Chapter Sixteen
Since Rick makes it very clear I’m skating on thin ice at my next shift, the rest of the new recruits treat me as though I’m radioactive, never coming within a foot of me and pairing off in their same twos from yesterday.
This at least means I don’t have to listen to the Sarahs constantly whispering about Max – did you see his shoulders?
– but also that I’m almost always left either on my own or with Rick.
Today’s primary lesson focuses on customer service, which mostly involves pretending to serve Rick salads and him pointing out that we’ve layered the ingredients wrong.
‘Chickpeas before feta,’ he snaps for the fourth time. ‘Otherwise they’re weighing down the cheese. People want fluffy salads, Cecily.’
All afternoon, Max and the suits go between wandering around the zoo, waving their arms as though they’re performing a site inspection, and sitting in F’resh, piles of papers and the same iPad from yesterday taking up an entire table.
Whenever Max and I are in the same room, he either deliberately angles his body away from me or suddenly becomes so invested in the contents of his tablet that all I can see is the top of his curly head.
It makes my attempts to map out a way to talk to him, using Tyler as some kind of lame, monster pick-up line, kind of pointless.
Part of me is relieved – because what would that’ve even looked like?
Oh, hey, Max, remember that wacky goat-werewolf you caught me with in the park last night?
Speaking of, what’s your favourite type of goat?
And then, what? We’d high-five and get matching best friend tattoos?
But the other part is nervous. Up until a week ago, the last thing I would’ve wanted was to be approached by Max Taylor, but now, watching him ignore me, I’m overcome with a sort of desperation for some kind of indication that he doesn’t think I’m just a crazed lunatic, and that he hasn’t already told someone about Tyler.
On my break, I walk over to the Great Cats exhibit and lean against the railing overlooking the enclosure.
Two male lions are stretched out asleep on their concrete island, their golden coats drenched in sun.
I nibble an apple I brought from home and watch them.
Lazy and motionless, bushy hair ringing their faces, they look kind of like Tyler.
Juan, Cecily and the Sarahs are waiting in the back office when I return to F’resh, but their chatter falls silent as soon as I arrive.
‘Where’s Rick?’ I say to the group.
Sarah #1 shrugs. ‘His guinea pig breeder called.’
‘He said to take an extra ten minutes,’ says Sarah #2.
I nod and shove my hands in my pockets, but their conversation doesn’t resume.
It takes a few seconds of uncomfortable silence for me to realise it’s because they don’t want to talk with me there.
As though I, recipient of a second chance from the Great and Benevolent Rick, am now allied with him, and will rat out any un-F’resh behaviour.
I fish my phone out of my pocket and leave, mumbling something about waiting outside.
Because the Mane Grill is towards the far end of the zoo, it’s not as busy as the exhibits surrounding the Great Meadow in the centre, especially not with the park closing in an hour.
I take a seat at one of the tables and chairs in front of the restaurant when Max and the suits appear at the end of Olmsted Walk.
When Max glances over, our eyes meet for only a fraction of a second before he looks down at the tablet in his hands. Anywhere but me.
I duck down low in my chair and bury my nose in my phone. An avalanche of messages is waiting on my screen, all in a new group chat Sam has apparently made. When I see its members, I roll my eyes: in the group are her, me, Elliott and Julian.
Sam
Omg have you guys seen the promposal???
Elliott
I was there
Elliott
(accidentally – I did not plan this)
Sam
Omg im so jealous
Julian
***
Sam
Cassidy’s snapchat stories
Julian
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA
Julian
OMFG THIS IS AMAZING
Sam
Omg someone already made it a gif
Sam
In the small animated square is Shane Bartley – another senior at Mount Luther – in his full lacrosse uniform, standing in front of a huge black pick-up truck.
What looks like a net is stretched across the truck’s bed.
Shane uses his lacrosse stick to unhook the net, unleashing into the air a giant cloud of rainbow-coloured balloons, including a few that, once in the sky, hold aloft a poster whose bottom is anchored to the truck.
Written on the poster are the words, Just chil-LAX and go to prom with me.
Julian
Wtf
Julian
Pls tell me she said no
Sam
Ofc she said yes
Julian
Jeeeeeeeeeesus
I chew my tongue as I scan the texts. There are so many: Sam lamenting the environmental impact of releasing balloons, Julian agreeing in his Julian way (THINK OF THE TURTLES!).
And yet none of them are clear. Who is Shane Bartley even asking to prom?
I read on until finally I find a string of messages that look promising.
Sam
Tbh he just wants to go with whoevers gonna be prom queen
Elliott
They’ve actually been hanging out for a while
Julian
“hanging out”
Elliott
I heard she goes to all his lacrosse games
Sam
Whos giving you inside lacrosse info
Elliott
Lol they hooked up at Cassidy’s party last month
Elliott
(supposedly)
Julian
Love that you know all this
Elliott
Sam
Dang maybe Shane Bartley has been playing the long game
Julian
Yeah maybe hes not as dumb as he looks
Elliott
Did we just watch the same promposal?
Something itches at the corner of my brain. I re-read Sam’s text, frowning down at my screen: Tbh he just wants to go with whoevers gonna be prom queen.
Flicking through to Snapchat, I find Cassidy’s profile and click on her Stories.
There’re a bunch of selfies of her in one of the first-floor girls’ bathroom mirrors, then a picture of the peachy orange bubble tea she got off-campus at lunch.
I tap through them so fast, I almost skip the video towards the end, the black pick-up truck, Shane Bartley in his lacrosse uniform.
Except unlike the gif, the video doesn’t end when Shane’s sign springs up.
Instead, it zooms out, revealing a too-big crowd of people on the street in front of Mount Luther.
Every hair on my body stands on end as the camera finds Avery, still in her baby pink shirt from earlier.
She tips her head back in a laugh. Then, nodding, she loops her arms around Shane’s neck, and kisses him.