SATELLITE [STEVE HARRINGTON]

knee socks

THE NEXT DAY AT THE MALL, GINNY DECIDED TO HELP ROBIN TRY AND FIGURE OUT THE MESSAGE, WHILE STEVE AND DUSTIN SEARCHED THE MALL FOR RUSSIANS. She felt responsible for Erica's obnoxious actions at the counter, so she scooped ice cream, while Robin poured over their notes.

"I will drown you in the vanilla ice cream," she threatened, as Erica asked for another sample.

"Well, what a way to go," her sister shot back. "Gimme a sample of the peppermint stick, or I'll tell your boyfriend's supervisor that they have a non-employee manning the counter."

Huffing, Ginny did as she was told, wondering how and when her little sister became such a conniving little—

"You can't have anymore free samples," Robin said, turning around and smiling. Ginny sighed in relief. My savior...

Erica made a face. "Why not?"

"Because you're abusing our company policy," Robin retorted.

Erica rolled her eyes. "Where's your sailor boyfriend, Virginia? He gives me whatever I want."

"Because he's terrified of you," Ginny cried. "You bully him!"

"He can't help you anyway," Robin said, turning back to the recorder and her headphones. "He's busy."

Erica scoffed. "Busy with what?"

Robin smirked, wiggling her brows. "Spycraft."

Across the mall, Steve peered through his binoculars, Dustin at his side. They hid behind a tall shrub.

"You see anything?" the smaller boy asked.

Steve shook his head. "I guess... I don't totally know what I'm looking for."

"Evil Russians," Dustin said, as if it were obvious.

"Yeah, exactly. I don't know what an evil Russian looks like..." Steve frowned.

"Tall, blonde, not smiling."

"Mm-hm..."

"Also, look for earpieces, camo, duffel bags, that sort of thing."

Steve nodded, scanning the top floor of the mall. He did a double-take. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me..."

"What?" Dustin pried, looking over his shoulder.

"Anna Jacobi's talking with that meathead Mark Lewinsky!" he cried, ambivilous.

Dustin narrowed his eyes. "If you're not gonna focus, just gimme the binoculars."

"Aw, Jesus Christ! Whatever happened to standards! I mean, Lewinsky never even came off the bench!"

"You are the worst spy in history, you know that?" Dustin spat, yanking the binoculars away.

The strap tugged on Steve's neck, and he made a frustrated noise. "Hey, stop— stop!"

"I don't get why you're looking at girls," spat Dustin. "You have the perfect one."

"I'm not looking at girls— Ginny loves drama," Steve said innocently, rubbing at the spot on his neck that the strap had irritated.

"Mmm, yeah well... You've been looking at another girl, too."

Steve stared at him, confused, with his brows pinched together. He wasn't looking at any other girls, besides Ginny and—

"Robin?" he asked, incredulous. "You think somethings going on with me and Robin?"

Dustin gave him a deadpan look. "You're not... are you?"

"No!" Steve cried. "I would never cheat on Ginny— never! She's like the best thing that's ever happened to me."