Ugh. How did people survive before cell phones?

Ash had spent the last two hours cruising through Elsbury looking for Veronica. If she’d texted it would’ve taken a few minutes to find her, but she wanted running into Veronica to be organic. If she arranged to meet her, it would be weird for Ash to immediately start talking about Sam. It wasn’t like she and Veronica were friends, so any amount of intentional contact would be suspect from the start.

I’m probably overthinking this. But it wasn’t like she’d played matchmaker before. She was just winging it. Veronica did have a reputation, after all. Maybe a text was all she needed. Like a bow and arrow, maybe Ash just needed to aim her toward Sam’s bullseye.

Then again, they needed every advantage if this thing was going to work…so, she did things the old-fashioned way. She hit all the hot spots, such as they were in Elsbury, looking for Sam’s crush.

And it took forever.

Ash finally found herself at the mall. It was the last place to search other than Veronica’s house, and she definitely wasn’t going there without texting first.

It was Monday and still early, so there weren’t many shoppers out. There were more kids than usual, but that was because it was Spring Break and there wasn’t much else to do in Elsbury. The food court in the center of the mall was always the busiest, so Ash headed there and scanned the crowd.

Ash was, at the best of times, a single broken nail or one bitchy comment away from losing her shit, and playing detective was really pissing her off. Passing by the long-broken fountain in the center of the food court, Ash spotted Scott. It was rare to see him out of Randy’s orbit, so it took a double-take to confirm it was really him. Pretending not to notice him, she quickened her pace, but her luck—shitty as it was—was consistent if nothing else.

“Hey, baby girl. What’s up?”

Ash closed her eyes and counted to five before turning. He was wearing a matching royal blue ensemble, hat, shirt, jeans, and shoes.

“Hey, Scott. I thought you were leaving town for Spring Break.”

Damn. That sounded too much like a question. The last thing she wanted was to encourage a conversation with the skeeve.

“Nah, I’m stuck here. Gotta work later. Wanna hang?” He smiled, and to his credit, the smile was only marginally creepy.

Still, she shook her head. If she gave him even the slightest bit of hope, she’d spend the rest of the day trying to ditch him. “Sorry, can’t. I’m meeting Veronica for lunch. Have you seen her?”

“That fine-ass chica? Yeah, I seen her. Over at Marston’s a little bit ago.”

The disappointment must’ve been clear on her face. The Elsbury Mall wasn’t that big, but Ash had been on her feet for hours, and Marston’s was as far from the food court as it got.

Scott gave her a wide smile as if reading her mind. “I got you. We can cut through the warehouse. Come on.” He waved at her to follow.

Ash was so used to Scott being one of Randy’s ever-present hangers-on that she had forgotten that he worked at the Pretzel Factory in the mall. The part of her that wanted to escape warred with the part that desperately wanted to be off her feet. Her feet won.

They wove their way through the crowded food court and through a set of double doors that did a decent job of blending in with the wall. On the other side was a narrow cinder block hallway, lit by harsh fluorescent lights. It was a scene that belonged in a horror movie, sections of light dissected by globs of inky shadows.

“This way.” Scott led her left, down the hallway. The sounds of their footsteps echoed in the concrete tube. It opened into a large, communal warehouse shared by all the merchants in that wing of the mall. Steel warehouse racking bordered the walls and dozens of pallets of merchandise lined the floor. Scott turned down a row of pallets, and she followed. Rubbing her arms, she shivered. It was cold. The mall probably didn’t bother to warm the warehouse.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

After about a minute of walking, the corridor of pallets widened into a small clearing, a half dozen camp chairs circled as if around a campfire. Three empty pallets with flattened cardboard boxes atop them lined one side of the clearing, like hobo beds.

“What is this place?”

Scott laughed and pulled a joint from his pocket, lighting it. “This is where we take our breaks. Managers don’t know about it.” He held out the lit joint to her and she shook her head. “Come on, it’ll warm you up.”

“No, thanks.”

He patted his pocket. “Or I got something stronger if you want that’ll really perk you up…”

Shaking her head again, she scanned the darkened hideaway, and another shiver ran through her. “This place is creepy. Which way to Marston’s?”

Scott took a long hit, held it in, and exhaled all in a rush. “Don’t worry.” His voice came out in a squeak. “Come sit down with me.” He patted the camp chair beside him.

She should have known better than to accept help from Scott. He was just using it as an excuse to check her out some more. This time without the danger of doing it where Randy could see. “Whatever.” She turned around intending to head back.

Scott scrambled to his feet and cut her off. “What’s the hurry, chica?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. You gotta be lonely with Randy out of town.”

“Not really.” She tried to step around him, but he was faster than he looked and blocked her again. It’s probably all that matching Adidas. Added horsepower or something. “Get out of my way.”

“Come oooon,” he wheedled, pacing her so she couldn’t get past him. “I know you gave it up. Gave Randy that warm Elsbury welcome, so it’s not like you’re saving it up for anything special.” Judging by the sneer, he thought he was laying some smooth lines on her. “Have you ever fucked stoned? It’s wild.” The joint dangled from his mouth, bouncing with each word. She tried again to dodge around him, but he was there. Leaning in close, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “Randy don’t gotta know.”

His fetid breath sent shivers down her spine like oily spiders were crawling all over her. She blew a long breath through her nose, then smiled and looked at him through her eyelashes. When Scott saw it, his grin spread ear to ear.

“Alright…”

He leaned closer, and Ash couldn’t stop her gorge from rising. With a quick jerk, Ash sent his balls rocketing into his torso with her knee.

Scott squealed in a sound that was neither smooth, sexy, nor manly. He collapsed like a felled tree, and this time, he didn’t block her as she stepped around him.

“Don’t worry, Scotty. It’s not like you’re saving it up for anything special.” She debated kicking him again, but her feet already hurt, and she couldn’t rule out the possibility that touching him would transmit some sort of disease.

She did it anyway.

The warehouse was dimly lit, but their path was easy enough to backtrack. She didn’t know why, but tears streamed down her face as she fast-walked through the warehouse. Scott had always been a creep, but she thought he was a harmless creep. As soon as she got out of there, she was going to call Randy.

A shattered testicle will be the least of his problems then.

The door groaned in protest as she slammed into it, and she stumbled out of the hallway into the food court. She glanced back before it closed to make sure Scott wasn’t behind her. Not sure why, maybe she’d watched too many horror movies. Not watching where she was going, she collided with someone, her elbow smashing into their ribs.

“Oof! Miss Williams? Is something the matter?” Strong arms stopped her from falling.

Ash jerked her head and saw Mr. Pinkett. Despite the bump she’d given him, a smile split his square-jawed face.

“Is everything okay?”

“Mr. Pinkett, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

He waved away her apology, a strand of silver hair falling into his eyes. “Are you well, Miss Williams?”

Ash nodded and sidled over so she could see the doors, just in case Scott came barreling through. “Yeah, just in a rush.”

“It’s fortuitous that we ran into each other. Literally, it turns out!” His laugh was deep and infectious, and soon Ash found herself smiling in return. “I’ve been meaning to speak to you.”

She dragged her eyes away from the doors and back to the teacher. He was much easier on the eyes.

“I’ve been wondering why you didn’t take honors English this year.”

The last thing she needed right now was a lecture about not meeting her potential. Her words came through gritted teeth, though she tried to mask it behind a smile. “Sorry, Mr. Pinkett. Nothing personal, it’s just that—”

Mr. Pinkett leaned closer, so close she could smell the woodsy scent of his aftershave. She could see herself in his dilating pupils. “You see, I miss having you in class,” he breathed.

Did he just sniff me?

“You’ve grown into such a beautiful, remarkable young woman.” His hand twitched like it longed to touch her.

Ash was so shocked, her feet rooted to the floor.

His eyes strafed side to side without his head moving. Like he’d just remembered where they were, his hand fell from where it had hovered inches from her face. “You know, I’d love to tutor you. Perhaps we can meet one-on-one? I know it’s Spring Break, but I’m free now. I don’t live far from here.”

She worked her mouth, but no words came out. His hand lifted again like he was going to caress her cheek. Her skin crawled like it was trying to escape his touch. Finally, she forced the words through her tight throat.

“Is that Principal Mancini?”

Mr. Pinkett blinked a few times like he just awakened from a dream, and his head followed where she was pointing. She didn’t wait for him to respond. She stepped around him and fled the food court.