“Van Doren canceled my interview.” The words blurt out of me. “His assistant says they’ve already made their decision based on our performance so far.” I pause. “And they fired me.”

I say the words out loud, but they still don’t feel real. It just doesn’t make any sense. I haven’t been to work since that phone call with the head of HR. They’ve had nothing new to evaluate. They had no reason to fire me. No reason to cancel my interview with Simon. And what information did they just learn? What the hell is happening right now?

“Fired?” Nate looks even more outraged than I feel. “Yo, that’s some bullshit. For what?”

I shrug. “I don’t know.” That’s all I can say.

I toss my phone onto the bed and sit on my thoughts for a minute. Nate reaches into his pocket and pulls out his own, then holds it up to his ear. No speakerphone. He always uses the speakerphone.

I watch him. “Who are you calling?”

“Taylor.”

“Wait.” I sit up straighter. “What are you doing?”

“Finding out what happened.”

“No. Don’t...”

But I can already hear the phone ringing on his end.

My heart races. I don’t want Taylor to get involved with this. I still can’t stop thinking about what she said yesterday, the way her eyes held me hostage like a threat. A rush of indignity washes over me, but I’m not sure what I’m feeling ashamed about. Being told I need to lose weight by a stranger? Myself in general? Flirting with Simon?

No—I wasn’t flirting with him. All I did was reciprocate. He smiled, so I smiled. He laughed, so I laughed. I was being polite. Enthusiastic. And for Taylor to insinuate that I was doing it all just to get his money...

God. What the hell is with this girl?

As I wait for her to pick up, my mind replaying that part of the night over and over, I realize it might have actually looked like we were flirting, and it is so unsettling I can barely swallow.

And then I remember what Taylor said right before I left: Maybe we can work something out without him. What does that even mean? What is there to work out?

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I just know what I heard on the other side of that door. She was talking about killing her own father, and she wasn’t joking. People don’t joke about shit like that, I don’t care who they are or how much money they have. If she was, then why does it matter if I heard them? Why would she show up here like this?