10 Things I Hate About You

Chapter 1

The clicking her heels were echoing around that long hall filled empty chairs and tables was not audible for anyone in the kitchen, she however could listen to the game through the large swing doors. She checked her wrist watch, she was already running late to the meeting she had with Simon Masrani and the board. She figured they would understand since she was dealing with a disciplinary matter. The redhead sent Zara, her assistant, a quick text message so she could call her boss and explain Claire's delay.

"GOAAAALLLLLLL!" All of them started to celebrate, high-five, and cheer. The room going dead silence when they watched their boss storming into the kitchen and just standing there with her arms crossed against her chest; her green eyes scanning the place and taking a mental note of all the staff members in it. As she took in the whole picture, she noticed they all had sodas in their hands and all sorts of snacks had been prepared.

She counted heads, ten people who didn't belong there where in that kitchen. All twenty eyes looking back and forth at each other. They were under the assumption that she had a meeting during the game, that's why they had gone this far into enjoying themselves.

Claire was quiet, she had an eyebrow curved, waiting for one of them to speak first, step up, and try explain themselves. She waited for a few seconds until the silence became deadly.

"You are all fired." She said with a soft tone of voice, almost too calmed for the statement to register in the employees. She turned around and walked out of the kitchen. All of them were left frowning and puzzled. Was she for real?

"Esto es lo que pasa cuando nadie te tira." One of them suggested that it was the lack of sex what had her be so extreme when it came to disciplinary process or anything related to contact with the staff.

On her way back to the front of the innovation center, she called the head of security and had contacted Human Resources so they could take on the matter and once paperwork had been filed and badges had been collected, that group of people could be escorted out of the island.

She was dead serious about this.

****

"You can't just fire ten people, Claire!" The matter had escalated to Simon on her way to the conference room where their meeting was to take place.

She shook her head and looked away. "Good morning to you too, sir." She offered while finding her usual seat at the long wooden table in the room.

"These people have families to take care of, Claire." He was way too understanding some times.

"And jobs."

"You know, I've known you since you were a little girl."

"I was nineteen." She curved an eyebrow. She didn't know what this had to do with anything, but still felt the need to correct him and remind him that she was no little girl when they had met.

"Close enough." He shook his head.

"Mr. Masrani, with all due respect...I don't see how termination is not the appropriate measure in this situation." She wasn't really in the mood to have the man talk to her about that time when she was young or whatever he had in mind. Regardless the age, she always took her job seriously and she expected the same from her employees.

"It was just a soccer game! The job was going to get done by the end of the day." He always had this cheerful tone to his voice that made him sound so casual and like he didn't take anything seriously.

"I didn't know I signed their paychecks to come to work to watch some game." She tilted her head, she really thought she had a point here.

"It was a couple of hours, have them work on their lunch break and make up the time by the end of the shift." Masrani thought there were solutions.

"This is a recurring foul." She felt the need to remind him that every soccer season was the same. They would take the unauthorized breaks and load themselves with the park's food in order to enjoy the games like they were in their living room.

"You know what you need, Claire?" Simon added while looking straight into her eyes.

"For recruitment to hire ten new service people to fill the open positions." She smiled.

"A boyfriend."

"Sir—"

"You need a boyfriend. I've known you since you were a little girl." He insisted.

"Nineteen."

"I've known you since you were nineteen and not once have I heard you talk about dating someone."

Claire frowned. She had dated...a couple of times and each of those two times she was simply not compatible with the guy. She never talked about it because it was not related to work and it certainly was none of his business.

"Or are you into girls, Claire?"

"Okay—this has officially turned inappropriate. So I think we should have the board join us and start this meeting, I'm sure their time is as valuable as ours."

"I'm just saying. You should put yourself out there. You need more than just sun. You need a good la—"

"Sir, the board is ready to join you." The assistant informed after gently opening the door and hoped she wasn't interrupting anything important.

She had left Claire with her green eyes wide opened, not believing she was about to hear her boss suggest she go out there and get laid.

"Mr. Masrani, you can't just un-fired them. It'd make me lose authority." She explained.

"Of course not, you will approach them and give them a second chance. They are all sitting in HR waiting for you. You will figure out a more appropriate disciplinary process and let them keep their job under a written warning." He suggested.

"Final warning." She negotiated.

"Thank you, Claire." Simon agreed. "They may come in." He called out to the assistant so the board could now join them.

****

Claire wasn't a mean boss by any means. She was just demanding and she knew what she wanted, however most of the park's staff were starting to lose their mind at how strict and tense she had been lately.

It hadn't only been her boss to suggest she got laid, Karen would do that at times too. It was aggravating, because just like any woman she enjoyed sex but it simply wasn't a priority to her and her source of stress was certainly not the lack of it.

However, none of the people who worked with her could relate to the amount of pressure she dealt with, so they all agreed that a man who could satisfy her sexually would relax her a little.

That's why the ten employees she had almost gotten fired had taken it on their hands to find her the perfect match.

For the past few days, a very discreet movement was going on at the park. They were on a mission to cast the perfect man for her, find someone who liked extreme situations, difficult women, and who wouldn't get scared easily.

In their eyes, dating the redhead would take a lot of stamina and a man who knew how to keep his woman in check.

Now it was just a matter of finding him and to cross fingers and hope that said man was in Isla Nublar.