The Perfect Impression by Blake Pierce
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Hannah was getting bored.
The movie had distracted her for a few hours. But she was still agitated by her encounter with Kat that morning. She had hoped that walking around the mall with the three girls from school whose company she could stand would keep her restlessness at bay. But there was only so much trying on of cute tops that she couldn’t afford to buy before her thoughts began to wander.
Jessie had left her alone after a flurry of smothering calls and texts, but Hannah knew it could get far worse than sisterly over-communication. So far it seemed that Kat had kept her mouth shut. If she’d spilled, Jessie would already be here. But even if she’d been lucky so far, the situation with Kat was a ticking time bomb. She’d thought that she could keep the woman quiet by warning her that telling Jessie anything would imperil their friendship.
But the more Hannah thought about it, the less effective she suspected the move would ultimately be. Katherine Gentry was used to dealing with hardened, violent criminals. She wasn’t likely to be intimated by a teenage girl, regardless of the consequences.
Hannah passively observed as her brain starting to come up with alternative solutions to her dilemma, ones more dramatic than simple blackmail. Unsavory images popped into her head. She felt a shudder of an emotion that rarely reached her: shame. Almost audibly, she ordered herself to stop those thoughts. She needed to focus on something else.
As she looked desperately around the mall, her eyes fell on a chain jewelry store just across the indoor courtyard from where she and her friends stood. It was staffed by two bored-looking women: one middle-aged, the other in her late twenties. There was no security guard. She had an idea. And even though she knew it was a bad one, it seemed like the only way to shake even worse thoughts out of her head, so she went with it.
“Hey, guys,” she said, getting the attention of the other girls. “What if I told you I had a way for all of us to buy every outfit we tried on today?”
“I’d say I’m listening,” said Melina, the snarkiest of the three. Tall and skinny with long black hair, she always seemed the most game for trouble.
“Okay,” Hannah said, motioning for them to gather round her as she lowered her voice. “This is going to sound a little out there but I think it could work. Do you see that jewelry store over there?”
They all glanced over and nodded. Kayla, always a little skittish, already looked nervous. Her cheeks turned red, offering a dramatic contrast to her pale skin and light blonde hair.
“This isn’t going to—?” she began.
“I thought you were going to at least hear me out,” Hannah balked.
“Sorry,” Kayla said, chastened.
“That’s okay,” Hannah said and quickly moved on. “So I’m thinking that Janine goes in by herself. Ask the younger woman for help. You should find an item in the thousand-dollar range, maybe a bracelet or necklace. While you’re trying it on, chatting with the saleswoman, the three of us will come in, asking the older one if they have anything inexpensive. Maybe we say we’re looking for matching charms or something.”
“Why are we doing this?” Melina asked.
“We’re not really,” Hannah explained. “After a minute or two, I will pretend to have a seizure. I’ll fall to the floor and start writhing around, flailing my arms everywhere. One of you should get the older lady to help you subdue me. The other should tell the younger saleswoman to see if they have anything sweet in the back—juice, soda, whatever. When she goes to the back and, while the older one is helping me, Janine just walks out with whatever jewelry she has on. Head straight for the mall exit. Once you’re outside, put the bracelet in your pocket and walk to the McDonald’s across the street. Wait inside. When I ‘recover,’ we’ll meet you. Sound good?”
The three girls all stared at her with their jaws hanging open. It took several seconds for any of them to speak. Finally Kayla did.
“Are you serious?” she asked.
“Are you in if I am?”
“No,” she said emphatically. “No top, no matter how cute, is worth getting arrested for. That’s not just shoplifting. Stealing an expensive bracelet from a jewelry store takes it to another level.”
Hannah looked at the other two and saw that they felt the same way, so she pivoted hard.
“You guys fell for that?” she asked mockingly. “I can’t believe you all thought I was really suggesting it. I just wanted to see who was a little bit extra.”
“Looks like it was you,” Melina replied sharply.
Janine looked at the phone she’d dramatically pulled out of her pocket.
“Listen,” she said, her expression hidden beneath a mask of longish brown hair, “it’s getting kind of late. I told my folks I’d be home around this time.”
“Me too,” Melina said, though she’d been talking about getting a snack in the food court only minutes earlier. “Maybe we just call it a day.”
“Yeah, okay,” Hannah said, belatedly aware that she’d horribly misjudged the group vibe. “See you guys tomorrow.”
They nodded. Melina and Janine started off. Kayla lingered a moment longer.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.
“Of course,” Hannah told her quickly. “I was just messing around. I thought everyone would joke about it, just play out how the scenario would go, you know, as a lark. I didn’t think anyone would think I was for real.”
“Okay,” Kayla said, seemingly unconvinced. “Sorry for spoiling it.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Hannah replied.
She walked around the mall for a little longer after they’d left so that she wouldn’t face any awkward moments if any of them was still outside. After a bit, she called for a rideshare to take her to her favorite coffee shop, and headed to the outdoor pickup location.
She felt the frustration bubbling inside her. Now, in addition to the whole thing with Kat, she had this to deal with too. Part of her wanted to say “screw ’em” to the girls if they couldn’t take a joke. Of course, it hadn’t been and everyone knew it. What would they say on Monday? she wondered.
She’d kept these kinds of dark ideas to herself for a reason and now she had a painful reminder as to why. Other people just didn’t think the same way she did. She’d let her guard down for a minute and now she was sure to pay a price for it.
As she approached the mall exit nearest the rideshare pickup zone, her thoughts were interrupted by an uneasy sensation, as if she was being watched. She turned around and scanned the people behind her, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to her.
Two young mothers were walking side by side, pushing strollers and sipping expensive coffee drinks. Some pre-teen boys were waiting in line at a freestanding pretzel kiosk, whacking each other with their jackets. A few senior citizens were doing their group exercise thing, ambling slowly in her direction, more focused on each step before them than any person in their path.
She heard a chuckle and glanced up to the second level, where a couple of guys, probably a few years older than her, were looking down in her direction. It took her a moment to realize that they were trying to peek down her top. She pretended not to notice and turned around, continuing toward the exit.
In her head, it made sense that those were the eyes she’d sensed on her. But in her gut, she knew it was someone else. It was only when she was in the car and the driver pulled out onto the street that she realized that her whole body was clenched into one big ball of stress. It took a long time for it to return to normal.