“No wonder you failed out of pre-med in college. You don’t even have the discipline to get to work on time.”

“I didn’t fail out,” I explain through clenched teeth. “I graduated with a science degree and an Intermediate-Level EMT qualification. I didn’t have the money to pay for medical school.”

“Ha!” she snorts. “As if there aren’t dozens of organizations willing to provide scholarships to train new doctors. You must have been at the bottom of the class.”

Why is she always antagonizing me? She was so pleasant the first month, and positively evil for the last twenty-three months since I joined the department.

“I was at the top of my class. I just wasn’t sure if it was what I wanted to do. I didn’t want to take money away from people who were truly committed.”

She tears the green slip off her pad and flutters it in the air just out of my reach. “So much more fulfilling to be working the Admissions Desk and making a fraction of the salary, isn’t it?”

Snatching the slip from her fingers, I give her a cool smile. “I’m grateful to have any job in this economy.”

Two seconds after she stomps away in her four-inch, fire engine red pumps, my counterpart at Admissions Desk Two and second best friend, Charlie, pokes his head around the partition.

“Don’t let her get to you. She’s jealous because you are so much prettier than her. Just don’t eat any of her apples. She might be suffering from wicked queen syndrome.”

“Maybe if I eat a poisoned apple, my prince will come.” I turn on my computer. “Nothing else has worked so far.”

My computer hums to life and I stow my purse in the bottom drawer of my desk. Charlie rolls his desk chair into my cubicle, while seated, with a coordinated jerking of his hips and heels. His Mickey Mouse scrubs are bunched up around his thighs and a length of hairy calf protrudes above Disney-themed socks. His bright orange Crocs squeak when he pulls himself to a stop.

“Here I am.” He throws his arms out to the sides and almost knocks over the partition. “One prince, ready to kiss you and carry you away to my tiny bachelor pad in the sky.”

My grin and snort of laughter do nothing but encourage him. He closes his eyes and purses his lips, waiting for the kiss that is never going to happen.

“Sorry,” I lie, not wanting to hurt his feelings. “My heart is taken by the prince who shall not be named.”

“It’s Doctor Drake, isn’t it?” he whispers. “I can lower my standards. I’ll dye what little hair I have left the color of spun gold, add some blue contacts, lose one hundred and fifty pounds, work out, get a fake tan, take a chisel to my jaw, accept a job as a highly paid surgeon, and hang out in the waiting room for twenty-three months pretending to be assessing the staff.”

“Doctor Drake is the head of administration now,” I interject. “That’s why he’s always lurking around. And rich guys make me nervous. I’m more of a pizza and beer kind of girl, not caviar and wine. I wouldn’t be able to walk the walk or talk the talk. I just want to find someone I could be comfortable with. Someone like me.”

“Poor but proud,” Charlie sighs. “I suspect you’re going to have to change your attitude. Drake’s lurking around because he likes you. One day he’s going to work up the nerve to ask you out and I’ll have to challenge him to a duel in the parking lot.”

I flip my sign to “Open,” and give Charlie’s chair a shove. “I thought we agreed we were better off as friends. Now, get to work. Only eight and a half hours left until the weekend.”

Charlie hangs his head in mock disappointment and rolls back to his desk.

***

An hour later, my cell phone rings. I wave the phone over the partition to let Charlie know to watch out for Big Doris. He thumps the partition in agreement. I settle in my chair and accept the call on the last ring.

“Makayla Delaney?”

“Yes.”

“This is Sergio Martinez from Collections R Us. I received your file from the Education Commission. They inform me you have defaulted on your loan payments. It is my job to collect the money.”

My heart thuds in my chest and I swallow hard before answering. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I tried to make the payments after I graduated. I used all my savings, moved to a cheaper apartment, and sold my car, but I was unemployed. I applied for deferment and they agreed to defer the loan for five years.”

“Apparently, they changed their minds.”

“But that’s not fair. They never told me.”

Sergio yawns. “Not my problem. They sent me the file with the word ‘Default’ stamped on the front in big red letters. I take that to mean you didn’t make your payments.”

Sweat trickles down my back and I grip the phone. “I can send you the paperwork or you can contact them yourself. The five years aren’t up and my circumstances haven’t changed. I can barely pay rent and—”

“Frankly, Ms. Delaney, I don’t care about your circumstances and it’s not my job to conduct an investigation or to contact the Education Commission. My job is to collect the money, and the government permits me to use every means at my disposal to get it. Let’s see what you owe. I have a loan calculator right here.” He taps on what sounds like a keyboard and then rattles off a number that makes my heart seize in my chest.

“That’s almost twice the original loan.”