You take the man out of the city, not the city out the man

chapter nineteen

  "Let's go inside, all right?" I tell Will as he nods and I take him inside, Mike and Lucas beside us.

We take Will to his house and we stand, not wanting to get anything wet.

"Uh, meet up at my house tomorrow, okay?" Mike tells us as I nod.

"I need to get going, my mom's gonna wonder where I am, I'll see you guys tomorrow, all right?" I tell the three as they nod.

Mike holds my arm just as I was about to go.
"Be safe, okay?" Mike says and I nod.
"Of course." I say as I kiss him before leaving the house.

— the next day

I ride my board to the mall, going to Scoops Ahoy.

I go to the front and see Robin.
"What did I miss?" I ask.
"A lot." Robin says and I go to the back, revealing Steve and Dustin.

"Barber! There you are!" Steve says and I sit down.

"So, what happened yesterday?" I ask the two.
"A lot. We spied on people on the roof." Dustin says.
"What?"
"Yeah. There's a keycard that opens the door, but unfortunately, the Russian with this keycard has a massive gun." Dustin explains as I try to keep up.

"Whatever's in this room, whatever's in those boxes, they really don't want anybody finding it." Dustin says as Robin sits down by us while Dustin paces back and forth.

"There's gotta be a way in." I say as Steve blows into his hat.

"Well, you know... I could just take him out." Steve says and I look at him.

"Take who out?" Robin asks.
"The Russian guard." Steve says and I scoff.

"What? I sneak up behind him, I knock him out, and I take his keycard. It's easy."

"And what happened to you last time you tried taking someone out? Weren't you unconscious for like... 30 minutes?" I ask, remembering when Steve beat up Billy.

"Okay, and you ended up with a black eye, so."
"Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?" Dustin asks.

"Yes, Dustin, I did. And that's why I would be sneaking."

  "Ah. Wow. Harrington, please be honest with me. Have you ever... won a fight? I mean, Billy beat you up." I tell Steve.
"Okay, that was one time."
"And Jonathan."
"Okay, that doesn't count."
"Why wouldn't take count? He beat the shit out of you."
"Yeah and?"
"You had a fat lip, a crooked nose, a swollen eye, a whole lotta blood." I list.
"And you ended up with two black eyes each year, right?"
"But I won fights, didn't I, Dustin?" I ask.

"I mean... she did." Dustin says as we look at Robin, who's now up at the front, taking all the tip money.

"Robin? Hey, Robin! What are you doing?" Steve asks, opening the door.

"I need cash."
"Well, half of that's mine. Where are you going?"
"To find a way into that room, a safe way. And, in the meantime, sling ice cream, behave, and don't beat up. I'll be back in a jiff." Robin says as she walks out of the store.

"See, if you just didn't bring up the fact I got beat up, she still would've been here." Steve says and I scoff.

"I just had to say the truth." I tell Steve as Dustin licks off the ice cream from the scooper.

"Oh come on, not my scooper." Steve says as he takes the scooper out of Dustin's hand.

"I wonder what Mike's doing right now." Dustin asks us as I scoop someone ice cream. Oh shit.