Lex considered screaming “Avalanche!” and flinging the layer of papers over the edge of his desk. Or maybe she could dump him out of his posh leather chair like a dump truck and run off with it to her cubicle. Or maybe she could yank out his computer cables and hold them ransom until he gave in.

Lex’s teeth ground against each other. She whirled and exited the Chamber of Torture.

She almost collided with someone rushing past. “Oops, sorry, Anna… What’s wrong?”

Anna dashed at her eyes, and her blotchy face scrunched up even more. Her nose turned neon.

“Oh, no. Is it your manager again?”

“Yesterday we were working together so well… laughing and joking. This morning, she yelled and threw her flowerpot at me. She said I did shoddy work.”

Lex rolled her eyes as she walked down the hall with Anna back to the cubicles. The more distance from her manager’s office, the better.

Lex walked close to a sniffling Anna but balked at putting an arm around her shoulders. She wasn’t as uncomfortable touching women as men, but she still didn’t like the physical contact.

The tears gushed from Anna’s swollen eyes. “I just don’t get her.

She’s so moody whenever I talk with her, I never know if she’s going to smile or bite.”

“If you want me to help you – ”

“No, it’s not the work. It’s the mental anguish of working with her.” Anna broke down into wrenching sobs.

Lex’s desk didn’t have tissues, so she reached into the cube next door to snatch some from her box. Anna crumpled them in her hand and dabbed her face.

Lex stayed with her until she calmed down. Anna blew her nose -loudly – and looked around for a trash can.

Lex followed her gaze. What had happened to her trash can?

“Uh…” Lex peeked into the cubes on either side of her. Both missing trash cans. What was going on?

Anna’s hand flapped around, still searching for a landing spot for her tissue.

Lex swallowed a sudden upsurge of bile, but held out her hand. “Here, give it to me. I’ll find a trash can.” Poor girl. Lex couldn’t make Anna feel worse by letting her anti-bodily-fluids phobia show on her face, although her cheeks felt clammy.

Anna shuffled away, and Lex zigzagged through the cubicles, searching for a trash can. Who had pilfered all the trash cans?

“Aaaieeeeee!” Cari’s shriek pierced through the cubicle walls like a spray of bullets.

Despite Cari’s obvious distress, Lex would have avoided yet more drama, but just her luck, she stood a few cubes down from Cari’s. The girl bolted out of her desk, hands chicken-flapping, mouth wide open and emitting more screams, legs pumping up and down like on a stairmaster.

Jerry followed behind her, weaving slightly, face pale. “I’m sorry,Cari…”

Cari ignored him, instead wailing and flicking her purple manicure at the beige and mauve design on her skin-tight T-shirt.

No, not a design. The streak that splashed from one shoulder across her chest was vomit.

From Jerry.

“I was sitting! At my computer! He was standing! Behind me! And he just bleaugh!” Cari erupted into fresh hysterics.

Lex clapped one hand – not the one holding the dirty tissue, which seemed rather insignificant now – to her mouth. Her stomach roiled. Don’t breathe. Don’t look. Right now, that morning cereal didn’t want to stay in her tummy. No, don’t think about the cereal! Lex needed to get to the women’s restroom.

Jerry sagged against a cubicle wall, which tilted precariously. “I’m sorry, Cari.” He heaved a long, slow sigh. “I only had a few beers last night…”

Suddenly his eyes grew large. His face dulled to Elmer’s glue. He pressed his large, loose lips together.

And unleashed all over the carpet.

A collective chorus of “Ewww!”s rose from the other people who had gathered to Cari’s frantic call. Lex couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe. Her vision started to cloud…

Jerry coughed and spit.

Lex dashed to the bathroom.

SEVEN

Lex sat outside on a curb in the parking lot. The feeble sun warmed her head and made her straight hair feel like a helmet. She took another deep breath, and smelled blessed nothing. Nothing strong, that is. A whiff of mowed grass, a tingle of mulchy earth, a tease of something flowery, but mostly just fresh, unscented air. Nothing to cause her volcanic stomach to erupt again.

She stared at the ants weaving circles around her shoe soles. She wasn’t a very good ant worker at this startup company. She wondered if ant queens were anything like unreasonable Everett or Anna’s moody manager.

Maybe she ought to qu -

No, that was bad. Shouldn’t she be content? I have learned the secret of being content in each and every circumstance…

Lex wondered if Paul ever had to endure an illogical argument with Peter like Lex had with Everett. Peter must have been a more reasonable guy, right?

No, she needed patient endurance. She had to run the race. She had to love her enemies.

She needed a stronger stomach.

She should just qu -Don’t say it!

Chirping. Chirping. Strange-sounding bird… Oh! Her cell phone.

“Hello?”

“Lex, it’s Chester.”

Her cousin rarely ever called her. “What’s up?”

“I’m going to make you smile today, coz. There’s a job opening here.”

“Shut up! No way. For what position?”

“Uh…”

Oh great. “Don’t try to lie to me, Chester.”

“Receptionist.”

Lex groaned. “How much pay?”

“Minimum wage.”

What a pay cut. But still – a rare opening at SPZ! Even if SPZ wasn’t one of the hottest new dot coms in Silicon Valley, Lex had only ever dreamed of working at the sports website mecca of North America. Sports, all day, every day. High school, college, and pro.

Stats galore. It made Lex’s head spin.

Could she be a receptionist? Just the thought made her cringe a little. Wearing makeup and nice suits and being polite to stupid people? Like Lex didn’t already have to be nice to stu – er, difficult people. “It’s a foot in the door, right, Chester?”

“Sure. Except for some internal shuffling, SPZ hasn’t hired anyone since last July. And Lex, you’re going to owe me big time – I know the hiring manager personally.”

“I’ll email you my résumé tonight.”

“Turn that thing down!” Lex leaned back in her chair to holler through the kitchen door into the living room. The TV volume didn’t move.

She sounded off. “Dad! Richard!”

“Okay, okay.” Her older brother Richard slid off the couch and grabbed the remote from the coffee table. The sound of the basketball game lowered a miniscule decibel.

Lex stared at her archaic laptop. She pushed her chair back so she could lean her forearms on the kitchen table, and the metal feet shuddered against the cracked linoleum.

“Education: San Jose State University…”

The commentator’s voice cut through her concentration. “Whoa!

What a shot by Kobe Bryant. The Lakers are up by three…”

“Major: Electrical engineering…”

“Can you feel the heat? Suns tie…”

“Work experience… City Beach Volleyball Club: Receptionist…” She didn’t have to put down that they fired her after two days, right?

“Four seconds left, and oh! That foul must’ve hurt…”

“Manufacturing Engineer at Pear Technology for two years…”

“And he missed the second free throw! The Suns have a chance for the playoffs!”

“Ooh, ooh – ” Lex jumped up from her chair and darted into the living room. She had to see this. She caught Steve Nash sending a beautiful shot sailing through the air, the flicker of camera flashes…

“He did it! Suns win!”

Lex and Dad roared and pumped victory fists while Richard moaned and sank lower into the sagging couch.

Lex stepped on something soft as she turned back to the kitchen. Richard’s dirty socks, which he’d pulled off when he arrived at the house earlier tonight. “Richard, you’ve got three other pairs in the corner.” Lex nodded to a stack of gray socks by the end of the couch. She kicked the ones under her feet in his direction too.