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A bad attitude and a bullshitter There could be worse things

My forceful gaze worked—her body stiffened and her head jerked away But before she could coht of the unicorn slung over my arm

Hunger sparked in her muddy-brown peepers, and she swiveled her tanklike body to face me

Fear did deter bad treatment, usually, but it wouldn’t keep the patrons in this store—a place cheaper than anywhere else because of the dual-society location—away from a Burberry

Her gaze coatedin every inch She paused onI used for a purse, draped across my cheap cotton shirt Suddenly, I knew stainlessness wasn’t enough

Excite,” she said in an accusatory whisper

My knuckles turned white on the handbag strap The effort to keep h ere in the dual-society zone, so like the Wild West of San Francisco, this store only eh fuss, the non-ement would check my ID, which would reveal that I had absolutely no clout whatsoever in the ht to refuse service, and throwing me out to appease their customer base would be a no-brainer I knew this from experience

Not that I let that stop me

“Yes, I can,” I lied, strutting past her “It would take allif I should”

“I saw it first,” the flat-faced wo the clothes rack, following me Three other women looked up from around the store A man in the back wisely minded his own business “I already called dibs on it,” she continued

Ms Proud to Be a Chester frowned and clenched her jaw “I didn’t hear you call dibs”

“Dibs,” the flat-faced woman said

I tried to block out their shrill voices as they argued about the use of dibs when it pertained to Burberry handbags, and headed toward the mostly deserted men’s section The sht of lanced at a button-up shirt that reat on Mordecai’s thin fra he’d never owned

My heart sank

Mordecai His illness was the whole reason for this outing The only thing I should dream about was the ability to afford his medicine Or, pie in the sky, the procedure to cure him

I slipped the purse froround The worab hold of it first Without stopping, and ignoring the startled looks from the silent man, I made my way out of the store

Mooning over luxury itee of my life, anyway And honestly, probably never Maybe once Mordecai and Daisy, ure out a way to rake in money But honestly, just likein strays That wasn’t conducive tomoney, but this world was the pits for anyone who didn’t belong If I could keep one kid fro for the rest of my days

Drea small That was the ticket

For example, I’d alanted a sleek little cell phone like all the powerful people had, with its app-ridden screen and iility So, what did I do? I made friends with a dickface at my latest place of poorly paid euy dropped his phone all the ti shit to so I waited until the newest ain, and threw out a few comments about how the new phones were super durable, not to ht of cool

In a week, he had a new phone A week after that, when his sexual innuendos were really beginning to scrape my last nerve, he tossed me his not-that-old phone with three cracks in the screen and said, “Here You can have the run-down piece of shit It matches your whole…look”

He’d beenfun of me, as usual, which had made the transaction so much easier I’d mock-refused to take it, I’d kissed his ass for the rest of the day, and then I’d gone home with that sleek little number

The week after I’d gotten what I wanted, I chastised him every time he was a dickhead, and often stormed off afterward As desired, the pseudo-friendship fizzled quickly, and I was back to zero headaches and one stylish, newish phone

It was a small dream turned reality And my conscience was clear, too, because he was universally acknowledged to be an asshole, and everyone knew those types had it co They deserved a little manipulation once in a while

I dug in my purse for the phone as Icoinally intended to solely visit The phone’s large, bright face read twelve thirty-four Irresponsible fashion bargain hunting had bled away half of my lunch hour

Seeing a e alert from my home number, I tapped into my voicemail and watched the transcription slowly load I stepped off the sidewalk and into a rarely used service driveway cutting through the stores