C3 No experience

Amelia

"You've got this, Amy." I whispered to myself and took a deep breath before pushing open the door, coming face to face with the interviewers. There were three of them, two men — one of which was the good-looking man that met me at the lobby — and a lady. They sat in chairs behind a long table that resembled one suitable for a conference meeting; a lady sat in-between them. There was another single chair on the other side of the table, facing them.

I was assuming that was the one meant for me.

I tried for a smile as I went closer to the single chair, not touching it. Not one of them returned my smile, their expressions were blank and professional.

"Amelia Rave?" The lady asked in a deep British accent. I nodded, still not letting go of my smile.

The lady gestured for me to sit on the chair and I did.

"Can I see your CV?" She asked, opening her hand to me.

I quickly dived into my tote bag for the big brown envelope that held all my important documents. I took out my CV and gave it to the lady who scanned it before passing it over to the man on her left; he, in turn passed it to another man on her right, the good looking one.

I watched him, focusing on his face to read his every expression. There was nothing to read, he was a blank page. Not even a flicker in his eyes. I was disappointed and it made me really anxious.

"Tell us about yourself." The other man said and I shifted my gaze to him.

"I'm Amelia Rave. I graduated with a degree in management two years ago. I'm dedicated to any role given to me, and I believe I can do a wonderful job working as a personal assistant." I finished, feeling proud of myself for not stuttering all through that.

The lady nodded, offering me a smile, but the men didn't even bat an eyelid.

"It says here that you have no experience." The good looking one spoke up with his eyes glued to my CV.

I nodded.

"The ad listed that you need at least one year experience to apply."

It did? I completely missed that.

I had to think fast.

"I don't exactly have professional experience, but for the past two years, I've been helping my mom out with her work as her assistant."

That wasn't a lie. Mom ran a mini restaurant, a diner. It wasn't large, wasn't popular, but it helped put food on the table, so it was great.

On mom's busy days, I helped her out. Besides helping the waitresses serve customers, I was mom's walking schedule and alarm clock. I'd jot down all her activities for the day and was always calling her attention to them beforehand.

That's exactly what an assistant's job was, right?

"It's not an official job, so I didn't think I could add it to my CV." I said.

The lady nodded. "That will be all. Thank you, Amelia." She took my CV from the good looking man and then returned it to me.

That was it? Were they dismissing me? Did I thank the interview? I wasn't getting the job?

I had so many questions and they were at the tip of my tongue to ask, but I thought better of it and got up.

"Thank..." I was cut off when my CV fell out of my hands. In my attempt to pick it up, everything in my tote bag emptied on the floor as well.

Seriously, Amy?! I cursed under my breath, but looked up to offer an awkward apology to them. The lady and the man on the left gave me a small smile, but Mr. Good looking frowned.

I sighed. It was over.

I picked up everything and put them back into the tote bag, muttered another sorry and scurried out of the interview room.

I had to be cursed, I just had to.

I stepped aside for the next lady approaching the interview room, a mocking smile on her face. Sure, she could tell from my expression that it went awful inside there. I didn't care, after all her opinion didn't matter, I didn't even know her name.

I walked back into the waiting room, replaying the short interview in my head. It went horribly, there was no sugarcoating it. They simply lost interest because I didn't have the kind of experience they wanted.

But that's just bull! How do I get the experience when no one would give me a job? For the past two years, I had been going from interview room to interview room, and I had lost count of the total number of interviews I'd been to, not including the thirty in that month. If one of them had just said, "You don't have the experience, but I'll give you a shot", it wouldn't kill them. Even if I worked for just a month before losing the job, at least I gained a month's experience, right?

I heard someone cackle, snapping me out of my thoughts.

It was Queen Bee, her eyes were focused on me as she laughed, pointing at me.

"What's with that stupid look on your face?" She said, still laughing. "Did you throw up on them or something?"

I narrowed my eyes and glared at her. Sonia always said I looked scary whenever I was mad. I had to use that to my advantage. No way I was letting an artificial bitch like her bully me.

She stopped laughing, frowned and then looked away to the plain lady.

I knew I won that fight.

But I still felt terrible.

I walked out of that room to the main stage. On the stage, I took deep breaths to calm my nerves. I was literally shaking inside.

"Calm down, Amy. The interview was bad but they didn't say I didn't get the job. I still have a chance." I said to myself, trying for encouragement.

Yet, I still didn't calm down. Whether it was the interview or the stare down with Queen Bee, or both! I was just restless.

I needed water.

Quickly, I rummaged into my bag and got out the bottle of water mom gave me, chunking it down aggressively, hoping it might calm my nerves.

I felt a little bit better after that.

Forgetting I was at the edge of the stage, I turned around abruptly to leave, but lost my footing and fell back. The still opened bottle of water in my hand spilled all over someone's face.