"Ladies," Helena greeted with a strictly professional smile, "The prints are wonderful. Beautiful work, I must say. What I do have a problem with is the topic of a number of articles." She directed her gaze at Tina, focusing heavily. "Why did you write this foolish nonsense? Hmm?"

"What?" Tina asked, keeping eye contact with her boss. She was determined to fight for her case. "Are you saying that impoverished countries from all around the world don’t deserve the bitter satisfaction of mediocre realization?"

"This," Helena said, leaning over the table with a strict expression fixed in her eyes, "Is a women’s magazine, Tina."

Bette let out a sigh and rolled her eyes at Tina’s expense when Helena turned to her instead. "I haven’t excluded you from this little conversation, Ms Porter."

Settling back into her seat and just catching the smirk on Tina’s lips, she lifted her eyes to Helena once again. It was becoming difficult to manage her temper with all of the criticism. One thing she was known for was her raging temper. Through clenched teeth, she tried to smile. "Yes?"

"Devastation in Haiti?" Helena continued, throwing her hands up in the air. "A little blip about current events is fine, Bette, but an entire page?! You have got to be kidding me."

"Don’t you think the disaster deserves some attention?" The cheeky remark did not go unnoticed.

"I’ve made a decision," Helena announced, gathering some worry between Bette and Tina. Her decisions always seemed to cause some element of misery. "You both will compete for placement in the magazine. You’ll both be writing an article and submitting it to me on Monday. Nine in the morning. Is that clear?"

"Monday?" Bette asked with concern, wondering how she would finish it over her hectic weekend.

"Are there any specifics?" Tina asked, already brainstorming to herself. Suddenly the woman’s eagerness to succeed struck Bette the wrong way and she squinted at the blond.

‘Damn Kennard, always fucking things up,’ Bette thought angrily to herself. Just as she tried to calm herself, she realized she hadn’t heard the answer and let out a long sigh.

"Back to work!" Helena called, and walked back around the desk.

The rest of the day was nearly as tense as the meeting, and everyone could sense Bette and Tina’s hostility toward each other. Subtle glances or comments got past many, but not everyone. Not two women who both had it out for the most competitive writers in the company.