The Original Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 0.50)

“Um…” The guy still looked horrified.

“What?” I snapped. I was impatient and this guy was not making me calmer.

“It’d help if I knew what exactly you’re looking for,” he scrambled.

“Why do you need to know that?”

“Because there could be a thousand different traces once I get in there. Anything you can give me would help cut down on some of the leg-work.”

“Don’t go for anything that’s federal. That help?” I raised my eyebrows.

He took a deep breath.

“We’re skipping fifth period and you want me to do some very illegal stuff—I need to know why,” he stammered, looking like he couldn’t believe he just said that to me.

“You’re going to be skipping more than fifth,” I stated.

He didn’t move.

“Because there are some people who fucked with me and I need to know why. I’m pretty sure that this is going to lead me to whatever the hell information I need to make sense of why every person in my life is lying to me,” I said forcefully.

The guy had a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look and I was fixing to run him over.

I tried a different tactic. “Okay,” I muttered, gentling my voice, “what do you want? I can try to get it for you.”

He just blinked and then stared at me.

“Really. A friend of mine wanted an invite to a party. I did that. What do you want? Like a computer? I can get that for you,” I reasoned. At this rate, I’ll try anything. I’d steal anything, if he’d just turn those goddamn fingers to that fucking keyboard.

He still didn’t say anything.

Plan C.

“If you don’t get to work, I have a car and I will run it over you, then, when you’re lying on the ground, I will use my taser on you. Then I’ll back up and do it again.”

“I want to go on a date with Aidrian Casners,” he spit out, his eyes wider than an owl’s.

“You want a what?”

“A date. With Aidrian Casners.” He seemed to grow more confident each time he said it.

“Who’s Aidrian Casners? I don’t even know her.”

“She’s easy to find. She’s always out in the parking lot. She’s usually wearing a mini-skirt and a halter-top. Yesterday she had on a purple sequined halter top and she wore these sparkling sandals. She has a tattoo on her thigh. It’s a unicorn.”

“Okay,” I cried out, more to get him to shut up. “She sticks out. I got it.”

“And?” He waited.

“I’ll work on it,” I mumbled. “Now get working on my stuff!”

*

I stayed put until seventh period. Props lived up to his name; I had to give him props. Once he buckled down and actually got to work—he was cursing and sweating up a storm in no time. But I saw the gleam in his eyes. He liked the challenge and this was a challenge for him. I was starting to think he’d never gotten a challenge like this before, or he’d never had an excuse to go looking for this challenge.

Whatever. I was just happy because he was working on it.

“So…” Molly began, waiting for me.