*this one's short but the next one will be up right after*

Chapter 5

Coffee Time

At 9am on Monday morning Lauren Cooper called Amy's cell and told her to get ready for her first day of work.

"What are you talking about, I'm not going anywhere," Amy fought. She was in her bed at home and not too happy about being woken up.

"I'll be there in 15. Wear a skirt or I will cut you."

After that the line went dead.

Hazily, and with much chagrin, Amy stumbled to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, and made to get ready for the day. When she couldn't find a nice skirt in her closet she went into Lauren's and made a mess before rejecting every piece she could've possibly worn.

"Fucking stupid," Amy mumbled. Her eyes were still barely open when Lauren flew into her room and found Amy barely conscious but somehow erect.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!" Lauren yelled.

"It's early," Amy groaned. "I don't wear skirts and also, I hate you."

"Come on," Lauren said, taking Amy by the shoulders and leading her to sit down on her bed. When Lauren turned to pull a black skirt from her drawer, Amy fell onto her side and then back and she started to snore. "NO!" Lauren yelled, lunging forward and slapping Amy a bit aggressively across the cheek.

Amy came to with confusion in her eyes. She felt her face burning but she didn't know why.

"What happened?" Amy asked, her hand rising to touch her cheek where it burned.

"Put this on, and then this." Lauren already had a drawer full of things prepared for Amy's bullshit style issue.

"Why can't I wear jeans?"

"Fine," Lauren said, pulling a crisp pair from her bottom drawer.

"Yours won't fit me," Amy laughed.

"These are yours, and they will, Pablo measured you last week since my measurements were a tad off."

"Okay," Amy said feeling dizzy. "Do you have any idea how creepy you are?"

"I'm not creepy, I'm smart," Lauren bit. "Come on, you're already late."

"Late for what? No one's even called me since that poolday thing."

"They want you in court," Lauren said.

"Huh?" Amy felt her nerves light on fire. She wasn't ready for a court day. Not with the sharks. Not with the spectacle-havers. What kind of demons put you in court on your very first day?!

"It's no big deal, it's just for show," Lauren said. "Shane's plane is grounded in San Francisco because of fog. He's a dumbass and he cared more about his five-second fling than the million-dollar case that we're working on today. We just need to fill the table and look intimidating."

"Then I shouldn't wear jeans," Amy said angrily.

"I wasn't gonna force you," Lauren said, leaning back on her heels and waiting for Amy to wiggle out of jeans and into the tight black pencil-skirt Lauren had given her.

"OWE!" Amy said. "This thing is tight."

"Yeah well, to it, you're a giant, so…"

"Your sarcasm isn't helping."

"Fine," Lauren said, moving to Amy and pulling up on the fabric until the skirt moved high enough to cover Amy's ass.

"Shirt?" Amy asked.

Lauren smiled and hurried to her closet. A few of her things still remained on her hangers.

"You're a monster Raudenfeld," Lauren said as she handed Amy the short sleeveless top that only barely went over the top of Amy's skirt once on.

"Why do you have this?!" Amy asked.

"Come on," Lauren said. "Don't worry about shoes, they're already in the car."

Amy glanced at the mirror and felt awkward. If she moved her arms at all her abs showed and that freaked her out. Plus the skirt was short and made her legs look like a mile long.

"This is stupid," Amy huffed.

"COME ON!" Lauren yelled from the door.

They left together in Lauren's small sports car. The only thing that made it all okay for Amy was that Lauren had picked up an iced coffee, before she came, just for her.

She sat in the passenger seat and tried not to stress out. But Amy already felt tired. Days without Ruiz and Ward were starting to get to her more. Not only had she fucked things up, she was starting to feel like the enemy. Any normal person would've gone back to them by now, at least to say thank you and explain. But Amy didn't feel normal. She was a pushover and a jerk. She'd hurt Reagan and Oliver. She was vermin. Immature vermin. No better than a rat! At least, that's how she felt about herself now since all these horrible things had gone on.