Kissed by an angel (camren)

Chapter 5

Song suggestion:
NF-You're Special
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It was a relief to go to work Saturday morning, a relief to be back in territory that Camila knew. Greentree Mall was in the next town over but drew high school kids from all the surrounding towns. Most of them cruised the stores and hung around the food court. Tis the season, where Camila had worked for the last year and a half, was directly across from the food court.

The shop was owned by two older sisters, whose selection of costumes, decorations, paperware, and knickknacks was as eccentric as their style of business. Ariana and Cheryl rarely returned merchandise, and it was as if all the seasons and holidays had run into one another in one small corner of the world. Vampire costumes hung with the Stars and Stripes; Easter chickens roosted next to miniature plastic menorahs, pinecone turkeys and Vulcan ears from the last Trekkie convention.

Just before 1:00 on Saturday, while waiting for Dinah and Ally to arrive, Camila was glancing over the days special orders. As always, they were scrawled on Post-it notes and stuck on the wall. Camila read one of the tags twice, then pulled it off. Couldn't be, she thought, couldn't be. Maybe there were two of them. Two people named Lauren Jauregui?

"Ariana, what does this mean?" "For pick up: Bl Blup Wh and 25 pnc?"
Ariana squinted at the paper. She had bifocals, but they usually rode her chest at the end of a necklace.

"Well, twenty five plates, napkins, and cups, you know that. Ah yes, for Lauren Jauregui, an order for the swim team party. Blue blow up whale. I've already got it ready. She called to check on the order this morning."
"Laur—Ms. Jauregui called?"
Now Ariana reached for her glasses. Settling them on her nose, she looked hard at Camila. "Ms. Jauregui? She didn't call you Ms. Cabello," she said.

"Why would she call me anything?" Camila wondered aloud. "I mean why did my name come up?"
"She asked what hours you were working. I told her you take lunch between 1:00 and 1:45, but otherwise you'd be here till 6:00." She smiled at Camila. "And I put in a few good words for you too."
"A few good words?"
"I told her what a lovely girl you are, and what a shame it is that someone like you couldn't find a deserving person to love or even like."

Camila winced, but Ariana had removed her glasses again, so she didn't notice.
"She came into the shop last week to place the order," Ariana continued. "She's quite a leauty."
"Beauty, Ariana."
"Pardon me?"
"Lauren's quite a beauty."
"Well she's finally admitting it!" said Dinah, striding into the store. Ally came in behind her. "Good work Ariana!" The older girl winked, and Camila stuck the Post-it back on the wall. She began to dig in her pockets for money.

"Don't expect to eat," Dinah warned her. "This is an interrogation."
Twenty minutes later, Ally was just about finished with her burrito. Dinah had made inroads on her teriyaki chicken. Camila's pizza remained untouched.

"How should I know?" she was saying, waving her arms with frustration. "I didn't get into his medicine cupboard!" They had hashed and rehashed and interpreted and reinterpreted every detail that Camila had observed about Gregory's room.

"Well I guess you've only been there one night," Dinah said. "But tonight, maybe. You must find out where he's going tonight. Does he have a curfew? Does he—"
Camila picked up an egg roll and stuffed it in Dinah's mouth. "It's Ally's turn to talk," she said.

"Oh, that's alright," Ally said. "This is interesting."
Camila opened Ally's folder. "Why don't you read one of your new stories," she said, "before Dinah makes me go totally crazy."