Chapter Twelve:
Somehow Zelena managed to stumble back to her room after the worst of her sobbing fit had run its course. The experience was not new to her but it had been quite a while since she had cried so hard.
Generally after one such fit in her childhood she would remain upset for the rest of the day as whatever she had been crying about generally didn't have any solution and the whole situation was just the end result of pent up frustration. In this instance, however, she actually felt better to have cried. Something more than tears had made its tracks out of her eyes and she was glad to have it gone.
The day had danced its way into night as she talked away with Nicene so there was not much left to do but put on her pajamas, green satin of course, and go to bed. After all, she had the first day of work tomorrow.
No dreams visited Zelena in the evening, a fact she was quite grateful for; she would need no extra reminders of her real identity if she was to successfully become Jaclyn Mills.
The clothes she wore yesterday were wrinkled so she picked a new outfit for Jaclyn.
When the ensemble was complete it looked strangely just like the previous outfit, but with inverted colors. The outer jacket was white now and the blouse was lime green.
She changed the skirt to layered white and the stockings to lime. The stockings faded slowly darker though, in an attempt to smooth the transition to small brown loafers.
As a final touch Zelena put her long wavy hair up into a loose ponytail then made a braided crown to spruce it up and added medium sized black glasses.
There was nothing wrong with her vision, it just made her somehow a little less intimidating. Her adoptive father had always hated meeting her eyes, as somehow pale baby blue resembled sociopathy more than innocence to his perception.
Her lips all glossed up in pastel pink, Zelena struck two final poses and waltzed out the door, trying to get used to shuffling her feet rather than prancing. She tipped her new frames to the doorman, who, surprisingly, tipped his hat back.
The simple action, conveying his newfound respect for her, sparked two emotions in her. A great desire to sneer as his weakness and simultaneously a wish to allow the feeling to buoy her out the door.
Well, she was here to find love wasn't she?
The second emotion won out and she strode out of the door with a bit more happiness than really anyone should have on a Monday morning.
She had left the building at 7:00 and it took her almost an hour to walk, but she had planned for this, unwilling to trust a taxi cab.
She strode through the double doors, trying very hard to not fling them open with both hands, and instead grabbing the handle of one in both hands, applying gentle force to open it. She also lowered her head and hunched her shoulders, really all too used to the body language of shyness and nerves. A bit of annoyance crept into the part of her brain that wasn't concentrating on the disguise. She moved out of the way of several people before using a gap in the morning rush to make it to the front desk.
The girl there smiled brightly at her, bright red lips glinting that would put Zelena's own lipstick to shame.
"Hi. How can I help you?"
This girl reminded Zelena of Belle a little bit too much. Although her eager-to-please personality had been quite useful when it came to procuring the reading material Zelena had needed to get used to anything in this new world. Oz was a completely different society.
Zelena drew up a little closer to the desk, tentatively setting her forearms on it, but not her elbows. Never her elbows.
"H-Hello. I was told to report to Mrs. Levino. I'm the new secretary."
For reasons Zelena had yet to understand, the girl's eye widened slightly and she half-winked at Zelena.
"Yes of course. Take the elevator over there to the fifteenth floor. Mrs. Levino's desk should be the first one you see and slightly to the left."
Zelena nodded at the girl, a little taken aback and now slightly suspicious. She was a paranoid person by nature, or nurture, and it seemed pretty clear that something was going on that she wasn't privy to. For a moment her mind entertained fantasies of the company being caught up in some sort of criminal underworld. She wouldn't mind much if they were but it was inconvenient to have more reasons to watch her back. The theories were amusing though, and would certainly explain why she got the job so quickly.
She ended up alone in the elevator, left to contemplate to herself. She was careful of possible cameras, but that didn't stop her from sighing and rolling her eyes a couple of times to get it out of her system. If she was going to have to put up with more fresh-faced happy people without breaking, it needed to be done.
The numbers on the small screen in the elevator blinked upward to fourteen then a moment later they were opening on fifteen. Zelena stepped out cautiously, her posture slightly slouched again and her hand wrapped tightly around the strap of her large cream purse. She had never been in an office before, but even with those instincts, something about this floor seemed different.
First of all, the elevator was isolated in the center of the floor, walls stretching away on different sides of it, dividing the floor into a fan-like mess of sections. Also, the entire area, or as much as she could see from the side she had stepped off on, had floor-to-ceiling windows. The desks were also scattered throughout the section she was facing, and the cubicles wall were barely over three feet.
She glanced to the left and saw a middle-aged woman sitting behind a silver computer monitor, the plaque on her desk reading, Rhea Levino, Director. The word Director was pushed all the way the left of the plaque, as if there was meant to be more to the title that hadn't yet been added.
Zelena approached the desk, making her steps light and keeping her feet in a kind of frightened closeness. This was easier to pull off in flats as heels made her naturally want to strut.
The woman shook long black hair out of her eyes as Zelena approached then stood to shake her hand firmly.
"Rhea Levino, nice to meet you. I take it you're the new secretary?"
Zelena gave the woman her sweetest smile, with barely any teeth, her handshake noticeably weaker than Mrs. Levino's.
"I'm Jaclyn Mills. I look forward to working with you."
Mrs. Levino clasped her hands in front of her and addressed Zelena as though giving a speech to an excitable crowd.
"Ms. Mills, may I call you Jaclyn, we have chosen to hire you for a secretarial position in this company but I feel it is my duty to inform you that this is no ordinary job. Our company is expanding into the fashion industry, an endeavor we take very seriously as it is currently a corporate secret. In order to prevent other competitors for taking potential customers, we must make as much preparations as possible then spring on the market with no warning."
Zelena nodded obediently, inwardly smirking. So that was why she was hired so quickly. No known affiliations that could be found in a background check, and they were strapped for people. Oh well, this would be the least destructive secret she'd ever kept.
"Therefore, I shouldn't even have to tell you this information is confidential. Additionally, as you will be working for a department that doesn't technically exist yet, we may have to ask you to take rather, unorthodox, precautions in your execution of this job. This is not to say you will not be a secretary, it will just be a bit different than anything you've ever done before."
No kidding.
"Also, as we are just starting up, we will have to fling you into the state of panic we are all in right now with little training. I'm sorry to put you in this position but I assure you it is necessary. A woman of your credentials shouldn't have any difficulty anyway."
Challenge accepted.
"I understand," Zelena intoned, trying her best to sound sincere. Not that she wasn't.
Mrs. Levino came out from behind her desk and walked through several other people working to a desk near the window.
"This is yours. For today you'll be running damage control on planning the event where we announce our fashion line. We've been having a bit of trouble coordinating everything with just a couple people."
Zelena nodded again, setting her bag slightly to the side and sitting down. She pulled the keyboard towards her, and felt Mrs. Levino go back to her own desk. Sighing again, Zelena pulled open the first document that was already open on the computer. On it was a list of the companies they were trying to coordinate with, her fellow secretaries, who had communicated with who, and the problems that had arisen. There were even links to the emails that had been sent. Wow, this place was very free with information.
She looked down the list and found a jewelry company no one had sent a single email to yet. It was a place to start.
She did a simple google search and found that the company was well-known for supplying jewelry of moderate value but highly fashionable design to some companies whose brand names Zelena had found on some of the clothing she had bought in Storybrooke. Another interesting fact about the company was that it originally was based in France.
Cutting and pasting the email address into the email platform, she began to compose a message to the person the document had said to contact. There was a little note written next to the name, saying, curtly, "Speaks French." Zelena kept the edge of her mouth from curling up in a smile with difficulty.
The amount of realms that existed was almost infinite but often certain realms that were close to each other shared certain characteristics. Oz, being close to the Realm of No Magic, had shared many things including soccer, omelets, and, strangely enough, French. The language was spoken mostly in the North but Zelena had learned it from a disgruntled Northerner who had moved to the West for some peace and picked up even more whenever she had a job in the North.
She suspected one of the reasons none of the other secretaries had tried to contact the company was because they didn't want to use improper French or insult their contacts by using only English. No matter, she'd take care of it. A rush rose and settled in her chest, reminding her of how she felt before every plan she attempted.
The resulting email read as such: "Bonjour Monsieur Maladra. Comme vous connaissez déjà, Marie Christine Domestic Products a une idée que nous pensons que vous aurez un intérêt avec. Franchement, nous planifions d'entrer dans le coté du mode avec les vêtements et tous autres choses. Nous espérons que vous joindriez avec nous et fournir les bijoux pour cette entreprise. Merci pour votre correspondance, Mlle Jaclyn Mills."
Hello Mr. Maladra. As you already know, Marie Christine Domestic Products has an idea that we think you will have an interest in. To be frank, we plan to enter into the fashion industry with a clothing line and all else that relates to the topic. We hope that you will join with us and supply the jewelry for this enterprise. Thank you for communicating with us, Miss Jaclyn Mills.
Zelena was pretty pleased with it so she sent it off and updated the document, saying she had made first contact.
Just as she was beginning to do research on another company, a gasp rose up from somewhere in the office. Zelena looked up and saw a young brunette sitting up from her desk, staring around. When she spotted Zelena she locked eyes with her and walked over. Zelena felt a tiny finger of fear begin to stroke her heart and she let a little bit of it show on her face, contributing to her personality.
"Is there something I can help you with?"
The brunette just leaned her knees lightly against the cubicle wall and leveled terrified brown eyes at Zelena.
"Did you contact Mr. Maladra?"
"Yes, was I not supposed to?"
The girl shook her head.
"You're new aren't you?"
"Yes, and…?"
"We've all been putting off contacting Mr. Maladra. He's notoriously difficult to deal with."
The girl leaned in conspiratorially to whisper this at Zelena. She widened her own eyes appropriately but inwardly she scoffed. My first day, and I'm already sticking out. Great.
"Well, I suppose I'll just have to wait and see."
The girl smiled at her and drummed her pale pink fingers on her crossed arms.
"So what did you do? Did you send it in English or use Google Translate?"
Zelena laughed daintily and tried to give her colleague a glance of total innocence.
"I know French. I just sent it to him in French."
The other girl started a little and stood back.
"You speak French?"
"A bit."
"That's amazing, thanks for contacting Mr. Maladra. Speaking French will be a great help. Thank goodness. I'll send you anything I receive from them in French and I'll let the others know."
"Great." Great, more work.
The other girl got up and went back to her seat. Zelena spent the rest of the morning thusly, smoothing ruffled feathers and taking on every contact the other workers had been avoiding. She could see why, every one required a special kind of communication. It also was a slight point of pride for her, the ability to accomplish what the others hadn't. She tried to crush the feeling down, but it was impossible to ignore how nice it was to be considered skilled help.
She took her lunch break alone, eating the lunch she had brought with her in the corner of the cafeteria. This wasn't because she didn't have others to sit with, she just wasn't in the mood to really deal with the positivity that permeated the building like poison gas so she let the tiniest crack appear in her mask and her true intimidating nature shine out in a little bubble around her.
The afternoon was also passed quietly, with a couple responses from the people she had talked to. Nothing from Mr. Maladra yet though.
The day ended promptly at five and as Zelena was packing up her purse the same brunette from before approached her. She had a huge stack of papers in her hands but she reached out anyway, balancing it precariously on her knee, and shook hands with Zelena.
"I'm Annette."
"I'm Jaclyn."
"Hey thanks for your help today, you've been ready to go from the minute you walked in. I'd love to go for coffee with you some time."
Zelena almost started at this, the exhaustion of the day making pulling her mask into place a little more difficult than before.
She spent several fractions of a second to ascertain whether Annette was being genuine. It threw her to find that she was. The two of them barely knew each other yet the other woman wanted to not only work with her, but spend time together outside of work. The same warmth of when she had first laughed with Nicene manifested itself in her cheeks.
She looked down at her feet.
"Sure. I'd be glad to."
She looked back up at Annette and gave her a tentative smile that the woman returned with one of her own, absolutely brimming with pleasure. She gave Zelena a wave then practically skipped out the door, leaving the Wicked Witch of the West swaying on her feet, looking as if a house had just fallen on her.
Author's note:
It's been a while hasn't it dear readers? I have no idea how the job world works but I'll do my best. I hope to update a lot more as I become more available. Thank you for sticking with me through all this insanity. Love you all, you're great people for just taking time to try out this story. I do know a bit of French but any native speakers may feel free to correct me. Please R&R.