UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
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By the time I get to work on Wednesday it’s total drama. I walk in and Shelli nods her head in the direction of the back, giving me the universal look for The Shit Has Hit the Fan. I go through to find Tiffany in the back with the manager and two cops.
Cops? What the—?
“Anika, not now. We have a situation.”
Tiffany can barely glance up at me. She looks stricken, you can tell she’s been crying.
“What’s going on? What is this?”
“Well, if you must know . . . Tiffany here has been stealing.”
It hits me like a sledgehammer.
Oh, no. All this time I’ve been stealing their faces off and now they think it’s Tiffany! Because she’s black. It’s that simple.
“No, she hasn’t!”
Mr. Baum scoffs. “Um, Anika? I think I know when the drops are short.”
Tiffany on the gray plastic seat in the corner, looks like she’s in pain. God, this is excruciating! I’m gonna have to come clean. I’m gonna have to turn myself in. I’m gonna have to ruin my college transcripts. Christ. The Count is going to draw and quarter me. Then he is going to feed my body to the vultures. Then he is going to draw and quarter the vultures.
“No. Listen. It wasn’t her, I swear—”
“Anika, shhh!”
And then he plays the tape. The ongoing video they have on the cash register. And the cops see it and Tiffany sees it and I see it.
There, on the video is Tiffany, indeed, stealing out of the cash register.
No plan, no system, nothing.
Just plain stealing.
I can’t believe it. I can’t believe my eyes.
Tiffany looks up at me, her cheeks on fire. I can tell she’s totally ashamed.
She mouths the words, “I’m sorry.”
I mouth back, “It’s okay.”
And I want to tell her we’ve been stealing their pants off for the past six weeks and that’s why they even thought to look at the tapes, so it’s my fault, which it is, by the way. This is all my fault.
“Sir, do you wish to press charges?”
“Damn straight.”
Ugh. What an asshole. I have to do something.
“No, wait! I made her do it!”
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah, I put her up to it. It was stupid and I was to blame.”
“Listen, Anika, that’s nice of you but—”
“Mr. Baum, I told her to do it! I told her if she didn’t I’d get her fired. It was stupid and immature and I don’t even know what I was thinking but she didn’t want to do it. I swear. She begged me.”
Mr. Baum looks at me, still unconvinced.
“That’s not like you, Anika.”
“I know. I told her it was like an initiation. I was being a jerk. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Is this true, Tiffany?”
Tiffany looks at me for permission. I nod, as slight as can be.
“Yes, sir.”
“Anika made you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“I didn’t want to get her in trouble.”
“Well, she sure as shit got you in trouble.”
Tiffany nods. The cops whisper something to Mr. Baum. I can see Tiffany behind them. We make eye contact.
She mouths again, “Thank you.”
I wink.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not busted. I’m in trouble now and my mom is gonna kill me. I’ll probably be fired. Oh, well. It’s not like my dream is to be the ruler of the Bunza Hut—
“Tiffany, you’re fired.”
“What?” I yelp. “But she didn’t do anything!”
“Anika, stay out of this. You’ve done enough, don’t you think?”
“Please, Tiffany, get your things and call your mom. It’s time to go. That’s it.”
“Mr. Baum, please—”
“And you. We’re gonna have a talk. Come with me.”
Ugh. Why did I come to work today? Why did I even take this stupid job? And even worse. Why did I steal? I mean, what was I thinking? Of course Mr. Baum would press charges if he knew. He’s a mean little man, taking it out on the world.
Now he’s dragged me into the storage room. It’s just the two of us and the Bunza Hut inventory.
“Anika. I know you’re lying.”
“What?”
“I know you’re lying to cover for that girl.”
“No, I’m not.”
“It’s okay. You’re a good person.”
“You’re not firing me?”
“What? No. You’re our best worker.”
I gulp. God, talk about totally unfair. If only he knew . . .
“I’d like to give you a raise.”
I really should stop poisoning him with Valium. It is clearly affecting the decision-making areas of his brain.
“Mr. Baum, you don’t—”
“Just stop it. Christmas is coming, maybe you could buy something—”
“Do you really have to fire her?”
“Yes, Anika. I do. These people need to know—”
“These people?”
“You know.”
“Unh. Mr. Baum, just because she’s—”
“Anika. Sometimes stereotypes exist for a reason.” He pauses. “Look. You’re young. You don’t know anything yet. Someday you’ll get it. Now get back to work. Shelli’s probably crashed the register by now.”
I don’t know what to say to any of this. All I know is I’m the worst person on earth. Worse than the lowest amoeba on the lowest worm to crawl around the lowest swamp on earth.
I get back to the register and Shelli sidles up to me, close enough to whisper.
“What happened?”
“They fired Tiffany.”
Shelli’s saucer eyes turn to plates.
“For what?!”
“Stealing.”
Shelli looks at me. She knows we’re to blame. She doesn’t know what to think. I can see the gears officially grind to a stop in her head.
“They caught her on tape.”
“What? They did?”
“Yup. I saw it.”
“So it wasn’t—”
“No. It wasn’t.”
“Phew. I feel better.”
“Wull, I don’t because they probably wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t for us.”
“Oh.”
“I think our stealing careers are over, Shelli.”
Through the Halloween decorations, out the glass doors I can see Tiffany’s mom drive up fast and slam on the brakes. Not happy. Tiffany gets in and it’s all I can do not to run out there and pull her out and tell her just to go to my house, go to my mom, join our family. It’s not her fault. None of this is her fault. It’s my fault. All of it. And I know it.