Page 85 of Juliet's Echo

Looking up, my stomach dropped and my heart began racing. These three hadn't made a single appearance in this bookstore all semester, and somehow, on the very last day, Juliet, Yahya, and Mega decided to walk through those doors together. Worse, they were seeing me behind the register.

There was no explaining this away. Volunteers only dealt with stocking shelves, organizing displays, and helping professors locate course materials. Their responsibilities were carefully disguised from those of paid staff.

The ring of store keys sitting beside my cell phone on the counter sealed my fate. Yeah, there was no spinning that. That kind of responsibility wasn't handed out to volunteers looking for community hours. It belonged to people on payroll. People trusted to close the store, lock the doors, count the registers, and make sure nothing caught on fire after everyone left. One look at those keys and anybody with common sense would know I worked there.

Panic instantly took over.

Oddly enough, Juliet and Mega probably wouldn't have cared. They were annoyingly mature when it came to social interactions. Please, thank you, you look nice today, this seat is empty, come join us. You know, polite shit like that. People who could find out your life was falling apart and somehow make you feel better about it instead of worse.

Yahya?

Completely different story.

That gossip-loving menace returned energy like it was a full-time job. One sarcastic comment from me would turn into twenty from her. By morning, pictures of me in this apron would probably be anonymously posted all over campus with a caption talking about “humble beginnings” or “everybody starts somewhere.”

Calm down, Ava.

You got this.

Taking a deep breath, I straightened my posture and prepared myself for impact as the three of them approached the counter.

Mega stared.

Yahya stared.

Juliet didn’t even look up from her phone.

Bitch.

“We’d like to donate these books for next semester’s giveaway,” Yahya said.

“Well, there are two problems. One, you don’t go here. And two, you missed the deadline for selling used books. That was last week,” I snarled.

“Oh shit, look at you being a good employee. Knowing who's a student and who’s not, all the deadlines and shit. You go, girl,” Yahya responded in a phony-friendly voice.

She even reached across the counter and lightly tapped my hand as if she was genuinely proud of me.

Here we go.

“Look, they go here,” she said, pointing at Juliet and Mega. “And I am their better half, so it’s always awething. Oh, and notice I used the worddonateand notsellwith your miserable ass. Those are two completely different things.”

“Aww, yes, donate,” I replied. “Did you learn that word yourself, or did Mega read it to you?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Yahya start to raise her hand.

Thank God, Mega caught it immediately.

Her crazy ass would have beat mine.

“Look, Ava,” Juliet said calmly. “We just want to donate the books and get the receipt to verify our community service hours. We don’t want any problems.”

Now she wanted to speak?

This girl walks in, doesn’t say hello, doesn’t even look my way, and the first thing out of her mouth is a demand?

Oh, she got me fucked up.

Everyone else may worship the ground their perfect Juliet walks on, but the bitch is a fraud.