✅ A Dose of Humiliation

4. Carelessness

This chapter is dedicated to Anon. Thank you for your support on Patreon! And I'm sorry that I didn't get all the bonus chapters ready to post yesterday, but they will be here soon.

Eleven days ago...

I grinned as my coin danced off the very edge of the pride banner, hit one of the supporting struts on a lower gallery, and spun right back into the centre of the atrium. It was sheer luck, there was no way I could possibly have planned it, but it felt like a work of genius. And all my friends looked at me with something close to awe as I gave a satisfied shrug.

One of the mall cops on the third floor glanced over the railing and looked up at us. He shook his head disapprovingly, but he was walking back to the taco stand, not up here. We weren't supposed to do this, of course, but nobody cared. The most we ever hit was one of those struts, or just occasionally the awning covering one of the escalators. A chip of paint off a battered steel and concrete structure wouldn't harm everything. And everybody knew that the coins in the fountain would be collected at the end of the year for charity; and that a percentage of what they pulled out would usually be given to the security guys' Christmas party. They didn't care about kids being kids, and who's ever been able to resist the temptation to throw stuff, given a high place and an obvious target?

"Pure luck," Nikki answered. She was right, of course, but it felt like a challenge. "Let me show you what skill looks like." Marcie was already tossing a coin from hand to hand, ready to take the next shot. We all stared as Nikki's attempt hit the centre of the banner, stopped, and then slowly started to skid and roll down. It might actually go right down the middle of the banner, building up speed all the way, but it was anyone's guess whether that would even put it in the fountain or not, or if it would bounce from one of the canvas awnings of the market stalls on level 2.

"Throwing your money away, like always?!" A shriek from behind me immediately drew my attention from Nikki's tumbling coin. I didn't see where it landed, and I don't think anyone else did either. This was Elspeth on the warpath, but it was hard to tell what she was so angry about today. "You rush off without me, and you're just here throwing money in the pool? We're supposed to be shopping babe, like spending those coins. But if you couldn't even stick around to meet me–"

"I already told you–" I said, trying to grab her arm and get her attention, but she just stormed past, not paying any attention at all. She'd clearly read enough of my text to know that Marcie was here, but ignored the explanation of what had happened. And I knew them both well enough to be sure that El's wrath wouldn't quiet down until she'd properly made a scene. It wasn't that she didn't care about her friends, but once something upset her she seemed incapable of thinking rationally.

Marcie tried to calm down her girlfriend, but she couldn't seem to get through to her that coming here without her hadn't been a deliberate slight. Elspeth had grabbed her collar now and was shaking her roughly, pushing her back against the railings hard enough that it seemed possible one of them might fall.

"Go on then! You'd rather throw your money in the fountain than spend it on me? Then why don't you toss all of it?!"

It didn't make any kind of sense, but it was still spectacular. The contents of Marcie's purse arced out across the void between the balconies, catching the sun on the way. It was mostly a shower of coins, plus a few little trinkets and good luck charms. I didn't have any idea what caused the brief flashes of rainbow light in the space below us, but I could tell that someone was going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble. And when Elspeth saw the sudden change in all our expressions, I think she understood it too. The angry yells from down below, and cursing in the thick Danish accent of Bill Ball, the head of security, managed to pierce her bubble of rage to make her realise she had jumped to conclusions again.