"Okay" Ashley said and removed some of her gold hair that covered her face. "Well . . . I gotta run. I have a class, -yoga class- in a minute." She turned to Paul "And it was nice meeting you, Paul." She said and pecked his cheek.

Paul smiled sheepishly and locked unblinking eyes with her. He watched Ashley and observed that for the first time in his life he understood why people used words like flawless to describe another, because if he was asked to describe Ashley with one word, Flawless would be the first thing to pop into his head and radiant would be the second. On her face he found no pimple, freckle or wrinkle. She only radiated a pink summer aura, and his scrutinizing eyes had nothing on her. He looked into her eyes and felt lost, he noticed her smile and did not worry about any thing. He watched her hair fly in the wind and he did not care that she had a lifestyle quite similar to Jake's, baring all the qualities he detested. He just knew that he would love to see her again.

What the hell is happening? Jake wondered, a little curious, a little excited and a little pissed. He watched Paul smile sheepishly and wondered if he was doped on some kind of drugs.

"Bye." Ashley said and "Bye." Paul replied with a blush. She dug her hand again into her purse, pulled out some cash and put it in Paul's hand as if in a handshake. "Here." She said with a kind smile. "Just in case you run into any other money trouble today." Then she turned to Jake. "Jake."She said and nodded, as if he was the stranger among them.

"Ashley." Jake answered accordingly, before she walked away and Paul's eyes walked with her.

Jake noticed and this time was on the verge of shaking Paul vigorously and yelling; what the hell is happening to you?

-

Melanie did not want to think about it, but as much as she tried, she couldn't help but remember Ashley's face. As she walked between the shelves, stocked full with various sport gadgets, she remembered Ashley's small hand in Paul's. She remembered how Paul looked at and smiled at her, listening keenly to her demeaning story. She remembered the way Ashley twirled her golden hair around her little finger and suddenly, she stopped mid-step and her mind returned to her body. She looked around and realized that she had strolled passed the Sport Gadgets Section of the mall. She had noticed, because this area was chilly for the fact that she was in the Meat Section, surrounded by fish and animal parts lying in ice, far from the aisle she was supposed to turn into to find the skates. She sighed and gave up on her plan to work on her attitude, to become nicer and sweeter, because she was beginning to feel like she was competing and considering being new at this, considering Ashley's obvious skill and experience, considering her adorable feminine grace and petite doll like appearance, there was no point for her to try at all. She would only fall short, fail miserably and even embarrass herself.

I will be myself instead. She decided. Not try at all, and on that . . . make fun of others who do.

-

Jake poked Paul obnoxiously.

"Ouch!" He exclaimed and his attention was pulled to Jake.

"You can stare at her all day if you want; but at least keep your pie-hole shut while at it."

"What?" Paul was too distracted to understand.

Jake yelled. "What's wrong with you?"

"What is your problem?" Paul queried. "You wanted me to go out and meet people, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Jake answered and then realized that he didn't understand why he was so upset. "Of course . . . but, not with . . . that one."

"Ashley?" Paul looked confused. "Why? What's wrong with Ashley?"

Jake's mouth was open, but words did not come out of it. "Well . . . don't you see? She's like sort of . . . not . . . your type."

Paul was taken aback. He considered Jake's words and his confusion only grew. "I don't get it. What do you believe my type is?"

Jake shrugged. "I don't know . . . I don't know, Paul; cool . . . calm . . . collected? Never mind." He waved it off. "But . . . I thought you're like..." He watched his words. "...into Melanie."

Paul stepped back and looked at Jake like he had gone mad, as if he had no idea why Jake would think so. "Why would you think that?"

Jake became defensive. "I don't know. There was a look."

"A look?"

"Yeah, at the parking lot." He said. "You two were looking at each other like..." He trailed off when he noticed Paul arch an eyebrow like Melanie did earlier, giving him a look that queried; Are you listening to yourself talk? You know you sound stupid, right? Jake gave up with a sigh. "Never mind." He said and shook his head.

Paul smirked mischievously. "Are you jealous of me, Jake?" He asked. "Are you jealous that I'm getting all of the attention?"

"Really?" Jake squinted and his jaw dropped in incredulity. "That, really came to your mind? I've really got to ask Paul. Are you high on some kind of mad herbal African drug?"

Paul laughed triumphantly and his shoulder bounced accordingly. "No, Jake. I'm naturally so high. So high you can address me as Your Royal Highness henceforth."

He laughed and Jake couldn't help but allow a little chuckle to escape his throat. He shook his head. "Come on . . . Your Highness" He said and pointed to a small ice cream kiosk at an end corner of the mall. "Let's wait there for Melanie and spend some of your gunning-for-attention-cash-gift from your newest ladyfriend" he said, with a couple of air quotes and a hint of sarcasm.

-

Melanie weighed the black skate and the blue one in her hands and instantly regretted the fact that she claimed she could shop for and guess rightly, the sizes of two persons that she had just met. She sighed and decided to go with the slightly smaller blue one, but on second thought, she was afraid that she could be wrong, that Paul would try out that blue one and it would be too small, then she would end up feeling stupid. I wouldn't like to disappoint them. At that thought, she paused. What? She wondered. Would not like to disappoint them? . . what the hell has come over me? She shunned that thought and threw the blue one into her cart and went on to grab the second of the pair. She told herself that she wouldn't care if the boys felt disappointed with her. Okay. I can do this. She said to herself. I will play it cool. Be like their buddy or something and focus on doing my job. She noticed a middle aged woman staring at her for a moment and she wondered if the woman could see through her; see the storm she fought within and hear the conflicting voices in her head.

-

Jake paid the sales man whose fat cheeks illustrated an idea that he eats more ice cream than he sells. He carried the mixed flavoured ice cream cups in a pulp tray to the small round wooden table under a shade two meters from the kiosk. "I texted Melanie..." Jake said as he approached the table. "...so that she won't go looking for us when she's done."

"Thank you." Paul said when Jake handed him his own cup with a tiny spoon that looked like the spatulas he often used in Chemistry labs. "That's thoughtful."

"So..." Jake started as he tore through the seal cover of the ice cream cup. "How come you let Ashley go, just like that?"

Paul rolled the ice cream in his mouth with his tongue and savored the mixed fruit flavor and cream. He considered Jake's question as an after thought. "I don't understand." He said and dug deep into the cup. "I think there is groundnut in mine." He said about the ice cream. "...I mean peanut, like you Americans say it."

"I knew what you meant." Jake retorted sharply, eager to reverse the topic. "So why didn't you ask her out or take her number or something?"

Paul was taken aback a little. He felt like Jake's question was odd. "Just like that?"

"Why not?"

Paul shrugged. "How was I supposed to do that? I just met the girl."

"What do you mean?" Jake imagined that he was joking. "You just say, hey, wanna go out sometime? I mean, that's how I do it. Then bam, you get to know her on the date."

"And that works? Just like that?"

"Yea!"

Paul began to laugh as if he did not take Jake seriously, but actually he would rather laugh and eat the delicious calming ice cream in front of him than explain that he does not do his things that way, that he does not jump into a decision that he had not taken time to scrutinize, that he had far more important things to bother himself about. And he knew that that topic would lead to another whole level of discussion and arguments, which he had no energy for.

"What?" Jake asked. "How do you get a girl to go out with you in Nigeria?"

"I'm guessing by, you know..." Melanie startled them when she sneaked up on them without a prior notice. She spoke jestingly, managing to keep her cool. "Like hold the car door for her and uh . . .  oh! I know; stare at her with your mouth wide open and drooling like a psycho. Seriously dude, you looked like you wanted to swallow her whole . . . and I mean literary."

Jake recoiled theatrically and drew in air through his teeth gaps, making a sizzling sound. "You've just got burned, bro." He said with a fitting grimace and drama. "You got burned so bad it's nasty."

Melanie chuckled and felt proud of herself. She had found an opportunity to strike, she jumped on it, launched and executed it expertly. It felt good and reminded her of her legendary savageries during high school.

"Oh!" Paul seemed embarrassed. "You too, you noticed?"

"Baby..." Melanie feigned a theatrical look of concern and spoke softly. "I think your mama noticed from across the globe."

"Snap!" Jake exclaimed, leaned back and repeated that sizzling sound. He leaned towards Paul, touched his hand with the tip of his finger, recoiled and feigned hurt. "Oh my God, Paul." He said, feigning concern. "Are you okay?"

Paul bowed defeatedly and shook his head. "I really don't like this game."

Melanie took her time to chuckle, to savor the moment before she pulled and dropped the large orange shopping bag on the table, care freely. The guys took and held their cups in their hands and exchanged glances, telepathically discussing Melanie's attitude. They tolerated her. "So..." She started. "I hope you guys like what I bought, 'cause you know? I don't really  know you guys and all, and I didn't really put a lot of thought to it." She lied and chuckled a bit. "So..." She pulled out, Paul's blue pair and gave it to him.

In a sort of exchange, Paul handed her share of ice cream to her. "This one is for you. We picked out frozen yoghurt for you."

"Oh!" Melanie exclaimed and was speechless for a moment. Her mind was busy calculating, trying to guess if accepting the ice cream posed as any significant social code. She wanted to be professional and also, she did not want to sell her pride, to turn out to be that girl from a working class family, who from accepting yoghurts, moved on to live, like a house rodent, off rich guys' gifts. "No thanks." She denied his offer and tried to sound as polite as she could.

Paul was a little flabbergasted, because he could not find any significant reason why Melanie would reject a yoghurt, unless, of course if she was lactose intolerant or something, which did not seem to be the case. Was she intentionally being rude?

"Melanie..." Jake called her attention. "It's just yoghurt." He stated frankly.

Melanie stopped and considered his words. Admittedly, she salivated within. "Okay." She said after a moment and took the cup from Paul's hand, which had hung, holding the cup for too long. "Thank you." She said with a smile but Paul did not return the smile.

She pulled off the cover and was tearing off the aluminum foil seal when a guy walked up behind her and startled her with a "Hey, baby." He spoke right into her ear from behind her and Melanie almost spilled her yoghurt.

She spun and felt that the stranger in the blue hoodie and jeans looked mischievous and was mischievously too close to her. "Hi." She said and tried not to be infuriated right away. His dark hair and dark eyes begged her to punch him.

"I couldn't help but notice you when I walked by the first time." The guy spoke with a lot of confidence, but his mouth stank so much that Melanie had to hold her breath most of the time. The guy continued; "I couldn't quite move on without saying hello to the pretty lady that owns that ass."

Jake and Paul exchanged glances and Melanie was finding it hard to take the stranger's comments as mere, weird, stinky compliments. "Thank you . . . she said and managed to push him a little bit far from her in a desperate move to catch fresh air. "If you don't mind." She said to him as she turned again to face Jake and Paul. "I'd like to get back to hanging with my friends now" Immediately, she regretted turning around because she suddenly became conscious of her body, knowing that the guy was still standing there and most likely was gawking at her buttocks. Her body began to jitter gently, out of nervousness but mostly out of deep hate and anger for this perverted side of boys.

After moments of gawking, the guy snickered. "These losers are your friends?" He asked but Melanie did not respond. "Come on . . . ditch these guys and come hang out with your boy Ryan."

"You know him?" Jake asked doubtfully in a whisper to Melanie.

She shook her head in reply and Jake made to stand, to come between the stranger and Melanie, but she held him down. "I can handle it." She whispered softly, but really she meant the opposite of what Jake imagined, because she had waited for so long for someone to be crazy enough to flip her switch and turn her into her berserk mode. In that mode, she could take on the whole world, and hence, could handle anything.

"Yo" Ryan said and came closer to Melanie. "Are we gonna get down sometime or what?" He said but Melanie only breathed and sought her inner calm. He moved close to her again and this time, he leaned far too intimately and whispered; "at least write down your digits on my palm or something."

Melanie felt his spiky short beard scratch against her shoulder like an iron sponge and she really wanted to punch him, specifically on his left eye, but she couldn't. She was not angry enough . . . yet, until she felt his hands grab and squeeze her buttocks, then she punched his eye without even remembering when she had decided to. Ryan fell back, holding his eye. He cursed and a smirk sneaked onto Melanie's face. It was done, someone had finally flipped her berserk-switch on and it was time to play.

"Bitch!" Ryan cried and checked his face for blood. "I'm gonna fuck you up." He yelled, pulled everyone's attention and jumped to his feet. He rushed towards Melanie and Jake made to get involved, but soon he realized that Melanie did not need any help at all, when she kicked Ryan's knee, cursing him to loose balance and fall towards her. Then she put her right foot back for balance, grabbed Ryan's left fingers and began to bend them backwards. Jake was shocked at the smirk on Melanie's face. He wondered why she seemed to enjoy executing this sort of punishment. Passersby watched as Melanie bent Ryan's fingers to the unnatural direction and as he cried out and cursed and only threatened Melanie. The punishment forced Ryan onto one knee in a pathetic position with which he adopted desperately in hope to reduce the pain and save his fingers.

"I'm going to kill you, bi..." He was about to yell again, but Melanie could not stand his yells and curses anymore so she kicked him on the face like it was football.

"Oh!" Most people exclaimed and it resonated. Some audience, like Paul dropped all the they were holding and held their own mouths as if a residue stray kick could hit them and knock their teeth's down their throats.

"Oh my God!" Jake said and Ryan speechlessly held his numb mouth and broken bloody nose. Then without anyone seeing it coming, Melanie executed a move whereby she grabbed Ryan's shirt by the collars, aimed at the table Paul and Jake used, and then threw herself in such a way that allowed her to use her falling weight together with her strength and speed to pull down Ryan, smashing his face through the table.

Jake saw Ryan's face go through that table that way, and could have sworn that he heard his neck snap. Although he wasn't sure that it was not only the table that split into several parts. A chilly sort of fear engulfed him. He stared incredulously at Melanie who struggled to her feet triumphantly, happy and proud. She was happy that she had proven to herself that she was no longer than silly helpless girl of eight years ago, who only threw tantrum as a boy forced himself on her.

"You know what this means." Melanie said to Jake and liked the subtle fear in his eyes. "Right?"

Jake looked like he was pulled back from a trance and it took few seconds for him to collect himself. "That anyone who likes his head to stay intact should not touch your butt?"

Melanie was taken aback, then she considered it and smiled. "Well . . . that too." She said, "but I meant to say that we need to get out of here."

Paul could not believe his eyes as he stared at the guy lying on the concrete floor between his feet, looking like a corpse. He moved slowly, incredulously and coldly, seeking to make sense of these as his eyes searched Melanie's and Jake's and the presumably dead guy's for answers.

"We need to get out here." Melanie said again with a strong sense of urgency. "We need to run! Now!"

Does this mean that we are fugitives now? Paul asked himself as he managed to get his defiant feet to move. What the hell was happening? He really should have stayed indoors if he had known that going out with Jake, would only definitely lure him into trouble. He grabbed his skates and considered the abundant evidences gotten by people who recorded the event with their phones, people who witnessed him fleeing the scene with the berserk short haired lady.