"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter Ninety-Three: Scoops Ahoy
(Suzie Do You Copy? Pt. 4)
***
The mall was already crowded when Rowan and Aunt Aco arrived, thirty minutes after Rowan's shift had ended.
The parking lot was choked with cars and the occasional bus. Teens and families walked through the sea of vehicles toward the large building with its neon sign like a homing beacon, beckoning them into it with air conditioning and the distraction of mall shopping under a mixture of fluorescence and sunlight from the glass ceiling.
In short, the last place Rowan would want to be. But she had friends, friends who were usually at the mall for differing reasons plus a little brother and his group of gremlins that had either Aunt Aco or Eddie drive them here, so she was always here one way or another.
Aunt Aco drove as close to the entrance as possible, weaving between the people in the parking lot who shouted at her aunt, shouts Aunt Aco promptly ignored before she stopped, a metre away from the entrance to Starcourt. Where Rowan saw Chrissy standing there, her strawberry blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, dressed in a short-sleeved striped shirt and denim shorts and Converse sneakers. She beamed when she caught sight of Aunt Aco's car, waving.
"Have fun, kid. I'll pick you up in an hour. Send my love to Robin and Valerie and rich boy," Aunt Aco told Rowan as she climbed out.
"I will," Rowan promised.
"Remember—don't get pulled into the capitalist lie of this place!"
"I won't!"
"Bye, kid," her aunt farewelled as she peeled out of the parking lot, Rowan shouting, "Bye!" before she turned to Chrissy. Next to her best friend, they looked even more of an odd pair with Rowan's "summer outfit" consisting of an old Led Zeppelin shirt, faded acid wash shorts with rips and tears in them, and her beloved Docs.
"Rowan!" Chrissy exclaimed, smiling as Rowan stood in front of her friend. "How are you?"
"Good. I had a good morning at Pennhurst," Rowan answered, returning the smile.
Chrissy offered her arm. "Ready to go shopping?"
"Is it too late to back out" Rowan asked sarcastically. Chrissy let out a peal of laughter, before she gave a wicked smile.
"Yes."
"Dammit," Rowan muttered, but she was still grinning as she looped her arm through Chrissy's, and the two girls walked into Starcourt Mall.
Once she was inside, Rowan registered the blissful cool of the air conditioning first. But once her body processed the wonderful frigidness of the mall, Rowan soon registered one of the many, many detestable things about Starcourt—the crowd.
