Page 3 of Captive Hearts
‘I keep getting knocked back,’ Ashley told him plainly.
Bernie frowned. ‘What feedback are you getting?’
‘They usually give me a load of rubbish about not having enough experience. But I’ve worked here three years. It should be enough to make a leap to national level.’
‘So what is it, then?’ Bernie asked.
Ashley sighed. ‘I get people’s backs up. Iknow, alright? But what can I do about it?’
Bernie sighed. ‘You know what your problem is? You go for the throat every time. You need to learn when it’s not appropriate to do that. You figure that out, I’m sure you’ll be incredibly successful.’
Ashley tutted. ‘Easy as pie.’
Bernie shrugged and turned back to his paperwork. ‘Well, that’s my advice. Take it or leave it.’ The conversation was over. Ashley left.
But it wasn’t her last dressing down of the day. Mac was in the hall outside Bernie’s office, waiting for her. ‘I heard Nicole cut that footage within an inch of its life,’ he said self-righteously.
‘Yes, Mac. That’s right. I take it you approve?’ Ashley asked saltily. She really wasn’t up for being told off again. She was prepared to accept she might have gotten this one wrong, but that didn’t mean she was going to take it all lying down.
‘I do approve,’ Mac said. ‘I’ve already called the headmistress and told her we’re not airing the stuff about the caretaker.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah, but she said it’s too late. She knows what really happened, so she has to tell the police the truth, or she could end up being done for fraud. Which means the insurance won’t cover the roof.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ Ashley said, trying to stay cool. Mac was enjoying himself far too much. ‘Maybe they can have a fundraiser or something. Find the money that way.’
‘Yeah, maybe. They shouldn’t have to, though, should they?’ Mac spat. ‘What you did was bang out of order.’
Ashley was too tired for this conversation. She just wanted to go home now. ‘Mac, I’ve already had a roasting. You don’t need to pile on. I get it, alright? I went too far. Just leave it.’
Mac smiled sourly. ‘This isn’t me putting the boot in. It’s me quitting.’
Ashley’s jaw fell on the floor. ‘What? Because of some old man crying?’
‘It’s not just that. It’s the way you are, it’s been doing my head in for a while. Oh, and my blood pressure? I don’t think it’s anything to do with my diet. It’s you.’
Ashley’s jaw remained where it was. ‘Me?’
‘Yeah. You’re stressing me the fuck out, and I’VE HAD IT!’ Mac said, ramping up to a yell in the quiet corridor, his voice echoing, his rage bouncing off the walls to fill the space.
But Ashley wasn’t one to cower before a bit of shouting. ‘You’vehad it? What about whatI’vehad to put up with? You’re the worst cameraman I’ve ever worked with. Your handheld work is shaky as hell. If you were a surgeon, you’d kill all your patients.’
Mac was livid. ‘How dare you!’ He held up his hand, palm flat. ‘Steady as a rock, I am!’
‘I don’t care. You’re sacked.’
Mac looked a bit scared. ‘You can’t sack me, I...’ he trailed off as he remembered what he’d been doing before Ashley went on the offensive. ‘Hang about, I wasquitting. Iamquitting. I’ve quit!’
‘You can’t quit, you’re sacked,’ Ashley told him.
‘You can’t sack me, I’ve already quit,’ Mac barked back.
Ashley realised they were looping. ‘Fine, just piss off, would you?’
‘Damn right, I will. I’ve got a mate at JTR that would be thrilled to have me there.’
‘Well, I hope they like their news looking like the bloodyBlair Witch Project, then,’ Ashley told him.
Mac’s nostrils did an almighty flare that a bull might have thought a tad dramatic, and he spun on his heel and stormed off.
Ashley was left in the corridor, feeling demolished. Even by her standards, her desire to seek out a story had blown up in her face. She was down a camera operator. A shitty camera operator, but still. She was going to have to go right back into Bernie’s office and explain what had happened, get him to assign her someone else.
Whoever it was, she just hoped to god they weren’t going to be as maddening as Mac had been.
