The class broke for lunch a few hours later. I stuffed my notebook and pen into my backpack with my broken laptop. As I stood I pulled out my phone, intending to find some place that could fix the screen. That idea was soon out of the window as Peter Welch came and stood in front of me. "Hey," he said with a shy smile. "I'm sorry for calling you out earlier. I just can't let people be late all the time without some sort of consequence."

I raised an eyebrow as I smiled and slid my phone back into my pocket. "Sir, this isn't a typical classroom - we're all here because we need our jobs, not because we're being forced to take a class we care nothing about."

"That's kind of what's happening, though, isn't it?"

After a moment of thought I returned his amused look. "I suppose so."

"Call me Peter," he said, gesturing for me to walk out the door.

He followed me out into the hallway and we walked towards the break room. "Call me Liza. Or Liz, if you want."

He chuckled softly. "Liz, then. So, you mentioned you do something called He Said She Said?"

"Yeah, it's kind of like a show. It's a series I do with my best friend, Kyle, where our audience has a topic they're interested in, we research it, and then take sides and debate it. When we're done, we let our audience pick the winner and then the topic for the next show."

He made an interested noise. "Sounds good. I'll have to watch it some time."

"You'll have to see old ones - we put the show on hold for now." I readjusted the strap of my bag nervously.

"Oh, because of your training, right?"

"Yes, among other things." He gave me a quizzical look as we stopped outside the break room. I shook my head. "Mostly personal, but also because I'm moving to Memphis with my roommate. She also works for Life Bar, and she was reassigned to the one there, and I told her I'd go, too."

He nodded. "Sound like you're a loyal friend," he said as he held open the door for me.

I shrugged, fighting a smile. "I try." When the door was closing behind us I touched his arm and he stopped to look at me. "The part about me moving is top secret information - we haven't told our viewers yet."

He grinned and gave me a slight bow. "Then I'm honored to have inside information." I simply shook my head at him with a grin. He began walking towards the row of vending machines set up along an entire wall. It was an impressive variety of snacks and drinks. Despite my protests, Peter bought us each some snacks and a juice. I followed him to an empty table and sat net to him.

After a few moments of quietly chewing I started trying to hold a conversation with him. "How long have you worked here?"

"About five years," he responded.

"What department have you been working in?"

He shrugged. "Various ones. I was originally hired for customer service, then I worked for a year in computer maintenance before moving on to HR for the last few months where I've also been assigned for conducting classes for newbies like yourself."

I raised an indignant eyebrow. "I've been working for Life Bar for over a year. I'm only new to Vitality because they bought out my boss."

He smirked at me. "Okay, calm down, Liz." He chuckled and shook his head at me.

I let a moment of silence pass. "What do you mean by 'computer maintenance'?"

He sighed. "I basically monitored all the computers for viruses and malware and stuff, as well as made sure things stayed up to date."

"That sounds tedious."

He smiled. "Not really. I had an office where I could connect to every computer in the place, that way I didn't have to go to each and every computer."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Nope. I actually enjoyed it. Computers are fascinating." His eyes were practically glittering. I smiled at him and listened to him expound about why they're so fascinating for the rest of our lunch break. It bored me a bit, but I needed to earn his trust, and that was a good way to do it.

---

Peter dismissed the class that afternoon and I walked up to where he was wiping the whiteboard off. "Would it be inappropriate for me to ask you for a grand tour of my new boss' HQ?"

He glanced up with a smile. "Nope. Just give me a minute." I stood around while he put his stuff into a bag like mine.  Finally he gestured for me to follow him.

We walked down the hallway to a large-ish room full of computers lining the walls and a few bookshelves making a circle around a few computers facing each other in the middle. "This is our computer lab. Employees as well as trainees come here to learn how to use our systems and, on occasion, to learn other things such as coding. We pride ourselves on training our own people to write the best code, which we then use on our website."

I silenced the alarm bell ringing in my brain as I followed him down another corridor along another side of the computer lab. He pointed out a room with a couple of chairs in the hall that has a nurse and a virtual doctor. Several rooms and a tranquil and beautiful flower garden with a fountain in the middle later, he showed me a door inset with glass and an electronic lock. "This is the heart of Vitality," he said in a tone that hinted at hidden awe. He turned to me. "Every part of Vitality is housed in this very room."

"You're very passionate about this, aren't you?" I asked with a coy smile.

He matched it. "Of course."

We looked at each other for a few moments. I grew uncomfortable, but he didn't appear to, so I didn't let on that I had. "So," I said to break the silence. "This is the center of the whole operation?" I asked, looking at the doors again, mimicking the wonder I'd noticed on his face mere moments before.

"Yep. Think of it as the central nervous system - you could control every single computer from this spot, as well as the entire website and some of the remote operators' computers."

I had a million more questions, but I knew I'd get my answers - I just had to bide my time. "You mean, like what I do?"

He nodded. "When you have our software for your job, we do put our monitoring software on your computer so that we can watch for viruses and other malware."

I raised an eyebrow. "Do they put that in the agreement I sign?"

"Yes. They have to." He gazed for a long moment at the doors before leading back down the hallway we'd come down to get there. "We need to start heading out." I nodded and walked by him all the way to the lobby. The receptionist was chatting away on the phone, nearly drowning out the sound of her typing.

"How do you know so much about that room?" I asked, hoping I wasn't too forward.

He smiled a little. "I used to work in there when I was on maintenance."

"But now you're in an office doing HR," I said, turning towards the exit.

"I actually don't have an office."

I looked at him, surprised. "No office?"

He pat his bag. "This is my office, right here. Honestly, I'm in and out and back and forth and here and there so much that I wouldn't be able to use an office even if I had one."

"Busy man," I said while giving him the same coy look I'd given him earlier. Again, he returned it before walking me outside.

He glanced around. "Where's your car?"

Trina pulled up and waved. "Right there. Pleasure meeting you, Peter."

He shook my outstretched hand, holding on for far too long for it to not mean anything. "The pleasure was all mine," he said with a wink. I smiled, blushing, as I got into the car.

Once we were pulling out of the parking lot, Trina started snickering. "He watched the car leave," she said. "What did you do?"

I shrugged. "I got him to show me where the main computer is." I smirked as she whipped her head to look at me.

"Already?" she nearly shouted. I nodded smugly. "Girl, you've got it going on. So, what are we looking at?"

"I'll explain when we get home and I can tell Shawn, too."

---

Shawn was surprised I'd pulled it off so fast, but he got over it quickly, opting to pace the floor as he questioned me. "Where in the building is it?"

"Near the middle, by a small garden."

He paused for a moment and looked at me. "They have a garden in the middle of the building?" I nodded. He looked mildly impressed as he resumed his agitated pacing. "How does the security look?"

"Electronic lock, but I think I can find a key."

He raised an eyebrow. "How? Where?"

"Peter. He showed me the room, said he used to work in there. I just need to go through his bag and see if he still has a key. He's in human resources, so he might. If he doesn't, I just have to find someone in maintenance and swipe theirs."

He stopped and gave me a look I could only describe as impressed. "Do you even know where their offices are?"

I froze. "I'm . . . not sure. Going by what Peter said, I kind of think that the main offices are on the other side of the door, though."

Shawn's forehead creased. "Why? What if someone needed someone to fix their computer?"

"They have remote access to every computer on the network." I hesitated before adding, "And they have access to everyone who works remotely for the company. Like me."

He looked at me as he passed me. "Is that so?" he muttered. Silence reigned for a full minute, the only sound being Shawn's footsteps. I glanced over at Trina, only to find her looking at me. There was something in that look that made me uneasy, but I couldn't place what it was. We turned back to her brother, who'd suddenly stopped pacing. "Tomorrow, you're going to find a key, and I don't care if you have to pickpocket one of their maintenance people to do it!" he shouted, storming out of the room a moment later. I flinched when I heard his bedroom door slam.

"I'm sorry," Trina said quietly after a few moments. "He's usually not like this."

I gave her a weak smile. "It's okay." I glanced around, still feeling like something was off. "I'm tired." I stood. "I think I'll head up to my room and lie down until dinner."

"Okay," she replied softly. I felt her eyes follow me out of the room. Once I got to my borrowed bedroom, I locked the door behind me.

My bag was on my bed. I reached in and took out my laptop. With everything that had been going on, I'd forgotten that the screen was broken. I sighed and pulled up my Vitality account on the wall screen. I had three new messages from Fiona, and one new message from Kyle. I wasn't up to checking them, not right now. I flopped down on the bed. Apparently, I was more tired than I thought - I was asleep within moments.

Only to be woken up a short time later by a video call coming in from Fiona.