"Oh, crap, oh, crap, oh, crap," Wendy mumbles to herself, weaving in and out of shoppers in order to arrive at her job as quickly as possible. Her alarm clock didn't go off this morning, meaning she woke up thirty minutes later than usual and had to arrange a ride with her father, who was less than pleased to help her.

      Wendy takes a short cut through the food court, almost colliding with some poor blond kid hurrying away from Scoops with mint chocolate chip on a waffle cone.

      "Hey," Robin calls from the register, "where's the fire?"

      Wendy's face burns, bouncing on the balls of her feet and throwing nervous glances at The Gap from where she stands. "W-woke up l-l-late. G-gotta go!"

      "Okay, okay. Wait! Wanna help me with decoding some top-secret Russian communications at lunch?"

      Eager to get to work, Wendy nods, throwing out a "Sure!" before racing away from the beaming girl. As she reaches the store, she catches Lindsey standing near the back with an unamused smile on her face. She halts in front of her, eyes wide and mouth moving far quicker than she ever thought it could. "I am so sorry, Linds. It will n-n-never, ever, h-h-happen again, I-I promise--"

      "Relax, will you?" Lindsey asks, glancing behind the girl at the customers piling in. "You're late, whatever, we'll talk about that after everyone is gone." Wendy nods mutely, turning on her heel and beginning to move to the cash register to start her shift when Lindsey grabs her hand. "Nope, you're not on register today, you're going to help people find dressing rooms." Wendy blinks in confusion and horror at the news. Lindsey stares at her incredulously. "Go, Wendy. Now."

      Wendy nods rapidly, taking hold of the keys that Lindsey thrust into her hands a second later. She turns on her heel, narrowly dodging a table clad with jeans on her way to the back. As she stops in front of the vacant rooms, her brows furrow in confusion, her mind brought back to what Robin had said to her earlier. "Secret Russian communications," she mutters to herself, letting out a shaky breath. "Okay. Totally normal. Probably fake. Should be fun. Not weird at all."

      Max Mayfield rushes into the store with a brunette girl beside her, taking the attention of Wendy immediately. The duo laughs loudly, flitting around the store as they search for something to buy. Lindsey sends her a look from the front of the store; watch them. If they knocked something over in their excitement, Wendy would have to be the one to pick it up. If they stole something, Heaven forbid, then Wendy would need to report them.

      But Wendy knew Max and she wasn't worried about the latter so much as the former.

      "Hello, g-girls," Wendy greets, grinning at them as they admire some of the stores more... unusual options. "Would you l-l-like to try on some c-clothes?"

      The brunette gapes at her, her eyes drifting around the store for a moment before she leans forward and whispers, "right here?"

      "No, no." Max laughs awkwardly, widening her eyes at her friend as a silent 'shut up' before turning back to Wendy. "We would like to, actually. In the," her eyes dart to the brunette's," dressing rooms."

      Wendy nods in confusion, glancing between the girls for a short moment before telling them to gather their clothing and follow her. She unlocks the door to Three, allowing the brunette to enter the room. While she's changing, Wendy turns to smile at Max. "Um, w-what's her name again?"

      "El," she replies with a tight smile.

      "Okay then," Wendy says slowly, noting the unsure smile on the younger girl's face. "If you n-need anyt-t-thing, come and get me."

      El joins them in vibrant yellow pants, red suspenders and a large, blue t-shirt. Max grins at the girl, watching as she slowly steps towards the mirror between them. As El stares at herself in shock and amusement, Max slaps a yellow beret on her head. The redhead shakes her head when her friend adjusts it so it's flat against her head, switching it so it's slanted to the side. El nods in thanks, then presses her thumbs against the suspenders, drawing them forward and watching them snap back. They both burst into a fit of giggles.

      Wendy sucks her bottom lip into her mouth to stop herself from laughing at the two girls. When Lindsey sends her a stern look, she ducks her head, excuses herself, and moves on to the next customers.

__

"I have to get home, so you're locking up."

      Wendy looks up from the register, taking in Lindsey's slightly perplexed expression. "Oh, uh, sure. Everything okay?"

      Lindsey nods, lips pressed together in a thin line. Two seconds later, the blonde sighs and grabs her bag from the counter, making a hasty exit through the front of the store. "I'll see you tomorrow, Wendy."

      Wendy doesn't get the chance to respond, instead opting to send the back of the girl a silent wave. She sighs heavily when she disappears down the no-longer-moving escalators. It was clear that something had happened at home, Lindsey rarely ever got upset otherwise. Regardless, if it wasn't too late, Wendy would probably receive a phone call and an apology from her tonight.

      The metal gate clangs loudly against the linoleum floor, Wendy's bag sliding to one side and threatening to send her toppling over as she bends down to attach the lock to it. She yelps in surprise as she loses her footing for a moment, then rights herself. Face flushing, she glances around the mall to see if any stragglers had noticed her fall. Much to her relief, no one is there.

      The mall is sort of eerie when everything is closed. Most of the lights are off and the mannequins seem to stare her down from behind glass walls. Biting her lip, she hoists her bag further up her shoulder and quickens her pace through the food court.

      She pauses outside of Scoops Ahoy. The shop is still open, the lights still on. She wonders briefly if Steve or Robin forgot to close up, but the familiar jingle of keys in the back tells her someone is still there. She feels her chest tighten at the thought of it being the former. That hope deflates a second later. Robin had needed her earlier, had invited her to help out with decoding some secret Russian communications, but Wendy had been so busy that she'd forgotten.

      Guilt immediately clawed at her insides, along with disappointment. Spending some extra time with Robin would have been incredible.

      Wendy walks up to the stand, feeling a little bashful about the whole thing, and taps a finger on the bell residing beside the register. It's sharp ring cuts through the silence. A second passes.

      "Did someone just ring the bell?" a hushed voice asks.

      Another voice joins them, seemingly anxious, "Dude, just tell them you're closed!"

      "Uh..." Steve's voice is muffled by the window he stands in front of, but Wendy can see the outline of his hair perfectly. "We're closed, come back again tomorrow!"

      "Steve?" Wendy asks, a little flustered. "It's me, Wendy."

      The windows fly open, revealing Steve, Robin, and a middle schooler that Wendy is pretty sure slow danced with Nancy Wheeler, but she's not aware of his name.

      Robin raps her fingers on the counter. "Hey. You, uh, you came."

      Wendy nods. "Yeah. Yeah, uh, sorry that I'm so late. Work was busy." Her brows furrow as she glances at the two boys beside Robin, both at a loss for words. "What, uh... W-What happened with the secret Russian communications?"

      "You told her?!" The middle schooler whisper screams, clearly not understanding that Wendy could hear every word he said. "This is top secret, Robin!"

      "I thought she could help!" Robin retorts.

      "Yeah, and we're supposed to talk about that as a group, alright? A group, Robin."

      "Dude!" Steve interrupts, glancing between them. "Who cares? She knows, so let's catch her up. Maybe she can help."

      "Um," Wendy starts, a little awkward. "Yeah, well, I don't know about that..."

      "Hush, you're brilliant." Robin waves her off, then uses that same hand to gesture inside. "Come in. We'll explain."

AUTHORS NOTE:

As those of you keeping up with my Instagram account know, the rest of this series is planned out and I'm very excited about it! It's going to go be a wild ride y'all. Get ready.

Update: this has taken forever because I lost my inspiration to write for this series, but it's slowly coming back! I can't wait to finish it up, though.