“You, what’s your name?” Jay snarled at the girl who’d called me a klutz. She narrowed her eyes at him and tossed her long black hair over her shoulder.
“Melanie. Melanie Larson.”
“Well, Ms. Larson, if you would like to continue working for Neurovance, you will apologize to Milo.”
Her mouth gaped open.
“You can’t be serious!Heran intome!”
“Hetripped,and instead of helping him up, you ridiculed him.”
“Please…stop…” I whispered, tugging gently on Jay’s rumpled suit jacket, praying to god he would let it go so we could move on and I could disappear into the background. “It’s fine.”
Jay glared at me, and I shrank deeper into myself.
“It isnotfine,” he growled, turning those angry copper eyes back on Melanie. “Apologize. Now. Or you’re done here.”
She rolled her eyes, giving me a look that would strip paint off a wall.
God. I’d been here for five seconds and had already made an enemy.
“Sorry,Milo,”she sneered, and I winced.
“It’s fine. Sorry I made you spill your coffee.”
Jay was glaring at Melanie, and everyone else was now awkwardly staring at their phones. Jay looked like he was going to say something to Melanie about her tone, but I tugged on his sleeve again.
He glanced down at me, and I let him see how much this entire altercation waskillingme.
“Please…can we just… forget it?” I whispered, and his expression softened slightly as he realized just how awkward I was feeling.
“Alright. But I want you up at the front with me,” he said sternly, and I shivered.
“Okay,” I mumbled, shuffling after him, hoping that his invitation to keep me at the front with him wasn’t going to make the target on my back even bigger than it already was.
“Now that that’s out of the way, our first stop is Practical Memory Therapy, where you will all be given a demonstration of how the technology works. Please try to keep up. This campus can be a bit confusing at first, and I don’t want to lose any of you.”
Jay called back to the gaggle of new employees as he led us deeper into the Nexus. We passed a large, sleek sign that said‘Welcome to NeuroWell,’and I craned my neck to take in the shining skyscraper-like structure before me.
“Mr. Reynolds! Is it true that we’ll get a free treatment?” one of the other orientees asked eagerly.
Jay smiled back at him and nodded.
“Yes, I’ll be selecting a few volunteers to help demonstrate the procedure. It’s important that our MTRs are familiar with how extraction works before they can begin research.”
A series of excited gasps and exclamations erupted around us, and Jay grinned at the group.
“Start thinking about what memory you would like to have erased. We’re on a tight schedule, and if I choose you and you’re not prepared, I will need to select someone who’s ready.”
As we entered the building, Jay smiled down at me.
“Any idea what memory you might want to have extracted, Milo?” he asked, and I gaped at him. After all the trouble I caused, I hadn’t assumed I would be chosen for something as important as a demonstration.
“Uhm…”
“Better think of one quickly, we’re almost there.” He winked at me, and my cheeks flushed again.
Despite having hundreds of embarrassing memories I would love to have extracted, it wasn’t hard for me to choose which memory I wanted to erase, so I nodded at him as he led us through a large set of white double doors and into a lab.
