Enter Carmen Quinn

Carmen Quinn was walking toward her office when she overheard someone mentioning her name in a hushed conversation. She didn’t usually eavesdrop, but if someone was talking about her, she considered it her business.

“-working on this project for more than seven years, I was expecting you to get moved up. Then this new girl from some uppity school just shows up and takes it?” The voice sounded like Angeline’s.   “Quinn only got promoted because Connor likes her.” Boisselot for sure. Carmen could’ve guessed who the second speaker was by the words alone, but she’d heard more than enough of his voice lately.   “She didn’t even meet him until after the promotion-”   “As far as we know.”   “That’s not verifiable. There may be another reason.”   “If things fall through with them and she loses the position you’ll know I was right.”   “It really doesn’t matter. She didn’t deserve the promotion, however she came by it.”

Carmen waited until she was sure they were finished speaking, then turned the corner, passing them as if she hadn’t heard anything. Angeline looked down uncomfortably, but Boisselot tracked Carmen’s footsteps with a jealous stare. Carmen sat at her desk and held her clipboard to her chest for a moment. Of course people were jealous. Being the floor manager meant that the majority of the credit for any new discoveries would go to her. It also meant that she would be held responsible for any failures or accidents.

“…and I’m not exactly new.” She muttered to herself as she set the clipboard down, and opened the desk’s middle drawer. She had interned for two years under Boisselot before landing a real position on the sixth floor team. Two years of listening to him condescend about information which she would obviously have known beforehand. Two years of listening to him talk about how great he was, and how he would soon be in charge of everyone on the floor.

Afterward she had worked on the research team for three years, during which time she’d made an impression on the Merrick Innovative Labs’ founder. It made sense that Boisselot and Angeline were jealous. Reaching her goals would likely require stepping on more toes, but Carmen had set her sights even higher.