Once the redhead was gone, Annie turned to Sabine. "So, what do we do now?"
"I'm not supposed to be home until after dinner," Sabine told her.
Annie hummed. "How about we go back to the mall? Go to the bookstore, flip through some books?" Since Connie was no longer with them, they could go there without any complaints.
Sabine smiled. "All right."
Thus Annie and Sabine made their way back across the park to Miss Megamall, back to the den of school children on spring break. The bookstore, however, was not as crowded as the other shops in the mall. It was peaceful and quiet. Time passed quickly as Annie lost herself in the words of fiction.
Maybe she should pick up a good book or two, something to read at home after she was done with homework. It was for the time when she had a spare moment and was too lazy to wait for the computer to power up so she could find something of interest on the Internet.
What would be a good read? A book of jokes? An amusing story perhaps? Oh hello, Billy.
"Billy!" Annie blurted her surprise.
Billy, her classmate, started when he saw her. "Annie!"
"Hi, um, what are you doing here?" Annie asked.
"Oh, just accompanying Reese, he's..." Billy looked round the bookcase. "... somewhere. You?"
"Me? Oh, just picking up a book to read. I'm here with Sabine. She's also..." Annie glanced around but found her view blocked by the bookcases. "... somewhere."
"Mmm, yeah, easy to get lost here," Billy remarked as he picked a book on humor from the nearby bookcase. Whether he meant lost physically or in thought was uncertain.
Annie also selected a book to examine. "So, ah, why are you here with Reese?"
"If I don't get Reese out, he's going to rot with all his books at home," Billy said, "We're pals from middle school, so I'm concerned about him."
"Rather than rot with all the books here?" Annie asked.
"We're here only because he won't go out otherwise." Though the brown-haired boy had his eyes on his open book, he had not flipped the page for a while. "It's a shame, he's a nice guy and not a bad face too - I'm sure you've noticed his smile - but he's not meeting with girls, talking with them, having fun with them."
"You make him sound like he's a great guy. I may be interested," Annie mentioned coyly.
"You? I don't think you're suitable for him."
Annie's eyes flashed dangerously at him. "Are you saying I'm not good enough?"
Billy must have caught Annie's expression at the edge of his view, for he had flinched. He hurriedly closed the book. "No, not that. All I'm saying is, ah..." He shifted from foot to foot uneasily.
It would be hard for him to dig himself out of the hole he got himself into. But Annie was not really interested in seeing him squirm. Rather, there was something else that she wanted.
Annie replaced her book on the shelf. "What about Sabine? Do you think she's suitable for Reese."
Billy practically jumped for the conversational lifeline she offered. "Oh, yes. Maybe. I can't speak for him."
"We should get them together and see what happens," Annie suggested.
"How are we going to do that?" Billy asked, "You get Sabine, I get Reese, we meet somewhere?"
"I was thinking we should have dinner together somewhere." After her little irritation with Billy earlier, she was about to suggest he pay but decided otherwise. Doing so would make her more like Connie than she cared to be. Instead, she said, "Let's grab some fast food, my treat."
"Oh, but we can't have you pay," Billy started his protest.
"Are you paying then? Or we can split the cost." She was amused to see his expression change from alarm at the first suggestion to receptive on the second.
"We'll split the cost," Billy agreed.
Perfect. Billy pays a little for her irritation and Sabine would not need to spend any of her dwindling budget.
"I should get Sabine and you need to find Reese." Annie took out her handphone from her handbag. "Do you have a handphone?"
Billy did have one. They had exchanged handphone numbers and arranged to meet at the fast-food outlet downstairs.
When Annie found her friend in the travel section, Sabine unconcernedly agreed to the dinner plans. Though she tried to hide it, the plump girl's eyes lit up at the mention of Reese. She also developed the habit of checking her watch every two minutes.
***
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