Walrus Pizza (Walrus Hut Series Book 2)

Chapter 28 (Lilla)

I hold up another shirt.

"What about this one?"

"That's the one," answers Ava.

"I'm bored. Let's go to the food court." Says Jemma, and Kate agrees. My friends and I are shopping at the Georgia Square Mall.

"Let's go to JC Penny," suggests Ava. 

"But I need food!" Protests Jemma.

"Let's stop at the food court and then go to JC Penny," I tell them.

"Guess where I'm going during Christmas break!" Says Ava as we walk.

"Your grandparent's house?" Asks Jemma.

"Nope! My mom and Ella are taking me to an uptown mall in Toronto!" She says excitedly.

"Why are you going out of the country to shop?" Asks Kate. Good question.

"To look for wedding dresses, and that mall has some pretty good stores." Ava answers. Oh yeah, I forgot that her sister is getting married.

"Well, why don't you go to Dallas, that place has good bridal stores," I say.

"Since when did you go to Dallas?" Asks Jemma.

"A few years ago. We went for a football game, but my mom took me shopping." I answer. 

"Ooh, can we go into Hot Topic real quick?" Asks Kate, and we all pretty much say yes and follow her.

"Ah! Code seven!" I hide behind a rack of clothes.

"What's code seven again? I forgot." Asks Kate.

Jack and his friends walk in.

"This Pokémon hat is perfect for my collection!" Jack remarks and Justin picks up a Spiderman hat. Okay, things just got weird. 

"Jemma!" I hiss, "Distract them so I can get out!"

"No way! I'm not talking to Justin!" Fine. Maybe Ava will talk to Garfield.

"Ava! Help!" I whisper.

"Do you need more hats? There's more over there." Ava leads them to a different part of the store and I escape. Kate and Jemma follow me to the food court. 

I see Spencer and Jake leaning against a wall. Spencer is dressed like someone that I can't put a finger on.

"Why is Spencer dressed like the guy from Psych?" Wonders Jemma, that's who he's dressed like!

"You know him?" Asks Kate.

"We work at Walrus Hut. You should too," Jemma tells her.

"I want to meet him," says Kate.

"Come on," I say, and they follow me over there.

"What do you want?" Whines Jake. All of my friends have met Jake at some point.

"I want to meet your friend, Shawn Spencer." Says Kate, oh wow.

"Oh, sweet! Someone finally noticed!" Spencer says proudly. They start talking about it and Ava runs over to me.

"You owe me big time for that one! Jack said I was being obnoxious, Michael was getting suspicious and Justin told me to quit hitting on him! I don't even like Justin! Not even a little bit! And the other guys sided with him! Chad told me to give Justin some space! But I don't. Like. Justin." She says angrily.

"I'll knock Garfield off his high horse," I say and start toward Hot Topic.

"No! We are not going back there!" She tells me, grabbing my arm.

"And its so cool that his last name is my name!" Spencer is telling Kate.

"You are so lucky!" Kate exclaims. I sit down at a table and people watch.

"Hey, isn't that guy from Pizza Mart?" Jemma asks me, pointing to a boy eating a cookie.

"Wait a minute, yeah. That is him." 

"I think his name is Marco." Says Jemma.

"Let's go talk to him," I say and we walk over to him. He sees us and smiles.

"Helloooo ladies. How can I help you?"

"Don't you work at Pizza Mart?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I'm head chef."

"You guys have a head chef!?" I exclaim, and I turn to Jemma and make a writing motion with my hands, and she pulls her phone out. I compose myself,

"So shouldn't you be working?"

"Well, everyone needs a break." He says, shrugging.

"So, what kind of routine do you have?"

"Well, I get up and eat breakfast, get dressed, every once in a while I take a shower." Jemma stops him before I can.

"Whoa, first of all, TMI, second of all, she meant at Pizza Mart."

"Oh! I shouldn't be the one to tell you this because Michael tells me that I'm not the boss and I can't play Taylor Swift while we work. But you know what? He's the bossy one!"

"What do you make your pizzas out of?" I ask him.

"Why would I tell you that?" He says while taking another bite of his cookie.

"Just tell us," I say.

"Security! This lady is bothering me!" Marco yells, and the security officers give me a disapproving look. Marco leaves the food court.

"That reminds me of the way Mitchell used to talk about you before you guys became friends. Michael bosses Marco around a lot." Says Jack. Argh! He found me.

"How do you know Marco?" I ask calmly.

"Because I work at Pizza Mart," He answers. "I know your secrets, and I have to say that Pizza Mart functions better."

"Okay let me at him!" I lunge for him, but Jemma holds me back, and Ava rushes over to help.