Hey guys. So I know that I have been gone for a few weeks. For three updates. I went to New York for three weeks to visit family and my family there, didn't have internet. Their modem and router recently broke and since they don't use them often, they just never got around to fixing it. I know. Hate me. Go ahead. Lol.

However, I know what I can do to make it up to you guys. I have three updates coming your way before midnight. I am going to make them sporadic and stagger them a little, so every couple hours tonight you should check back. They should all be up by nine-ish. Hope you guys enjoy. And yes, you will get Clare's friends from the past coming back tonight. I won't say when in these three chapters. I guess you guys will just have to read to find out.

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. As always, Read and Review!

Clare's POV

Walking into the Core, this time, I felt more confident. It was still nerve-wracking, don't get me wrong, but I was able to have some relief that I already got the job. I glanced around to see everyone doing their own thing, and I didn't want to disturb them. When I saw a familiar face, however, I decided to ask her.

"Hi. Ellie, right?" I asked, walking up to her desk. "I'm here for orientation?"

"Right. Clare. Let me notify Jesse that you are here." She stood up and walked away. I watched as she walked into Jesse's office, but I glanced away when Jesse looked up to meet her gaze. I didn't want to get caught staring. I glanced around the room again, not sure where to look, but anywhere other than Jesse's office I was content with. "Jesse is going to be in a conference call for most of the morning. Ironing out some details on financials around here. So I guess you are stuck with me." Ellie stated, walking over to me.

"That's fine." I smiled. I was actually okay with working with Ellie. It was definitely going to be easier to work with her rather than Jesse. He's a little intimidating to be around.

"So why don't I show you around the building?" She asked.

"The building? I thought that you were only on this floor." I asked confused.

"We are. But we have resources that are available throughout the building. Come. I'll show you." She replied.

"Okay." I agreed, following her as she headed for the door.

I followed her up and down the hallways and levels. She took me all over. Down on the first floor there is a cafe, small but efficient. They have coffee and sandwiches, stuff like that. Outsiders can come and eat there as well, but it's mostly for people who work in the building. I found out that the Core occupied three of the six levels in the building. The floor that I was familiar with, was the main floor they worked on, the fifth. They also had regular office temps and other works on the fourth floor, and all the higher ups, the main funders and runners of the different aspects of the company, were on the sixth floor.

On the second and third floors, were mainly other small offices and companies that were not relevant to me at all, so Ellie didn't go into detail about them. On the fourth floor is where all of the printing and editing truly happened, so there were printers, fax machines, etc. Since I was an editor's assistant, I would spend a lot of time down there. Running and making copies, fact checking, making edits, etc. I was actually okay with that, because I at least wasn't working on that level. I was just going to be visiting a lot. Which is a step in the right direction that I needed. By the time we made it back into the fifth floor, it had been about an hour and a half.

"Let me just go see if Jesse needs anything before I show you to your desk." She stated, before walking away. I stood glancing around again, unsure of what to do or where to go. I had a feeling that I would be doing that a lot because people didn't seem to like to socialize a lot. "Jesse said that he left a few papers on your desk to fact check. He wants to see how you do." She said gesturing me towards the many desks that were put into rows.

"That's a few papers?" I asked, glancing at the desk she stopped in front of. The desk itself was simple, it had a chair and a lamp. That was it.

"Jesse tends to do that. Trust me, it can be tiring but it means he's giving you a shot." Ellie explained.

"Okay." I nodded in acceptance.

"You have a laptop right?" She asked.

"Yeah." I replied, gesturing to my bag that was slung over my shoulder.

"Good. You'll need it. Most likely daily. When I first started here, I was fact checking daily. Eventually it will taper off, but for now, plan to bring it every day." She stated.

"That's good to know." I nodded, putting my bag on my desk.

"Well. I am going to let you get started. I'll come check on you in a couple hours. Let me know if you need anything." She said.

"I will. Thanks." I smiled, before she walked away.

I sat down and made myself comfortable before opening and setting up my laptop. I decided I shouldn't waste anymore time, before getting to work. It took me a good few hours before I even made a dent in my work, at that point it was around lunch time.

"Hey. Do you want to get something down in the cafe?" Ellie asked me.

"No thanks. I just want to get this done, and I am not really hungry right now." I said. I lied about being hungry. I wanted to do a good job without taking too long to finish. I wanted to impress Jesse. Prove to him that I could handle the position. And I couldn't do that if I was spending an hour in the cafe talking with Ellie and eating.

"Okay. No problem. Let me know if you want to go later. I'm sure Jesse won't mind." She smiled before walking away. I watched her grab her purse before walking out of the door, obviously to go get something for herself.

She came back about twenty minutes later, and sat down at her desk. I could tell that most people ate at their desks here. Always working. Never getting a break. I knew that was the lifestyle I was choosing. I was okay with it. But somehow I thought that having a life outside of work would be enough. I just hoped it would be, even with school and everything. Because if it isn't, my life will be very dull and boring. I can already tell.

I finally finished all of the fact checking around mid afternoon. I collected all of the papers, before walking over to Ellie's desk. She was currently nose deep in something on her computer and was clicking away on the keys vigorously when she noticed me.

"Hey. What's up?" She asked, leaning her laptop screen to look at me.

"I finished all of the fact checking." I replied.

"Okay. Great. Let me bring these to Jesse." She smiled, standing up and taking the stack of papers from me. She walked off to Jesse's office and returned a few minutes later. "Jesse said that he doesn't have anything else for you to do today. And if you wanted, you could leave early. Although, it's like an hour or so before you would leave but still."

"Oh. Okay. That works for me." I smiled back. "So I'll see you Monday then?"

"Yup. I'll see you at five thirty? Right?" She asked, confirming.

"Yeah. My class gets out at five so I'll come over right after." I replied.

"Great. See you then." She stated. I nodded, before turning and heading to grab my stuff.

After I made sure I had everything, I turned and headed for the door. I waved at Ellie as I passed her desk, and then began my journey back to my dorm. I knew that I had quite a bit of homework that needed to be done by tomorrow, but I wasn't really in the mood to work on it right now. Deciding that I wanted to have some fun for a bit, I decided to call Zig. He answered on the third ring.

"Hello?" His voice spoke.

"Hey, Zig. Is your band playing tonight?" I asked.

"It's just a practice. Why?" He asked intrigued.

"Mind if I stop by? I need to get out of my dorm tonight." I replied.

"It's always a good idea for you to stop by. And I don't know about keeping you out of your dorm. I would actually like to bring you back there after." He teased.

"You are just hoping to get into my pants." I smiled into the phone.

"Very possible. But if you are against that idea, I'm meeting my band at six so you could always come to my dorm now. I wouldn't object." He continued.

"I'm on my way." I smiled before hanging up. Tonight was going to be a good night.