgirls fangirl again on the printing station, and that caught my attention and wakes me up. Oh, he's got it again.

"So, would you like it colored or nah?" I heard him ask the girls.

"We would like it colored, ahihihi." they squeaked.

"Okay then, ladies..." Blaise replied sweetly. As his 'fangirls' squealed again.

Blaise Lee. 25 years old. Light red haired, blue eyes and light skinned. He specializes in communicating with customers and clients as well as being a technical commitee. He is definitely the customer favorite with his good-looks and gentlemanly gesture. He is the crush of every high school girls and everytime they meet him, they take selfies. He is a kind person, but why does it feel like he is the only one relevant in this company, along with Jeff, of course.

"Here's the papers and the change, ladies," as he hands them over to them.

"Thank you so much! 3" one girl replied.

"You're welcome, be sure to come back anytime ~" Blaise commented as the schoolgirls giggled while leaving the establishment.

"Wow, that was pretty smooth, Blaise," Sean commented as soon as the girls left.

"True! Blaise can be really trusted when dealing with the ladies," Jeff energetically said while patting Blaise's shoulder.

"Ahah, it's not much, just doing my job," Blaise replied smiling while his hand was behind his head.

"Wait Jeff, so you mean Lara and I are not that appealing to the ladies, c'mon!" Fred ranted.

"I don't think schoolgirls will be interested with another girl, right?" Lara commented jokingly.

"Besides, Blaise had good gentlemanly attitude, that would really make those girls like him a lot," I followed up.

"So you mean, I should act more gentlemanly than him? That's not a bad idea!" Fred lightened up.

"And you look too old for those girls to like you," Tony muttered at my side, but enough for everyone to hear. The room was filled with laughter.

"Oh you'll see Tony, I'll show you I'm not old enough!" Fred shoots back.

Oh boy, I don't think this is gonna end well.

Frederick Verdoah. 33 years old. Black-haired, dark eyed and tan skinned. He and Blaise specialize on same things, but Fred is more experienced on technical duties. He also serves as a reviewer of our projects, and often guide us as being the most experienced worker in here. Although he is ages away from majority of us, he manages to relate to us perfectly. And now, I'm interested to see how Fred will impress our customer with a 'Blaise' attitude.

Few minutes in, a young and timid girl entered holding a folder, I guess another schoolgirl.

Jeff nudged Fred to approach the girl. "C'mon, do what you just told us you'll do," Jeff whispered.

"I know, let me ready myself," Fred smirked.

Upon slightly fixing his hair and standing with composure, Fred walked closer to the girl to ask her concerns.

"A pleasant morning to you, mademoiselle. May I ask what you need for today? My name is Fred, and I'm here to help a fine lady like you," Fred said clamly as he stood still like a servant.

The crew began to hold their breath of laughter, as I can hear their soft giggles. Tony slaps his face hardly covering it with a huge facepalm. The others covered their mouth to not laugh at Fred's actions. I just shuddered my whole body in this cringe fest.

"A-a-ahh..." the girl looked at him with shock and with a slight blush on her face. "I-I j-just want to print my th-thesis, and good morning a-and..." she replied with a shivering voice. "...thank you..."

The noise the crew made became a bit louder and I was burying my face in embarassment. This girl is shy and somehow awkward, Fred tested it on a wrong girl and his 'gentlemanly' attitude was too much.

"Right away, mademoiselle, and your flash drive?" Fred corteously asked.

"Ah... Yes, yes sir here it is..." she roughly pulled the drive out of her pocket as she immediately handed it over to Fred, like she was getting robbed.

"Don't worry, mademoiselle, this flash drive will be safe and sound in my hands," Fred smiled as he grabbed the girl's shoulders and the girl was alarmed again.

"Take a seat here, mademoiselle, as you wait for the process to finish," Fred said sweetly as the girl shyly follows. The girl took a seat at the couch and hugged her folder tighter.

"T-thank you..." the girl replied blushing deep red out of embarassment.

I noticed Harry was shaking and his face was red, he's holding it in too much. He spoke with me and Tony quietly. "Sorry guys, this is just too much for me to hold it in, I'll just go to the bathroom," Harry said giggly as he went straight to the bathroom and I can hear his hysterical laughs.

Lara was laughing but without much sound, Sean had his face on his desk while his body was shaking up and down, he is really laughing so hard right now. Blaise was just amused by what he just witnessed. Jeff with his optimism, supports this freakin guy.

The awkward atmosphere continues as the girl and Fred didn't even knew they were being laughed out loud. All we can hear is the printer printing thesis of this poor girl. All our crew are still in full attention to these two as the girl sat still like a dunce and Fred was focused on the pages being printed out.

The printing process has finally finished as Fred collected the pieces together and handed it to her.

"Here you go, mademoiselle, your thesis printed with care," Fred said sweetly as the girl attempted to grab the papers, Fred cuts in.

"Give me your folder, mademoiselle, I'll help you slid these papers in."

"Ah- here, t-thank you v-very much..." the girl then gave her folder as Fred puts the papers in it nice and smooth.

"Here you go mademoiselle, perfect for your presentation," Fred said.

"Thank you, uhh..." the girl keeps shaking as she gave Fred the payment. "Here, keep th-the c-change..." Fred accepted the money as the girl retrieves her folder, embraced it tightly and immediately went outside the establishment as fast as she could.

"You're welcome, mademoiselle, make sure you come back here more often, thank you~~~" Fred shouted as the girl's pace became faster.

As weird as it seems, I think Fred scared the girl rather than impressed her. Seeing that girl run away from our office so quick, she's got a one big fancy story to tell.

"Fred?" a girl from behind asked him quite furiously.

The whole crew quickly glanced back and shocked on what we saw.

Boss was watching all along.

"B-b-b-b-boss!" Fred said nervously.

Boss then dragged him all the way to her office. "WE. NEED. TO. TALK. RIGHT. NOW."

Her name wasn't really Boss. She is Vaness Borsch. 24 years old. Redhead, green eyes, light skinned, and shorter than an average woman. She is the co-manager of the company, and manages us when the main owner was not here. She was known for her furious attitude and strict management, but in the end, the crew understands their mistakes and improve for the better. As small as she is, she can take down even the largest men that work here just because of her fierce and loud voice, you know what they say the shorter you are, the closer you are to hell.

She also don't like being called by her first name, especially at work, she also hates persons who mispronounce her last name. So by then, the crew started calling her Boss, to make anything easier as she agreed with it.

Upon her slamming the door once again, the whole crew just laughed hysterically at what just happened. Poor Fred, if only he knew he was just being humiliated by the crew, I laughed out loud as well.

This is the SmartShot crew, although they are quirky and crazy, I grew attached on this group. I've been working here for only 4 months as a photographer and an editor, but if I would work with these guys everyday, I'd say I really love my job!

Fast forward to the afternoon, some of my co-workers are planning to eat together and talked about what they are going to plan tonight. I'm just here sitting on my station, working myself out again. Some greeted goodbyes as the office is now closed for today, and some fixing their things ready to leave.

"Until what time will you stay here, Rex," Harry tapped my shoulder as he is holding his bag.

"I'll leave shortafter, I need to get my PC repaired then I'll come back here again," I replied.

"Is that so? Well, it was a pretty busy today, see you tomorrow," Harry lets go of my shoulder as he also greeted the other persons goodbye.

I grabbed my phone and wallet. I pulled the strip of paper Mark gave me earlier this morning as I began sending a message to Mark.

R: Mark, what's up! It's me, Rex, about the PC repairs, I am available right now.

M: Nice, I'm still on my way to the apartment, let's just meet up there, I'll help you bring down your computer.

R: Sweet! I'll be right there! Thanks...

Well that went pretty good, I began packing my things as Sean approached me.

"I thought you'll be going overtime, don't tell me you're leaving because you don't feel like it," Sean crossed his arms.

"What? Of course not, idiot," I replied insulted. "I have an important thing to do, and don't stick up your nose too much where it doesn't belong," I smirked.

"Yeah, whatever, don't care about that... I'm leaving too, bye idiot," he then left the establishment after that sour conversation.

After having Boss' approval of me leaving temporarily, I waved goodbye to my other co-workers that are still fixing up their things. I started the engine of my motorbike, and started driving back to my apartment to meet Mark and get my PC working.

Upon arriving to my apartment, I saw Mark about to enter the apartment. Great timing, I greeted.

"Hey Mark!"

"Yo, dude, that was crazy timing, it seems you're excited today," Mark replied.

I ran closer to him as we both enter the buidling. "I sure am!" We both laughed.

Once we got to our rooms, Mark asked something, "Mind if you wait here a bit? I'll just be changing outfits."

"Sure no problem, I'll bring my computer outside," I responded.

I entered my room, and immediately looked at my computer, it looks really bad but some parts look clean. Mark really did a good job pulling off the smoke quite quickly on this one.

I patted my unit, and stared at all the details of this busted thing. Once I drew closer, I heard sounds coming out from the CPU itself. It's inaudible, like the sound a vibration makes.

It stops.

It repeats.

It starts to get louder.

It starts muffling.

The pitch started to get higher.

The muffling sounds became recognizable.

The pitch gets higher and higher.

The sound becomes clearer like it's saying some words.

My heart starts pounding.

"Can you-"

"KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!"

"Hey dude! Are you done there, I'm waiting for you here outside," I heard Mark called me from the outside. The sound coming most likely from my CPU stopped.

"No way, this is too freaky, man..." I involuntarily said.

"What?" Mark shouted.

"Nothing, I'm going out!" I quickly grabbed the CPU and left my room to meet Mark.