He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Um, okay. We can talk here then. Ian told me to leak the game info online. He might deny it now, but this was all his idea, not mine. But honestly, he didn’t mean for it to turn out the way it did. And I certainly didn’t. He wanted to create some buzz around the game and thought it would be interesting to give BetaGank exclusive access to insider information. But as you know, they kind of mocked the game and then things got waaaaay out of hand. Ian saw this as a marketing or PR strategy, to generate excitement around the game. It was never supposed to deliberately target you.” His shoulders slouched and he looked back down. If he vomited on his own shoes, I’d be happy with that.
Was he telling me the truth? It seemed plausible that Ian had orchestrated all this shit.
He bit his lip and looked back up. “And there’s more to the story. After GameCon, someone hacked into my BetaGank account and changed all the passwords. I didn’t get around to dealing with that because that’s the time when Ian gave me Girls of War and I got distracted. So if any doxing came from that account, I swear it wasn’t me. I’m not smart enough to do that sort of shit.”
“I believe that one,” I muttered.
“And I don’t have any smart-enough friends, either. All my bros are, like, cool.”
I exploded. “Well, screw you! And your bros!” Too bad Asher was way too tall to put into a choke hold.
Joe the PR guy broke through the crowd and motioned for Asher to follow him. He did the same for me. Damn, busted by the principal. Guess there would be no fight after school.
We followed Joe to his office and he shut the door behind us. “Shit, you two, I could hear your yelling from here.”
Asher said, “Actually, she was the yeller, not me.”
My blood pulsed through my body, down to my toes. I said in a low voice, “You deserved every bit of it.”
Joe gestured for us to sit down. “I could hear everything. And, Melody, Asher is telling you the truth about the game leak. That was intentional, by Ian. No one had the foresight to know this would turn into the chaos that soon followed. We are all deeply sorry for what happened to you.”
I stared at Joe. “Sorry” didn’t cut it. “Why didn’t you run this by me first? My life is in shambles now because of your terrible plan.”
Joe scooted his chair forward and took a long sip of water. Perhaps a stall tactic. “At the time, we didn’t think you could weigh in on it in a meaningful way.”
This seemed like code for You were a noob, and female, so we didn’t involve you in this decision.
“Well, thank you ALL for inadvertently ruining my life.” My fists clenched into two shaking balls, ready at a moment’s notice to punch both their faces if they pissed me off any further. I had the element of surprise on my side.
Asher said to Joe, “Here’s the thing, though—I lost control of my account access sometime last month. Someone else used it to target Melody. I’d only submitted the game leak to BetaGank and that’s it. I didn’t do anything else, I swear.”
Joe said to me, “Can we agree that Asher should reclaim his BetaGank account and make a public statement, explaining that he is your coworker and he vouches for your work? Do you have any objection to us doing this?”
“Oh, now you want my opinion?” I rolled my eyes. “Yes. Fine. Can I go now?”
Joe nodded. “I am so deeply sorry all this happened to you.”
“You helped cause this, you at least acknowledge that, right?” I asked.
Joe looked squeamish. Could the head of PR admit to any wrongdoing? Probably not. “Off the record? I advised Ian against this publicity stunt. But he’s the guy in charge.”
Ian made this decision solo. Good to know.
I hadn’t anticipated reentering the gossip spotlight when I left Joe’s office. Intense stares came from every direction, observing my every move as I walked to my desk. Nothing to see here, folks.
Exhausted from the day’s events, I plopped down in my chair and buried my head in my hands. This was all Ian’s doing, and the fact that he didn’t take accountability for what happened to me as a result of his poor decisions really pissed me off.
A vivid memory of Nolan and me eating dinner together flashed in my mind. The night he gave me a much-needed pep talk: You’re great at your job and the company needs you. I think you should demand a raise. Your game has such visibility, I bet they’d do it. Months had passed and I still hadn’t asked for a raise, even though I deserved it. It was time to channel Sheryl Sandberg. Chin up and chest thrust forward, I stamped down the hallway and pounded on Ian’s door. It creaked open with my final knock, revealing a dark, quiet office.
His admin assistant jumped up from her seat and walked around her desk. “You don’t have anything scheduled.”
I pushed the door wider. “That’s okay, I’ll wait for him.” Inside, I sat on one of his guest chairs just as a shadowy figure shot upright from the sofa.
“Holy shit!” I flicked on Ian’s desk lamp to see better.
From the love seat, Ian pulled himself to his feet and rubbed his eyes. “You scared me,” he said, yawning.
“I’ll make this quick so you can get back to your busy day.” I rolled my eyes. “I know you asked Asher to leak the game info to BetaGank.”
“I hear what you’re saying, Melody, and I appreciate you stopping by to express your concerns. Your perspective is valued at our studio, as you know. I don’t know what he told you but—”
I cut him off. “Look, I don’t need you to throw your rehearsed, pseudo-pro-fem language at me. I’m not here to debate, because I’m telling you facts, not opinions. Joe also confirmed it. I just don’t get why you thought it would be a good idea. It had a huge risk of failing before we even got to development.”
“Okay, fine.” His voice dipped ice cold. “Yes, it was a gamble. There’s always risk in game production.” He waved his hand toward me. “Case in point. You.”
My heart beat faster as I clenched and unclenched my fists. “But you wouldn’t have done what you did with our other games. Like Zooful Nation. Or the UFC Fighter one. Or even Girls of War.”
He let out a grim laugh. “Well, it’s simple. That’s because I thought this game would fail. It wasn’t my idea and now it’s all the fucking board wants to hear about.” In higher falsetto, he mocked, “Tell us about Ultimate Apocalypse’s subscription model! Have you thought of merch opportunities? Have you thought about the next feminist game?” With his index finger pointing at his head and thumb finger up, he pretended to shoot.
Ian had never supported this game. And clearly, he still didn’t. But the board was all up in his business about it, so his professional success was intertwined with mine. Now UA couldn’t fail anymore, because Ian’s success directly depended on it.
This was my opportunity to seize the moment. “Ian, I want a raise.”
He scoffed. “You haven’t even been here that long. Don’t be ridiculous.”
My voice grew firmer. “The facts are clear. I’ve had to learn fast and I do a damn good job. I work harder than anyone else here, on the front line and behind the scenes. You need this game to launch on time. To do that, you need me to take UA to completion. Now that I think of it, I want double the game ship bonus, too, because I was on an accelerated timeline.”
He sputtered, unable to form words.
“I’m not leaving until you confirm we have a deal.”
A soft knock at the door interrupted us. His admin’s head popped in. “Ian, you have your meeting with those board members who wanted a tour of the studio. They’re standing at my desk. What do you want me to do?”
I jumped to my feet. “I’d be happy to give them a tour. I’m sure they’d love to know all about my experience working on Ultimate Apocalypse.”
He glared at me, then shifted his gaze to his assistant. After flexing his jaw, he growled, “I’ll be right out. Also, please draw some paperwork for Melody’s five percent raise and double game ship bonus.”
He stood up and looked back at me as he exited. “You better not fuck anything up, Melody.” And with that, he slammed the door.
I took deep breaths and tried to calm my trembling hands by sitting on them. I got a raise! And a bonus! Without giving it any thought, I pulled out my phone and texted Nolan while I walked back to my desk. I asked for a raise and bonus, like you suggested. It worked! Celebration soon?
He replied quickly. Cool! Can’t though, out of town a few days, east coast. Have fun!
With my eyes glued to my screen, I ran smack into Asher on his way to the kitchen. “Boy trouble?” he joked as I recoiled from him.
“None of your business,” I growled.
He snuck a look over my shoulder anyway. “If you want my dude opinion, it looks like he’s hiding something.” He paused. “Or hiding . . . someone.”
I didn’t ask for his opinion, but still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Nolan was on the East Coast for final interviews, or mending his strained relationship with his family to move back home, or maybe he was reacquainting himself with cropped-out-of-picture girl. For someone who just got a raise and a bonus, I sure didn’t feel like celebrating.