Chapter Text
Baxter, Burns, and Gardener (BBG) were one of the biggest and most prestigious advertising agencies in the country, and positions with the agency were highly sought after. Their campaign managers were known country-wide as the best in the business. Each year the agency offered a graduate intern placement, and the application process was highly competitive and always fiercely contested. This year was no different.
Waverly Earp had graduated on top of her class and was acknowledged with a Dean’s award for her academic achievements. Not only had she completed a Bachelor's Degree in Media and Communication with a Major in Advertising she had also graduated with a degree in Languages and Culture. Her successful completion of a double degree meant that Waverly had been shackled to her studies for the best part of four years. She was a diligent and proficient scholar and her success was firmly anchored in her work ethic and commitment.
Waverly was a country girl at heart and when she moved to the Big City for her studies it took some time to adjust to the pace of city life. She found solace in her studies and while her peers were out partying and experiencing everything that campus life had to offer she had preferred to spend her time in the library or her dormitory focussed on her studies.
She didn't mind that the other students called her names and mocked her for diligence, she had been called far worse things than a nerd back in Purgatory when she was growing up. She also didn’t mind missing out on the parties and dating, she never really had the money or the confidence to step into that scene anyway. Waverly Earp was a shy conservative country girl and she looked a little like a fish out of water in the Big City.
However, underneath her veil of old-fashioned values and an introverted demeanor, she was a highly ambitious and driven woman. Waverly Earp had big dreams and one of them was to secure an internship with Baxter, Burns, and Gardener.
She had been anxiously waiting to hear back from the BBG interviewing panel about the final cut for the program and was banking on being successful and participating in the three-month immersive final cut opportunity. She had assiduously put her best foot forward with every part of the application process so far, excelling in her interview and written application.
While Waverly was quietly confident she did have everything crossed, as she knew that the competition would be fierce and if she was to make it through she would be in esteemed company. She couldn’t help but be nervous as she glanced over at her phone as she willed it to chime, after all this was her dream and everything she had been working towards.
~~~~~~~~
Nicole Haught was everything Waverly Earp wasn’t, she exuded confidence, some even saying she was cocky. Her personality was tailor-made for a career in advertising, bright, brash, and very persuasive. She had a quick mind and strong intellect but she had never pushed herself academically always preferring to rest on her laurels.
She had breezed through her studies on a sporting scholarship. Nicole was a renowned College Basketballer who had relied heavily on her profile and skills on the court to get through her education. She had dreamed of playing in the WNBA and was all set for a career in the big league when she broke her leg in several places in a mountain climbing accident. To say Nicole was bitter was an understatement, Nicole Haught was angry at the world and everything in it.
Nicole never figured that she would be applying for internships after graduation, it had never once factored into her thinking. As far as she was concerned a career as a professional athlete was a forgone conclusion. She was a gifted basketballer who had been on the radar of pro scouts since she was fifteen. She saw herself as invincible and never was one to let the risks of her adventures stand in the way of having a good time. The tall, talented athlete never considered that an injury would keep her from her destiny.
Nicole wasn’t a planner, she wasn’t one to keep lists, or have vision boards platered on her dormitory wall. She did have a plan but when that fell through there was nothing else to take its place and that left the star athlete feeling uncertain. Despite her best efforts to ignore the inevitable the brash graduate had accepted that she needed a real job, a plan B, and if she was going to work in a nine to five, five days a week normal job she figured she may as well use her qualifications.
Once her scholarship funds had stopped flowing Nicole was forced to pick up shifts at the local College bar and deliver pizza just to make ends meet. This saw her currently working long hours and balancing a rigorous post-surgery rehab program.
After moving out of the dormitory she had been couch surfing at friends' places or sleeping in her van that she had set up as a stealth camper. While she didn’t like to show it the insecurity of it all was driving her a little crazy, not to mention dealing with the demons of potentially losing what was to be a promising pro-sports career to a non-related career-ending injury.
The basketball star was finding it hard watching her friends and rivals secure lucrative deals and draft places while she worked to make ends meet. It’s not as if teams had lost interest, but she was now in the position of having to prove her worth.
She knew that if she was to get back in the game she had a mountain to climb and while the odds were stacked against her she had not given up on making a comeback. It was not unusual for Nicole to be completing her physiotherapy exercises late at night in the privacy of her camper. The pain of the exercises after hobbling through a pizza delivery shift often pushed her to tears, but these were tears that Nicole would not share with anyone else.
Nicole knew that her rehabilitation was not guaranteed and she was running out of options and needed an income to ensure she could not only make ends meet but pay for her rehab therapy with the very best sports injury team. This is what forced her hand to apply for an internship with Baxter, Burns, and Gardener. The agency handled some of the biggest sports brands in the country and Nicole felt that when it came to sports that her background may give her an edge and she hoped that this would see her secure a spot in their internship program.
It was just after 9.30 am when Nicole received the call from BBG informing her of her success, she was barely awake and had to feign alertness as she scribbled down a date and time on the back of a scrap of paper she had scrambled to find in the back of the van.
When she ended the call she pumped her fist as if she had just scored the winning basket in a play-off final.
~~~~~
Mercedes Gardener was one tough bitch and she ran a tight ship at the advertising agency that she opened with two of her closest college friends. While alphabetical order saw her name at the end of the organisation's title, there was no doubt that she was the real powerhouse behind their success.
Nowadays Baxter, Burns, and Gardener were quite the operation. They had a large team with various levels of hierarchy and offices in the Big City, the Far City, and the Capital City. They managed accounts for some multi-national brands and market leaders right across a spectrum of industries. Their ability to innovate and capitalise on digital media was key to their success and they always had potential clients knocking on their door.
It had not always been that way, each of the company directors had served their time at small agencies, worked for commission only, and hustled on the streets and their phones to climb their way through the ranks.
Starting your own advertising agency isn’t for the faint-hearted. It was tough going and the young directors had pulled many all-nighters and worked long hours scrambling to meet pitch deadlines. They had learned hard lessons and gone long periods without breaks or any form of luxury. They didn’t draw a wage from the business for over a year, surviving on savings and faith in their dream. Unfortunately for Emily Burns both of those commodities ran out and she was unable to stay the distance and had sold her share of the company to Mercedes within their second year of operation.
Under the leadership of Mercedes Gardener and her business partner Tash Baxter the agency found its feet and the hard work of those early days eventually began to pay dividends. The agency climbed the ranks in the sector and soon earned a reputation as a dynamic and cutting-edge market leader.
Emily Burns was forever kicking herself for not seeing it through the early days of uncertainty and selling her share for a pittance, she knew that in today’s market it was now worth a hefty sum of money.
It’s true what they say about successful businesses and entrepreneurs, the greatest reward comes to those who were prepared to take the greatest risk. Gardener had put it all on the line in her early twenties scraping every cent together and parlaying her inheritance into building the agency into the force it was today. She had earned herself a reputation as a ball breaker and business guru and had adorned the cover of Business Weekly magazine on several occasions. In 2019 before the pandemic she had been named Canada’s Business Person of the Year.
Mercedes had not let her success go to her head, she knew that it had been achieved by working hard and having opportunities. She believed strongly in investing in the next generation of advertising executives and one way she did that was by offering a lucrative one-year internship with the agency. The successful candidate would be provided an industry best practice opportunity that would set them up for a promising career in the field. Even to make it to the final selection round was considered an honor and candidates who participated were highly sought after by other employers.
The three-month final cut selection process was a one-of-a-kind immersive program where candidates were provided real experiences and opportunities on real campaigns. BBG paid candidates a base salary for the final round program and for all sake and purposes it was a three-month paid work experience opportunity that offered to fast track a graduate's career. The prized goal was one position for a year-long internship with BBG.
Both Waverly and Nicole had their heart set on securing that position neither really considering what their opposition may bring to the table. One thing neither was expecting was for the third candidate to be the younger brother of Mercedes Gardener.
~~~~~~~
Tucker Garder was everything his sister was not. While Mercedes was diligent, savvy, and driven Tucker was lazy, arrogant, and privileged. He was only included in the final cut because of his sister’s position. While in his arrogance he thought he was worthy, little did he know the selection process had been loaded in his favor.
Mercedes had excused herself from the final decision not wanting there to be any talk of bias. As things played out the selection panel chose Tucker in fear of what would be said if he was left out. The truth was Mercedes was hoping he was cut in the early stages, she didn't want to have Tucker on the team. He had caused her enough drama when they had settled the family estate. It was one of the reasons why the sharp redhead had opted out of the decision. If he was going to make it to the final cut she wanted him to do that on merit not because he was the youngest sibling of the Company Director.
The problem was the selection panel thought that they were doing the right thing by pushing his case for inclusion. Who wouldn’t want to keep on the good side of the major partner of the company? No one was game enough at any point to voice their true opinions on Tucker, so here he was part of the final three. When he got the call he smirked, the wry smile indicative of his belief that it had been a foregone conclusion, not because of Mercedes, but because he believed he was that good.
Tucker had graduated from the Capital City University and while on paper he presented quite strongly, in reality, the guy was a pain in the ass. While ego was considered an asset in the industry his was problematic. If he wasn’t clinically a narcissist he certainly had a lot of traits. He was conniving and manipulative and rather than relying on his skills and ability he was good at pulling the wool over people’s eyes.
Most women would describe Tucker as a leech. He was that guy at a party that lurked in the corner and waited for a woman to drink too much before he came in to take advantage of a situation. He had gotten himself into a lot of trouble in his high school years upskirting the cheerleaders and publishing photos on social media. If it wasn’t for his parents standing in the community he would have been kicked out of school for sure.
Mercedes had moved away before her youngest sibling had completed high school and had not witnessed him at his worst. Tucker had been somewhat enabled his whole life, he had been unhealthily close to his parents and lived coddled under their wing. Since their tragic passing in a house fire Mercedes like many others had taken pity on Tucker. He was the only child living at home and had survived the tragedy but had spent a long time in hospital recovering, his high school graduation was delayed and his other sister Beth had returned from Beauty School to care for him.
Despite her gut instincts telling her that her brother didn’t have what it took to be successful in the industry, Mercedes didn’t want to be the one to turn him down, and for the first time since the internship had been launched she has totally opted out her of the application procedure. This way when he didn’t make the grade she could lay the blame elsewhere and not be a target for his anger and attitude.
However, it was near impossible for her not to have some line of sight, after all, Tucker was staying with her until he found his feet in the Big City. Like Waverly and Nicole, he had only recently moved out of College residences and relocated from another city and he used that to convince Mercedes to allow him to stay at her downtown penthouse apartment.
Tucker was quick to gloat about his success when his sister got home from work later that night, to say Mercedes was surprised was an understatement.
Maybe he was cut out for this she considered as she poured herself a glass of red wine.
~~~~~~~
The last member of the trio to receive the news of their success was Waverly Earp. A million emotions coursed through her as she spoke to the BBG Recruitment Manager. However, the brunette did her best to harness them and ask her pre-planned list of questions that she had written out in a notebook beside her bed.
Resisting the urge to return to Purgatory once she completed her studies Waverly was renting a room on a month-to-month lease in a share house. She had only recently moved from the campus dormitory and was feeling out of sorts among people that she didn’t know. This saw her mostly keep to herself in the confines of her small room. It was meticulously tidy, while Waverly Earp didn’t own much what she did have was placed purposefully giving the room an ordered quaint feeling.
Waverly had continued with some tutoring work that she had secured early in her freshman year. She had become quite sought after and often had to turn people down as she didn’t have enough time available while she was studying. She had been holding off ramping this work up in the hope she was to secure one of the positions in the final cut program at BBG.
The morning had passed slowly and Waverly was keeping busy in the depths of a book trying to not overthink things as she waited for the call. Once she had all of the details and thanked the manager she ended the call and sat in silence in her room.
She was almost stunned, while she had hoped for this, and had worked hard for it now that it was actually happening she couldn’t believe it. She sat momentarily almost numb as she allowed the reality of her achievement to sink in. She wished she had someone to share the news with.
She considered ringing her sister Wynonna but it would likely be some crazy hour in the middle of the night in Greece and Waverly was pretty sure that Wynonna would not appreciate such a call. While Wynonna would definitely not understand the significance of the opportunity Waverly knew that she would be happy for her regardless.
The Brunette held her notebook tightly across her chest as she allowed herself to think about her sister. They had not seen each other for three years Waverly was barely a freshman when her sister took off in the dark of the night on a whim, likely fuelled by recklessness and whiskey.
They were in many ways polar opposites but their shared history ensued an understanding between them that belied description. They could go long periods without as much as a text but there was no doubt that beyond her feelings of abandonment Waverly Earp loved her sister dearly.
She decided that now was not the time to send details of her news and made a mental note to update her sister at a time when she was less likely to be loaded up on whiskey.
After resolving that thought Waverly was overcome with a thousand others and before she knew it she was scribbling out a to-do list with all the things she needed to organise before the final cut process started at BBG. She drew in a sharp breath and consciously pushed down her anxiety, she knew that to be successful she had to keep her anxiety under control and the best way for Waverly Earp to do that was to be organised.