Mel smiles. “I love every dish on the menu.”
“If I didn’t work there, I’d never be able to afford it,” I point out, remembering the eye-watering prices.
“Cameron has taken a liking to you,” she teases. “You might be stealing my shifts.” Her voice is carefree, but I’m not fully convinced she means it.
“No,” I say as I shake my head. “I just started. He probably felt bad for me. I embarrassed myself in front of everyone.” I take another bite.
She giggles. “You certainly did.”
I flinch.
“Luckily, it’s not carpet,” she points out.
“I agree.” It would have left a lovely stain.
“I heard you live with Lucy and her sheep,” Mel says.
I pause. My eyes widen at her nasty comment. “I live with Lucy and her friends, yes. Do you know them?”
“People get to know each other quickly in this town. Cameron is always saying how hot they are. Were they bitches to you?”
I slowly shake my head. “The opposite. They’ve been friendly since I arrived.”
She frowns. “I thought they’d be like the mean popular girl group from school, you know.”
Well, this is awkward. “Not at all.”
She shrugs. “I’d say they talk about you behind your back then because you’re so...”
My lips press into a line. I’m quite sure I have no interest in hearing what she’s got to say next. “Because I’m a bit of a nerd.” I finish her sentence for her in the nicest possible way.
“Yeah... like night and day opposites. Soooo...” she says, peering at the ground, then back at me. “I may have done something... to, you know, help you meet new people.”
My stomach drops. I don’t like the sound of that. “What did you do?”
She winces. “Can I have your phone to show you?”
My breathing speeds up as I cautiously offer her my phone. I try to think why she would need my phone, but I can’t think of anything.
“Now... don’t be mad at me...”
“O-kaaay,” I say.
She passes me the phone. I frown when I see a picture of myself that was taken when my parents and I went out to dinner for my birthday last year. As I scroll down, it hits me. “You made a dating profile for me?” I screech. “I’m deleting it now!” I’m horrified.
She grins a little. “Give it a chance. Live a little. You’re so uptight. You should consider meeting new people.”
I huff. “I’m not uptight.” I look more closely. She has Elena as my profile name; “Just moved to Crown Village, where I’m working at a restaurant. I’m looking to meet new people” is the bio.
“What if my parents see this?” I ask, then flinch. Why should I care what they think?
She gives me an odd glance. “I didn’t realize you were fourteen years old.”
Annoyance simmers. “I grew up in a strict family.” I just moved here. It’s hard to click my fingers and change my thoughts after years of worrying about my parents’ opinions. I’ll be defaulting to that for a while.
“And you still let your parents dictate what you do?” She chuckles.
“I don’t get it...” I stare at her, confused. “Why would you do this? You’re already on the app, and you hardly know me.”
