Try To Change Me

Chapter 40

Salena could never have imagined that three little words could cause so much damage, but the evidence was in front of her. After she'd spoken, Mr Irving's mouth had fallen open, Hazmat had choked on his own spit and Finn had broken into a deranged chuckle that had him squirming in his seat. Ms Smith was the only one who reacted normally; freezing for a second before calmly passing their rubbish to her.

"Thank you...um...Sally," she said softly, nudging her elbow into Anthony. "Do you... enjoy working here?"

Trying to balance their waste on a tray and decipher what her teacher was saying was not as easy as Salena though it would be. Enjoy? What was Ms Smith on about?

Her coworker had finally snapped out of his daze. "She means," he murmured, leaning forward intently, "Are the customers OK in this neighbourhood?"

Suits?!

The word dragged through her mind like a cheese-grater, making her wince. She nodded quickly. "They're fine... I mean, there are always a few creepy guys...uh, hanging out in the carpark but," stuttering and pausing she remembered there was a reason she didn't take drama, "it's not too bad because I work with... some of my colleagues are friends, if that makes any sense."

Mr Irving and Ms Smith nodded with relief, automatically sinking towards each other in relief. Finn had finally stopped laughing at Haz's expense and gave him a few weak slaps on the back until he stopped coughing.

"What are you trying to do, kid?" the man croaked out, twisting away from him. "Tickle me?"

Finnegan stopped quickly after that, scowling at him and crossing his arms in a huff. "When can we leave?"

Anthony and Ella exchanged a glance and then looked to Salena. "Is there a side door we could use... Sally?"

Dread settled in the pit of Salena's stomach, reminding her cruelly that this was as far as she'd plan. Her checklist had consisted of one item - find them - and now that it was ticked off she had no script left to follow. If only she could talk to the others...

"If you're unsatisfied with the quality of your service," she said slowly, clasping both hands around the tray in her arms, "You can make a complaint directly to the manager. He's probably in the kitchen." When nobody moved she continued, "Or maybe he's gone out the staff door to have a smoke." Salena had no idea if the man who had stopped Ebony was actually the manager or a smoker, but he seemed like enough of a douche to be both.

There was a confused pause that lasted for the longest second of Salena's life before they agreed and launched to their feet with sufficient looks of distaste. They navigated back to the counter, swerving through customers and employees alike. More people seemed to be queuing than had been before and Salena hoped they offered enough camouflage. Any of her 'co-workers' that looked at them strangely received a mumbled "complaint for the manager" that they accepted far too easily to assure Salena of the quality of the food. If this whole experience hadn't been enough to put her off fast food for life, their knowing smirks definitely were.

They reached the middle of the kitchen, where Salena had left Ebony before, without seeing any of the others. Turning in a circle, she anxiously scanned every face buried beneath caps, hairnets and oil and focused on her breathing. When she finished her rotation, she was facing the boy whose tray she stole. Reaching forward, he took it back - rubbish and all - and then jerked his head in the direction of the walk-in-freezer Ebony had shoved the other three into earlier. Salena smiled gratefully a him but didn't wait for his response.

Three steps, arm extended, low grunt to shift the heavy door. Then a wall of icy air was hitting Salena in the face and she blinked in surprise. Sure, she expected the air to be cold, but the attitude inside was worse. All four teenagers inside the freezer were standing as far away from each other as they could, now glaring at her. She gulped.

"Oh thank God!" Phitz sighed, shoulders sagging with relief as he moved away from boxes of nuggets and towards her. "This love triangle is worse than Bermuda!"

Salena blinked again, titling her head t the side as he passed her. "I thought you were supposed to be stupid?" she asked, cringing at her own bluntness.

He just took it on-board with a shrug. "Who says I'm not?"

Carissa came next, somehow managing to look fierce and graceful even though her lips were tuning an unfortunate shade of blue. She tossed her hair as she passed Salena, but the other girl hardly noticed. her gaze was fixed on the other two, as foreign voices glided drearily through her mind.

...can't believe he did that...

She shouldn't... secrets?

Carissa... Austen had... why...

...Ebony...

Salena slapped her hands over her ears. "Jesus!" she snapped loudly, startling them both into moving. "Could you guys think any louder?"

They kept shuffling towards her, slipping out of the freezer into the much warmer kitchen with tiny sighs of relief. "What?" Austen asked quietly as he passed her.

Lowering her arms and ignoring his question, Salena joined everyone else in appealing to Hazmat. "What do we do now?" She demanded.

Haz raised a hand to count on his fingers. "Firstly, we get out of here. Then we need to drive the van as far as it can go in the direction of the switch vehicle. And for step three I'll take you guys somewhere you'll be safe."

Finnegan squinted into the middle of the circle they had formed, fingers tracing imaginary writing inthe air. "Ah, fine print," he sneered, "We have to do all of that with suits watching out every move. That doesn't make it harder at all!"

Hazmat cocked her head at him, frowning. "What's your point?"