𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒 • Robin Buckley

VI: CRACKED IT

Erica aggressively tapped on the bell as Robin listened to the Russian man on her headphones, who was reciting bonded. When Robin finally payed attention, Erica gave her a sarcastic smile.

"I'd like to try the peanut butter chocolate swirl, please," Erica said with a sour sweetness in her voice.

"No," Robin said, "No more samples today."

"Why not?"

"Because you're abusing our company policy."

"Where's the sailor man? And his girlfriend?"

Robin felt a sting in her chest. "She's not his girlfriend."

"Then tell her to stop acting like it. Where are they?"

"Sorry, they can't help you. They're busy."

"Busy with what?"

"Spycraft."

By spycraft, Robin meant a pair of binoculars that they were using to practically stalk the people of Starcourt Mall.

"You see anything?" Dustin asked Steve. The three were crouched behind the plants, and Steve was the one trying to find their secret Russian spy.

"Uh, I guess I don't totally know what I'm looking for," Steve said.

"Evil Russians," Dustin and Claudia said in sync.

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

"Tall, blond, not smiling," Dustin said.

"So Robin?" Claudia asked.

"She's barely blonde. Also, look for ear pieces, camo, duffel bags, that sort of thing."

"Right, okay, duffle bags. Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," Steve became still, focusing the binoculars on something."

"What?" Dustin asked.

"Anna Jacobi's talking to that meathead Mark Lewinsky."

"Give me the binoculars, Steve," Claudia said.

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

Claudia snatched the goggles from Steve and put them to her own eyes. "Dude, you are the worst spy in history, you know that?" Dustin said, "Besides, I don't even get why you're looking at girls, anyway, you have the perfect one right in front of you."

Claudia pulled a face of confusion. "Seriously if you say Robin again," Steve said.

"Robin?" Claudia asked, an unknown feeling arising in her chest.

"Robin. Robin, Robin, Robin, Robin, Robin. Robin, Robin, Robin."

"No."

"Robin."

"No."

"Robin."

"No! No, man, she's not my type. She's not even... remotely in the ballpark of what my type is, all right?"

"What's your type again? Not awesome?"

"Thank you. For your information, she's still in school. And she's weird. She's a weirdo. And she's hyper, I don't like that she's hyper. And she did drama, that's a bad look. And she's in band? No."

"Steve, I don't like that you're dissing my best friend right in front of me," Claudia said. Right. Best friend.

"Now that you're out of high school, which means you're technically an adult, don't you think it's time you move on from primitive constructs such as popularity?"

"Oh, primitive constructs? That some stupid shit you learned at Camp... Know... Nothing?"

"Camp Know Where, actually. And no, it's shit I learned from life. Instead of dating someone because you think it's gonna make you cooler,  why not date somebody you actually enjoy being around? Like me and Suzie."

"Oh, Suzie. Yeah, you mean 'hotter than Phoebe Cates'. Yeah, that Suzie. And, uh, let's think about how exactly did you score that beautiful girlfriend. Oh, yeah. With my advice. Because that's how this works, Henderson. I give you the advice, you follow through. Not the other way around, all right, pea-brain."

"I hate being around this much testosterone," Claudia said. "Oh my God! Tall blonde guy with black clothes and a huge ass duffel bag. Bonus for the sun glasses indoors. Totally an evil Russian! He's kinda hot. Do you think I could seduce him into not blowing us up?"

"You think everyone's hot," Steve said.

"Not you."

"Sure."

They followed the man up the escalators, somehow not catching his attention. "Slow down," Dustin said."

"We're losing him," Steve said.

"You're getting too close."

"Watch it, dickwad!" Some guy said when Claudia bumped into his arm.

"That's no way to speak to a lady," Claudia said, continuing to follow the guy. He suddenly turned around, and Steve and Claudia hid behind a plant, while Dustin pretended to be on the phone.

They continued to watch him, until he walked into a yoga class. Jazzercise.  He pulled a boombox out of the duffel bag and ripped off his shirt to reveal a bright purple top underneath. They watched dumbfounded.

"I mean, we could stay and watch... he could be an evil Russian," Claudia said.

"You're so weird," Dustin replied. That was one way to put it.

"The week is long. The silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west. A trip to China sounds nice if you tread lightly. Tread lightly?" Robin repeated the same thing she'd been repeating all day. She looked through her Russian translation book, but was distracted by a knock on the back door. She jumped through the window, opening the door to a delivery man.

"Delivery for you," he said.

Robin took the box from him. "Thank you," she said, signing the paper. She looked at the logo on his chest. Lynx transportation.

"Have a nice day."

"Yeah, you too." She watched as he walked away. The logo on his back was a lynx, a silver lynx. "Silver cat. Sliver cat."

Steve, Dustin and Claudia walked back into the store. "Rob, you're not gonna believe who these two thought was a Russian."

Rob? He had a nickname for her? "You did too!" Dustin said.

"No, I did not."

"Yes, you did," Claudia said.

"No, I did not!"

Robin ran past the bickering three, jumping up onto a bench, Claudia followed her. "A trip to China sounds nice," Robin repeated, looking around the mall, her eyes landing on a Chinese restaurant. She looked back down at the book. "If you tread lightly." She then again looked up to see the shoe store.

"You're on a roll," Claudia said.

Robin shushed her. "When blue and yellow meet in the west. When blue meets yellow... in the west." The clock. The clock with the large blue and yellow handles, in the west of the mall.

"Robin," Steve said, "What are you doing?"

"I cracked it."

"Cracked what?"

"I cracked the code."