Both Jenna and I were still doing paperwork, making me regret I accepted this job. We were on our way to be a huge economics magazine, at least that's what my boss said. I knew that this was going to be a long career I strived for – if this worked out. Actually, I had the luck to be in the middle of this mess of numbers and wannabe economists.

I stroked my forehand with my hand, noticing how much sweat all of this paperwork caused. It was a time-wasting way of organising "important" papersheets from A to Z, a work newer ones always had to do. God knew how long it would take till my boss trusted me, or even Jenna, enough to finally publish my own article about how much more a country needs to focus on their economy. Criticising economy, or different business men, analysing the steps of a way to be the number one country with the best economics and suitable taxes.

I was here to learn about it – something that my boss did not understand since her position was her one and only and there should be no way of somebody stealing her job.

"That'd be ridiculous!" she once said after one of my colleagues pointed out that one day she'll grow old and not be able to write about her opinion on economics when actually everything this magazine does is praising business men for their cheating work. This world was full of cheaters and liars, making it harder for younger business people to find their way into the real world of America's economic family. Markets and numbers were spread all over the place.

"Wanna take a break?" Jenna suggested, making me leave my thoughts live in calm now. She has been a part of this magazine for so much longer now, well, one year to be exact. We had "older" people in the middle age of 40-60 who really had knowledge about America and its economics.

My boss was one of them.

Jenna did not have a lot of freedom here anyways, never has she ever published her own article nor interviewed an important businessman of our generation. "Generation future" is how we called the younger business men, "the ones that will change anything", "the ones that will make America great again". I was confident enough to not believe this since young people were the easiest to manipulate – and the older ones did their job pretty good in doing this.

"Uh.."

"I think you need a coffee,"

I rubbed my hands together as she already got up from her chair, watching her stretch herself in a weird way. "Did you get any sleep last night?" I asked, pointing out her tired look today.

"More than enough!"

"Whatever you say, Jen"

"I had two or three more episodes of Sex and the City, you know I'd never miss that!"

I rolled my eyes, making her understand that I'd never see that as something bad about her. She had much more knowledge about international economics than I could dream of and was confident enough to be able to analyse things in the right way, earning much praise of our boss. Just not enough to let her write her own article.

We met the other colleagues as we walked into the main cantine of the building, one that was being shared between us and some other unimportant magazines, as my boss liked to call them. When I was about to actually greet the other teams, I heard a loud "Hola!" being yelled from the other side of the room.

"Christina!" I almost yelled back as I turned around, being ready for her to jump in my arms.

"How's little Shay going?"

"Fine, just fine," I said, almost whispering the second fine.

"Don't you have fun?" Now it was her who calmed her voice too, afraid of getting me in trouble with my boss for not representing our magazine from its best side.

"I do, it's just a little exhausting,"

"You'll be one of Chicago's best people one day!" She reacted, biting her lips.

Christina was, unfortunately, not a part of us. We had gone to the same university, sharing the same dorm along with two other lovely girls who'd left us too early. We lost them through drugs they had consumed every now and then, making Christina and I stick even more to each other. She was my second family ever since then.

"That's what you think," I replied, not believing a word of the little dream she built herself. "What about you, Chris?"

"It's really exciting, I had my first interview yesterday!"

"You're telling me this way too late already, how was it?"

"It was amazing, Shay, let me tell you - - there's some nice businessmen out there" Oh Christina...

She was a part of one of the biggest economic magazines of Chicago, a competitor of ours. I remember her applying for both this and "my" magazine as I did not have any chance applying for hers since my degree wasn't nearly as good as hers. Gladly, she got accepted only one floor above ours, making us still feel connected just like in university.

My boss knew about us somehow, she had her eyes and ears anywhere possible and wanted me to use this opportunity to find out about the deepest secrets of our competitor Chicagomics when the deepest secret was just the passion of all journalists, earning knowledge by visiting many meaningful events of not only Chicago but the United States itself.

"I'm glad you had fun," I commented calmly. I was being bumped by Jenna as I was about to turn around and get in the queue.

"Watch where you going!" Jenna said loudly, being the happy person she was. Christina rolled her eyes on Jenna's comment like she always did when Jenna was around. I imagined them to like each other though, there was no way they couldn't.

We were joined by other colleagues of both Christina's and mine as we sat at the nearest table. My office skirt caused me some issues taking a seat without looking all too struggling. After some while of me being lost in thought, I noticed how uncommonly excited everybody was. As I took another bite, I saw how my boss came in along with two other colleagues of mine.

"Good morning, everybody!"

All eyes were on Miss Smith, as if she was the boss of our competitor as well. I expected another unimportant announcement of hers, maybe begging our competitor to finally work with us through saying how good our connections were.

They actually were, we just used them in a wrong way.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Jenna who was sitting right next to me, enjoying her second coffee that day.

She stared at me in pure shock, "You don't know this yet?"

I shook my head, not knowing what she was talking about.

"Tonight's the night of the meeting Smith has been talkin' about for so long. Do ya ever listen?"

I turned back to Miss Smith who was eyeing me in the most ignorant way, noticing how I did not have any clue what she was talking about.

She continued with her speech as she started to eye Christina.

"This is a big chance for all the meaningless journalists of you," Ouch..  "Tonight is a huge event at the University of Chicago Department of Economics. A lot of important businessmen will be staying there, trying to get hold of graduating students who could become future employees in America's world of economy,"

"That's exciting!" Jenna commented, excited about whether she could finally write her own article. "What do you think, Shay?"

"I don't know if I'll be there,"

"Oh, you'll be there." Miss Smith pointed out with a mad look on her face as she continued, "It'll be a big night. Lots of important people will be there that you should know of. I expect you to get to interview as many as you can and get the deepest thoughts of their future ideas to push the meaning of America in worldwide economy,"

I took a deep breath, watching Miss Smith fearfully. I was not sure how I could take part in this.

"This is the chance for each of you. Take it or leave."

With these words she came closer to our table, never losing the attention of all the other people in this room and even keeping the eyes of the cook on her.

"Shayleen," She greeted me personally as she took a seat I actually reserved for another colleague of mine.

"Good Morning, Miss Smith."

"Morning. I wanted to talk to you personally."

"Now?"

"Yes, if you don't mind we could take this to my office in ten minutes,"

I nodded and looked to Jenna and Christina, giving them excusing looks. "That's no problem, Miss Smith."

"That's what I wanted to hear," She answered as she got up from the seat, swinging her hair and leaving the room. Of course, she was only here for the little announcement that she had been planning for God knew how long.

I was in the lift along with some other people who seemed to work in this building too, recognising them by their expensive suits. As soon as I arrived at the right floor, I made my way to the well known office of Miss Smith, feeling my heart beating incredibly fast. The people that usually went to her office were the ones that were about to be interviewed or the ones that were about to be dismissed.

I pulled my skirt down, making sure I looked decent enough to face her. This didn't have to be bad news, right?

I prayed as I knocked on her door that was decorated with her name in golden patterns, Miss Marlene Smith.

"Come in!"

I opened the door, being happy it didn't make a creaking sound like mine usually did.

Compared to my office, hers was much more modern and nice looking. There was a huge window on the left side, giving her a wonderful look on all skyscrapers of Chicago. There were no private pictures on her office table, though. She keeped it simple and serious like the woman she was.

She turned her seat as she heard me coming in, pointing to the chair in front of hers. I took a seat as she put out some documents she seemed to have kept for some time now.

"I've been saving these for you," She mentioned.

"For me?"

"Yes, Shayleen. I have a special job for you tonight,"

I took the documents and put them on my lap, not sure whether I should take a look at them now or later. I was not even sure if I should accept this. Dear, I was not even sure if I could do this. I was the representation of a Nobody.

"I want you to meet Harry Samuels tonight, an important businessman nowadays. Not even our competitor had the luck to ever interview him. He sells expensive houses and apartments at the Gold Coast and Streeterville of Chicago. This is our chance to get his trust and maybe take our readers to an adventure of the thoughts of a businessman that really has a clue of business – selling of pure luxury"

Luxury was not even everything. It was for Miss Smith, though.

"I don't.. I don't know him," I confessed as my face turned incredibly red.

"Oh, Shayleen, that's what I expected. This is why I am hiring you."

"How am I supposed t-"

"You'll do great. You have to make sure you find out a little about him till tonight, then actually get to know him. I don't want you to just interview him, I want you to keep in contact with him."

"How should I do this?"

"The way you got this job.  Be nice, show your best smile and make him fall for you. I don't know. Men are easy to manipulate, even those that have a big name in the economy. Make him want to meet you. I want his secrets."

"I don't think that this will work out," I said as I looked at her in disbelief. Was this the real job of a journalist?

"It will. And I'm asking you to do this for me. Or else I don't think that this is the right place for you."

I looked down to the documents, opening one of them. There were many questions and steps on how I could grab his attention for us.

"I thought I was supposed to just interview him," I reminded her, wanting her to confess that this was a bad idea.

"He is not going to tell you his biggest secrets through one interview, Shayleen!"

"Why me?"

"Because you look the nicest. Look at you, all the men fall for you. You're still young, and.. this will be your chance to take a real step into the world of Economic Journalism. Do you want this?"

"I do."

"Then you'll be doing what I'm asking you to. You're meeting him tonight, making sure to be there thirty minutes earlier so that we can go through our plan again. I really don't want you to mess this up, Shayleen. I couldn't forgive myself,"

"When do I need to be there?" I asked. I was not sure what I was doing at that very moment other than debating deep in my head whether I should keep this job or look for another. I didn't think I could do this. This was the job of a liar.

Actually, this job would have been perfect for Jenna.

"At 7 pm, make sure you look decent. A long black dress and red lipstick won't do any harm. Borrow something of Jenna," Miss Smith pointed out as she looked down on my outfit offensively. She knew I did not have any exclusive clothes.

"Harry Samuels doesn't walk out in a casual look, so you won't either. Do you want to mess this up?"

"No, Miss."

"Then make tonight your night"