Know Your Enemy

2 ~ Five Finger Discount

2 ~ Five Finger DiscountI stood in front of the mall and stared up with a mix of apprehension and excitement at the looming building. Bellvale Mall was nothing like the obscenely bright posters had made it out to be. The inside of the mall was teeming with tiny stores and traces of fresh paint mixed with the scent of roasting coffee and fried food.

Libby stood next to me and put her arm around my shoulder. “Okay, mastermind, now what?” she said, looking to me to come up with the plan, as usual. Honestly, the number of times I had to work out how to pull off her ideas would even shock Einstein.

I scanned the walkway from one side to the other. We had come in through the second entrance, right into the main food court. Just like in the rest of the mall, this section included several multi-coloured shops, all with ridiculous names.

Of course Dreamland, the mattress and bed linen store, would be painted a baby blue and covered in three-dimensional clouds. And naturally Magic Mayhem would have a monstrous black and white top hat with a rabbit jumping out of it as their logo. The only place that was actually cool was the arcade, Kapow! Its neon yellow sign looked like it came directly out of an old comic book and the sound of pinball and racing car machines carried throughout the food court.

Seriously, who named these places? Only a kid would give a*****e a cheesy name and then make it even more cringe worthy by decorating it with the most obvious and tacky choices imaginable.

“Okay, so I googled the new centre’s directory in class so I could work out our game plan,” I whispered in the crowded mall, pulling out my diagram from my bag. “We have to make sure that we get in and out within five minutes before they notice us, so I think we need to choose our targets carefully.”

I didn’t even get the chance to unfold the piece of paper before Libby snatched it from my hands and tore it up.

“Screw that.” She grabbed my hand and dragged me to a hippie style store with the strong scent of burning incense seeping through the entrance. “This’ll work.”

God, she really didn’t think anything through. If we were going to do this then we needed to be smart about it.

“Just stop.” I ripped my hand out of her grasp and guided her away from the store. “You have no idea what kind of security system they have in place, and besides, the sales assistant is on floor duty by the look of it.”

The thin man with dreadlocks roamed through each aisle, chatting with the few people looking through the racks of tie dyed scarves. We weren’t going to get two steps inside that store without the man jumping on us.

“Fine, tell me then, Sherlock, which one of these stores do you suggest?” Libby flicked her hair out of her eyes.

“GroovyGirl is our best option.” I pointed past the long line of shops to the tiny store with a bright purple window display. “It’s pretty small and the sales assistant seems distracted. It’ll be a good place to practise.”

Libby raised her eyebrow but quickly relented, walking over to the store. “GroovyGirl, huh?” She shook her head and scrunched up her face in disapproval. “I dare you to find a lamer name.”

GroovyGirl was lined from one end to the other with coloured jewellery. There seemed to be a different shape and colour on every single hanger. Libby walked towards the green jewellery section without any hesitation. Unsure of where to go next, I decided to go for the make-up display in the middle of the store. The rectangular stand perched on the bench held neon coloured eye shadows and different shades of lipstick. I wasn’t really paying much attention to what colours I wanted; I was more focused on discreetly watching the sales assistant. She looked to be in her early twenties and had a wide smile plastered on her face. Currently she was absorbed in a conversation with some unshaven creep who seemed to be flirting with her, if you could even call it that.

“Darling, I’ve never seen eyes quite like yours,” I heard him say to her in a strong German accent. “I could lose myself in them for days and never return.”

I sneered at her girlish giggle. This was going to be much easier than I thought. Regardless, my mind seemed to go in one direction and my hands went in the other. I was having doubts for the tenth time that day. Was I really going to do this, all to prove a point? I knew it wasn’t logical but my hands had other ideas. I reached out and lightly brushed my fingers over the lipsticks. My thumb caught on a blood red stick and I quickly laced my fingers around it.

My heart pounded erratically now that I was clutching the lipstick in my fist. I could feel my stomach doing acrobatic flips while every nerve in my body twitched and buzzed.

For once, I felt alive. The world had hit the slow motion switch and I was the only one still moving fast. I wasn’t sure if I loved this feeling or if it scared me to death. This was a high, sure, but what happened when—if—I hit the low? What would happen to my perfectly planned life if I got caught?

I swallowed thickly and pushed the question aside; I’d work it all out later. I needed to stay focused.

With one last look at the sales assistant, I slipped the lipstick into the front pocket of my bag and walked out of the store.

* * *

“How’d you go?” Libby questioned after joining me a few minutes later.

“I took a lipstick.” I put my hand in my bag, touching the sleek metallic tube. “It’s red, just like a ruby.”

“Finally showing off your inner devil, are we?” Libby smirked, laughing lightly.

“How about you then, Winona?”

“Take a look for yourself.” She threw the bag at me. I accidentally fumbled it and glared half-heartedly at her. Inside the lining were three neon lipsticks and two mosaic patterned necklaces that I could definitely see her wearing with her school uniform.

Holy cow! How did she manage to get so much in the little time we had?

“Jealous, are we?” she said when she saw the look on my face. “So, where to next?”

“I hardly think stealing one lipstick makes me a compulsive thief,” I quipped.

“Not yet, but we’ll pop your klepto cherry soon enough.”

I poked her in the side and exhaled loudly. Why did I have a feeling that Libby enjoyed this way more than she should?

“DIY Corner looks like a good option.” I gestured towards the store that was covered in neon paint splatters, doing my best to ignore the dull ache in my stomach. “You can see this place has cameras, so we need to team up for this one.”

The second I walked into the store, I felt my hands shake in excitement. DIY Corner was packed with top-of-the-line craft supplies: paintbrushes made with real horsehair, handmade canvases, textured paints and thick lead pencils made in France. They cost the kind of money that would instantly make my parentals go all tense and talk about things like prioritising and budgeting. DIY Corner was the royalty of craft supplies.

After a quick look for cameras, I looped my arm in Libby’s and directed her over to the scrapbooking station.

“Here’s the thing, this is the only section secluded enough. You’ll need to come back here before you hide whatever you have, okay?” I whispered.

She gave me a mock salute and disappeared towards the paint section. I went to follow her when I noticed the elderly sales lady watching us with a small frown, causing the creases on her forehead to deepen. It was pretty easy to tell that she was suspicious of us; we were two teenagers in a*****e filled with tiny objects that could easily be taken.

I panicked slightly when her eyes locked with mine. There was no time to think and no chance to leave without seeming suspicious. It took a split second to make my decision and before any more time could pass, I smiled brightly at the woman and made my way over to the counter.

“Hello, ma’am, do you have a spare minute?” I asked her as innocently as I was capable of in the situation. “I could really use your opinion on something.”

Her expression seemed to shift into sales assistant mode—authoritative but friendly. “Of course dear. How can I help?”

I directed her towards the aisle packed with black covered sketching pads and charcoals, but more importantly, furthest from Libby. I softly asked her what charcoal would be best to use in the sketch I was making for my mother’s birthday. A little lie was the only way to keep the lady away from Libby.

“Your best option is to go with a thicker piece for your first draft,” she said, handing me a heavy black stick of charcoal. “That way shading can be done a lot faster.”

I thanked her with a smile and watched her wave to a man who had just walked through the entrance.

“I’m just going to see if that gentleman needs a hand with anything. If you need any more help just call out, sweetie.”

She disappeared around the end of the aisle, and with a long exhale I gently placed the charcoal back where it belonged.

That was too close for my liking.

My fingers shook from the adrenaline and I couldn’t calm myself down. Even though she left me alone, I wasn’t going to stick around for her to return. I headed towards the exit before the lady could make her way to the counter. As I left the store, I motioned to Libby that time was up and that I would be in the food court.

* * *

“What happened to you? I turned around and you were gone. Did you chicken out?” Libby said. We took a seat in the middle of the crowded food court.

“The sales lady saw us. I kept her busy while you enjoyed yourself. You’re welcome by the way.” I sighed and tried to relax my shoulders. They were still tense from the encounter and I didn’t want to end up with a sore back.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much I could do to stop the tremors that crawled under my skin and found their way to my hands. I looked like a smoker going through some crazy withdrawals. I really hoped no one was paying us any attention.

“So tell me, how did you do this time?” I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible under the circumstances.

With a wide smile, Libby placed her bag on the table. She didn’t pull anything out. Instead she lightly stroked the bag with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Well, I got a lovely paintbrush set and seven different coloured paints,” she said smugly. “Oh, I also got you a set.”

“You got me something?” I stared at Libby with a bright smile. Just when you thought she was being predictable, she’d do something that would completely surprise you.

“Don’t act so shocked. I figured you were preoccupied so I thought I’d pick up the slack.” She shrugged. “Besides, what are friends for?”

“Aw, corny, but incredibly sweet. Thank you!”

“Shut up,” she replied, shaking her hands out. “I’m hungry.”

Libby stood up and walked leisurely over to the Chinese eatery to place her order. She didn’t say anything; she just stood there with a blank, almost bored expression on her face. There wasn’t even a slight quiver in her at all.

I joined her to buy my own lunch before returning to our table. The whole adventure had lasted about an hour, but it felt like we’d been at the mall for days. Now the adrenaline rush was starting to fade, I didn’t feel like I’d changed at all. I was still the same old Nic; I hadn’t turned into a hardened criminal—not as far as I could tell.

Maybe nothing was supposed to change. I slowly chewed on my food as I contemplated what had happened. What we did felt like a mixture of fun and something I had never felt before—danger.

“So what’s the verdict?” Libby asked through a mouthful of fried rice. I cringed at her and waited until she had swallowed.

“It was fun, but only a one time deal,” I said. “I’ve proved my point and that’s all I wanted.”

After I’d finished eating, I picked up my plastic plate and dropped it haphazardly in the rubbish. I had already called my mother to ask her to pick us up after we ate, so we headed out the front entrance to wait for our ride home.

“Hello, girls,” Mum said when she pulled up twenty minutes later.

“Hey, Susan,” Libby called out as she climbed into the back seat. There was no need for formalities since Libby was practically family. Actually, I figured my parents should’ve just adopted her considering she spent so much time at our house anyway. Libby’s parents wanted to move her to a new school after they brought a massive property in Bellvale, but there was no way we were going to do that. Moving Libby into our spare room was the only way we could graduate together. She cried every night for the first week until the homesickness faded and our home became hers.

“Did you girls have fun?”

I looked at Libby through the side mirror and saw her wink at me. “Yeah, it was definitely an interesting trip.” I smiled to myself as she and my mother started talking about the latest celebrity divorce.

I had no regrets over what happened, but I was done. I had gotten what I wanted from the adventure. Aiden was wrong about me and that’s what really mattered. Now, all I wanted to do was focus on what was most important: sending my application to Murdoch and getting the hell out of this town.