Love & Geckos (multiple-author collaboration)

Chapter 18: Alyssa

Falling into a fountain is never a fun experience, but a poorly-maintained mall fountain housing half a year's worth of coins carries an exceptional degree of unpleasantness. Decades of grime, silt, and algae had made the bottom of the fountain exceedingly slippery, and Alyssa flopped and thrashed like a disgruntled fish, unable to find purchase.

Behind her, she heard a yell. Somebody held out a hand—or at least, Alyssa thought it was a hand—her glasses were a bit too smeared with fountain slime to see much–and Alyssa grabbed hold of it.

It was only when the owner of the hand was hauling her upright that her glasses began to unfog, and she realized exactly who the hand belonged to.

Dakota.

Dakota fucking Malaitai.

The very same Dakota who had stolen Sandra's heart.

With a cry of horror, Alyssa pulled her hand away. Unfortunately, Dakota was the only thing holding her upright, and she promptly tumbled back into the fountain with a splash.

She heard another yell, and then Dakota sloshed into the fountain after her, followed—somewhat hesitantly—by a curly-haired boy in a hoodie. A moment later, a warm hand wrapped around her wrist, pulling her upright. Another, more tentative hand wrapped around her other wrist, and before Alyssa knew what was happening, she found herself being hauled upright between the two boys—Dakota and the one with the hoodie–and led out of the fountain, toward a nearby bench.

Water was everywhere, dripping to the floor in grimy puddles. Alyssa's shoes squelched with every step; her pants, sweater, and socks were soaked. People were staring at her. A few benches over, an older woman dragged her child away, muttering about hoodlums and that part of town.

Alyssa had never wished so badly that a black hole would open up under her feet and swallow her.

As she contemplated leaping back into the fountain and drowning herself from shame, an old woman in a flowery blouse rushed toward her, wringing her hands. "Oh my goodness!' she said. "I saw the whole thing! You poor girl. We have to get you dry!"

"It's okay, Grandma," the boy in the hoodie mumbled. Now that Alyssa's glasses were a bit less wet, she thought he looked familiar. She'd seen him earlier today—he was one of the customers she'd given the wrong amount of change to, if she remembered correctly. He might even go to her school.

His declaration only seemed to make the old woman more fretful. "Your shoes are sopping wet too, Jordan! Wait here, all three of you! There's a Payless a few shops down from here—I'll go and grab you some flip flops—"

"Wait a minute—Grandma—"

But the old lady was already bustling away toward another part of the mall. An older man trailed in her wake, bemusement scrawled across his features.

The hoodie boy—Jordan—sighed gustily and glanced at her. "There's no help for it. She'll give me an earful if we move from this spot. Sorry about this."

Alyssa, who was huddling miserably on the bench, gave him a short nod. More to have something to do than because she actually wanted to, she glanced around for the net and fished it out of the fountain.

The gecko was nowhere in sight.

"Hey," said Dakota. "You're Alyssa, aren't you? Sandra's friend? Did you, er, lose some geckos? I saw you chasing one earlier."

Alyssa glanced from Dakota, over to Jordan, and back to Dakota again. "Maybe," she said, her voice guarded. "Why? Have you seen it?"

Dakota jabbed a finger at the potted tree next to them. "I think I saw it dart up there. Although it might not have been the same gecko. Been seeing a lotta geckos running around the mall today."