3: 3
When I named the price, five thousand, all three faces changed.
Lucia's mouth twitched. Rita's eyes went wide.
Terence thought he'd misheard.
It came out to about a month's salary for them.
It wasn't that they couldn't pay.
They just didn't want to.
Anyone willing to pay would never have mooched rides off me for a whole year.
I hadn't raised my voice, but the office was too quiet.
Every word came through, clean and clear.
People from the other teams started leaning in to listen.
Someone murmured to the person beside them.
"What's going on with Team Three?"
"Don't tell me they're having some kind of blowup."
"Who knows. Let's go over and hear it."
Lucia was starting to panic.
The last thing she wanted was for this to get around.
Because what I'd said was true.
They had mooched my rides, and they'd done it for a year.
If this spread, they'd be the ones who looked bad.
She kept shooting me looks, and the meaning was clear enough.
Keep it down. Stop making noise.
I acted like I didn't notice.
I just kept asking, at the same normal volume.
"Did I get the math wrong, Lucia? Five thousand is already cheap."
"And that's only because we're on the same team."
"For anyone else, it'd be seven or eight thousand, at least."
Lucia's face went scarlet.
She ground it out through her teeth.
"Are you out of your mind?"
Then she turned to walk off.
Rita and Terence turned too, ready to bury themselves back in their work.
Not one of the three showed any sign of paying.
That was when the Team Two leader wandered over.
"Hey, what's the deal with you three over here?"
"Everything was fine. What's this infighting about?"
Lucia stopped. She let out a sigh.
Put on a look of pure helplessness.
"It's nothing serious."
"It's just that Miranda takes everything so seriously."
"She's about to get transferred out, and she still insists on settling scores with us."
The Team Two leader tried to smooth it over.
"Come on, you're all on the same team. Is it really worth it?"
"Coworkers are like teammates. A little give-and-take and it blows over."
But Rita wasn't having it. She jabbed a finger right at my face.
"Give-and-take, how?"
"Go ahead, ask her what she's done!"
"Teammate, my foot. She came here to make our lives miserable!"
"I can't even look at her anymore!"
Her voice was shrill.
The whole office heard it.
Not just Team Two. Team One crowded over too.
"She's got herself a company Volkswagen CC."
"Nobody said a word, so she drove it every single day."
"If that's not using a company car for personal errands, what is it?"
The more she talked, the more worked up she got.
"We gave her a friendly heads-up, out of good faith."
"And what does she do? Turns around and demands money from us!"
The coworkers from the other two teams traded glances.
Their expressions had gone a little strange.
The Team Two leader especially, staring at Rita, completely baffled.
Then he looked at Lucia.
"You've got that wrong, surely!"
"Our company only has two business sedans. I've never heard anything about a Volkswagen CC."
