Nicole squinted down at her screen, watching the tapping of the cursor on the blank page as her feet did their own tapping on the floor. Her fingers rested on keys, shifting in search for whatever words would be first to be typed—

Knock, knock-knock, knock.

“Nickie!” Megan called from the other side of the door.

Nicole peeked around her computer, raising a brow. That was strange, Megan wasn’t normally one for knocking. Nor was most of everyone here either, including herself. “Yeah?” she replied.

“I need help with this writing project here, could you read it and see what you think of it?”

“Sure! Is this a Jaxton snippet?” Nicole hopped out of her seat, walking over to her door and swinging it open.

“HA!” Megan cried as she tossed whatever that pile of pebbles in her hands was right into Nicole’s face. Nicole yelped and flinched back as they rained down onto her and hit her nose with a bitter smell. She sputtered and tried to brush off the small pebbles — Which’s scent was an awful lot like— No. She glanced down, there on the floor lay the very thing she had dreaded.

“COFFEE BEANS?!” Nicole cried out, head snapping back up to look Megan in the eyes.

“Yup, you’ve been officially ‘roasted’.” Megan gave a closed mouth smile, one far too smug for anyone’s good.

Nicole frowned, glaring at the other. “Why would you do that?!”

“I don’t know, why would someone leave a bunch of tea bags in my office?”

“I didn’t do that! Maybe one of the others on Team Tea did, but I didn’t! I’m not even tall enough to reach the ceiling fan!”

“How do you know there were tea bags hanging from my ceiling fan?” Megan questioned, crossing her arms.

Nicole opened her mouth then shut it tight, oh no.

“See, this means I was right, you are the culprit! And now you’ve paid for your crime.” Megan nodded in agreement to herself.

“Okay, that was my slip up. But I wasn’t the one to put them there. I was just an observer, and possibly a conspirator, but that’s it!” Nicole argued, putting her hands up.

A coffee bean fell out of her tangling curls, making both pause for a moment to stare at the fallen bean. “And,” Nicole continued after a few moments, looking back up. “I’m not telling you who did it.”

Megan hummed, eyes scanning over the other author. “We’ll see about that,”

“Uh-huh. And, um, who is cleaning up these coffee beans?” Nicole pointed down to the pile around her feet.

Megan shrugged.

“Nicole!” Gil called from down the hall, before hurrying into the doorway. “Did you put tea leaves all over my notes?!”

“What no— Why are you two blaming me for all of this?!”

“You end up staying here most nights, and you admit yourself that you don’t sleep,” Gil replied. “Which, I still argue isn’t healthy.”

“What isn’t healthy is how she always avoids sprinting when we get here,” Megan butted in, glowering at the subject.

“I know I need to sleep eventually, just not at night!” Nicole exclaimed, tossing her hands in the air before slipping past the two and going to find the broom. “And I don’t need coffee to stay awake like you too. Which is why coffee is far worse, it’s unneeded and it’s ground up bean. Who would drink ground up bean?”

“Us,” Megan and Gil responded at the same time, before staring at each other.

“I said it first,” Megan growled.

“No you didn’t! I thought of it and you stole it!”

“How did I steal something you were thinking?”

“I don’t know, but you have your ways! I started saying it before you!”

“No you didn’t!”

Nicole sighed and shook her head as she picked up the broom and dustpan. “While you two argue, my TEAm is going to keep winning,” she bragged as she walked past them again and went back into her office. “And we won’t need to drink something that wakes us up from how disgusting it is–”

Gil gasped, putting a hand over his heart. “That is a criminal of ye to even dare speak-eth!”

“I’m going to act like I didn’t hear that, this time,” Megan’s eyes sharpened in warning. “And you might be winning overall, but your team isn’t winning in word count and that is the most brag worthy!” Megan called after her.

“But we’re still winning!” Nicole sang back— then froze. Oh. Oh she should not have said that in a sing-song tone. That was a terrible idea—

Gil suddenly burst into some kind of musical fit, and soon Megan joined in. Nicole groaned and bowed her head, lightly hitting it against her hand that rested on the top of the broom. “No! Please stop!” she begged.

Neither did.

“Good morning, Gil! Meg!” Kaitlin cheered as she skipped down the office halls, carrying a cup of tea in one hand and waving to the two with the other. The Irish Twins ended their melody.

“Good morning, Kaitlin!” Gil greeted.

Megan gasped. “Kaitlin! Hi!”

“Hi!” she echoed, stopping her skips for a moment. “I hope you both enjoyed the tea I left for you earlier this morning!” She smiled with all teeth then turned to Nicole, who gave her own smile and high-fived her.

Gil’s jaw dropped and Megan’s eyes widened. “KAITLIN!” Megan screamed.

“Uh-oh,” Nicole’s grin fell. “Kaitlin. You should run.”

“Yeah I probably should, huh?”

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Nicole Soto "Do it for the Fame!" A Contemporary/Semi-Dystopian novel touching on revenge and Corruption. Following Emeric through his fight with the Game Show Empire of Fame! Written Californian Author, Nicole Soto, we all are sad because it is... NOT YET RELEASED! Click ​HERE​ to read more about Nicole!

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