“And am I supposed to know who that is?”
“Rusty,” his friend whispered.
“Shut up, Henry, I’m trying to figure out why this fool thinks he’s somebody.”
“But Rusty-” Henry’s whisper sounded more urgent.
“Do you have a last name, Rusty?” I asked him.
“It’s Fitzgerald if you must know. Of the Linfield Fitzgeralds.”
Linfield was a chain of department stores dotted around the Midwest.
“I’m Henry Mansfield,” the blond said, casting a worried glance Rusty’s way. “Rusty, didn’t your dad tell you about what happened to the Montgomery kid?”
“What? Oh!” he swallowed. “The one who had the accident.”
“Yes, the one who had the accident,” I told him. I let my aura flare, the black of my eyes expanding.
“Shit, he’s already Made,” Henry said, his face blanching. Rusty didn’t look much better.
“I-I didn’t mean any offense,” Rusty stammered, chagrin evident from both his expression and tone.
I let my aura calm, “None taken. I’m feeling rather peckish, actually.”
The sets of eyes widened even further and the two young men took a cautious step back. I laughed at their reactions.
“I meant for something like pizza,” I elaborated. Relief quickly swamped their faces, their shoulders relaxing.
“There’s a pizza place here on campus,” Rusty said.
“Yeah, uh, we were just about to go grab a bite. You could come with?” Henry asked, glancing at Rusty.
“Fab idea!” Rusty nodded. “We can get one to go and eat it at the beach.”
I had a feeling that these two were used to being top dogs, but my being a Made had them angling for a secure place in the pecking order. Being under my protection, probably from others who were already Made, would give them that. Sensible, I thought, as we could easily snack on them. Not that I would, something told me that if I did, there’d be repercussions. I might be standing in for River, but my place in his world was far from secure. I was still too new in this new position and their families were more established in the hierarchy. Then again, it couldn’t hurt to be on good social terms with my roommate, could it? It would make my time here much easier to get through and help entrench me within their social circle.
I grinned. “Sure. Count me in.”
6
The pizza place turned out to be seriously retro. As in, wow, it looked like Pizza Inn circa 1970 something inspired both building design, decor, seating, staff uniforms, and menu. Only this place was called Pizza Plaza. I’m not complaining, mind. It made me feel nostalgic, even if it did have a takeaway collection window in the seating area by the hostess station.
Rusty, Henry, and I decided to go with a pepperoni pizza. Nothing else on it, just a nice classic cheese and pepperoni. Since they kept those going all evening for the buffet, the school staff, and students who chose to eat here, it didn’t take all that long at all for us to get our pizza and be on our merry way. The food venues and bookstore were built along an old fashioned boardwalk.
“Weekends, a guy with one of those ice cream carts attached to a bicycle comes through here,” Rusty said as we headed towards the beach itself.
“You mean, like a Good Humor man?” I asked, surprised.
“Yeah, exactly like that,” Rusty replied, nodding. “It’s a restored Good Humor cart and he has the matching uniform and everything.”
“And he sells Good Humor Ice Cream?”
“Well, yeah,” Rusty answered.
“I like the strawberry shortcake one,” Henry interjected.
“Nah, it’s gotta be chocolate for me,” Rusty said. “The chocolate eclair, now that’s one of the best.”
