Jenny walked quietly up to the cafeteria in the office that she worked in. The day had gone well so far and had been without the direct bullying that had gone on the day before. Though for the moment, her mind was thinking over the party offer she'd just received. Some of it was a bit of a surprise, though much of that was with who gave the indication. While Jacob and Jason were jerks regarding the Animatrix Serum and Animal People and there were plenty of people in the office that were essentially faceless suits... as Jenny didn't talk with them much outside of business related matters, Jenny did get along well with her coworkers. Kevin was a good friend and had been rather supportive concerning the Animatrix Serum issue, though Jenny was certain HE wouldn't be at a bachorette party (unless he was there in a something other than a guest). She got along fairly well with Emily, though that was more professional in many ways. She also had a few friends that also worked in the office as well, and among them was Helen Lwow.
And Helen Lwow was the last person Jenny expected to make the announcement that her friends were planning a celebration. Helen Lwow was a professional woman and fairly proud of her Polish heritage, but was at times rather shy. Jenny remembered their first meeting. It had gone fairly well, but Jenny had had to work rather hard to get Helen to work up the courage to give more than a one word answer to her questions. And while the two of them would get along rather well, Helen still wasn't the first to volunteer something like that. She'd go along if invited, but wouldn't be the one to come up with the idea. That was surprising, but Jenny figured that there wasn't too much that was wrong with the idea. Hopefully, whatever "the girls" were putting together was in good taste.
Her mind actually began to try and think over what the ideas her friends had as she made her way into the cafeteria. These sorts of parties had the very real potential of being rather raunchy with alcohol and strippers, male or female depending on who the guest of honor. Jenny largely hoped that things remained in good taste and that there was no party planning that would lead to anything that might get Jenny or anyone else arrested for public drunkenness and/or disorderly conduct. She didn't think that her coworkers would do anything like that, but that couldn't be sure. While she pondered over things, she collected a tray, selected the food she wanted from the cafeteria's menu for the day and soon made her way to a table to talk with a familiar friend.
"Hey, Jen," Kevin said to her as she sat down, "Have a good day so far?"
"So far... yeah... no troubles," Jenny told him, "though I got an invitation that has me curious."
"Curious invitation?" Kevin asked, "Someone have to invite you to your own wedding?"
"No!" Jenny laughed and playfully punched him in the shoulder, he feigned being hurt by the blow, "more of a pre-marriage party."
"Ah," Kevin answered, "Have fun... wish I could be there..."
"I'd think you're lacking a couple of things to be at a bachelorette party," Jenny told him.
"Oh... I think I have something that a bachelorette would very much want to see," Kevin teased with a smile.
Jenny only sighed and shook her head, "Don't quit your day job, Kevin."
Kevin only laughed and took a few bites of his own lunch. From what Jenny could tell, it was some sort of salad, though she didn't know what specific kind of salad it was. It seemed to be rather fresh as the lettuce leaves seemed to crunch as he chewed on them. It wasn't a dry crunch but a fresh crunch. Jenny couldn't explain the difference in the sound between the two. Eventually, Kevin did turn to more serious conversation.
"It's good that you didn't have any trouble today and I wouldn't think you'll have any more trouble," Kevin said after a moment.
"I'd hope so," Jenny answered, "What Jason and Jacob did... it... it was totally uncalled for. I'm not making them like Animal People. I'm not urging them to take the Animatrix Serum... and my marriage is MY choice... shoot... I haven't even fully decided as to whether or not I will be a Snake Person with Clemens or not."
"Haters gotta hate, I suppose," Kevin answered, "Nothing you can do about that."
Jenny nodded and cut off a bit of the roast beef that was part of her lunch. There wasn't much she could do about them. Both Jason and Jacob were bigger and stronger than her and if she fought them, not only would it be a legal mistake, she wouldn't even get the satisfaction of beating them up. They'd beat her up and get away with it because she would have been the attacker. About all that she could really do was report the action, though part of her was too proud to even admit that grown men were engaging in what amounted to school yard bullying.
"But as I said... they shouldn't be causing any more trouble," Kevin answered.
"How do you know?" Jenny asked.
"Well... I reported what they'd done to their department heads within our offices here," Kevin answered, "as what they did was a violation of what is proper on the job behavior."
Jenny looked over to him, "You told on them?"
"Yeah... I ratted them out," Kevin answered, "but what would you do? Just sit and take it? That won't stop them if they're that determined to do so... and even if what they do isn't life threatening, they can still make you miserable."
"That doesn't mean that won't still be there and won't be irritated," Jenny told him, "being given extra work or threatened with transfers to worse off offices might only make them mad..."
Kevin only shrugged in a fairly confident way, "People tend to do what they think they can get away with. What they did was wrong and I didn't go beyond protocol to report it. True it's unlikely that they'd be fired or anything... but it's generally pretty tough to fire bureaucrats. If they cause too much trouble... they could get demoted down a level and have to do the audits on people who DON'T pay their taxes... which is always fun and potentially requires law enforcement to go along... They won't be doing anything so blatant again."
"It was really only Jason who did the blatant stuff," Jenny sighed, "Jacob just engaged in rather mean spirited teasing. There's nothing to prove that they worked together on the dead rat gag..."
"And they won't get a real shot at doing that again," Kevin assured her, "Not unless they're stupid."
Jenny looked over to him, and she saw a kind and caring face that had a fairly protective look to it. Kevin was one of her male friends in the office and had been very supportive of her. She remembered what he had said regarding whether or not she should take the serum, herself, to do what made her happy. And now, he was playing the role of a protective big brother, though she was privately fairly sure that Emily was involved in the idea to report what Jacob and Jason and done... but Emily was more legalistic in it. Kevin seemed to have a personal stake in it.
"Thanks for being a good friend," Jenny told him after a moment.
"Anything to make you happy," Kevin answered, "You're... you're kinda like a kid sister to me."
Jenny thanked him, and was glad to have him as a friend. She hoped he was right that Jacob and Jason would at least tone it down.