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“He did already take away our air hockey table,” Frank said uncertainly.
“And he said he’d stop buying us our hot dog sodas,” Beans added, his lip curling.
“See?” I blurted, holding out my hands placatingly when Frank tightened his grip on Dan’s hair. “There’ll be repercussions to this. But if you hand over Dan’s head now, before you’ve done anything too bad, I’ll… I won’t say anything.”
“Don’t believe him, Frank,” Beans said, narrowing his eyes at me. “He could be a corporate plant.”
“What?” I spluttered. “What does that even—Hey, woah, woah, easy there, buddy,” I quickly said when Frank turned toward Dan. “Don’t do something you’ll regret.”
He shook his head. “We’re in too deep now.”
“You don’t have to do this, Frank,” I told him, wondering when I’d turned into the cop in a gritty crime drama. Out of desperation, I blurted, “Remember the bar?”
They both paused and looked at me.
“The shot?” I said insistently, nodding at them both. “We… we bonded. You said I was one of you. Remember?”
“You didn’t do our synchronised dance with us, though.” Frank narrowed his eyes at me.
“I would’ve though,” I insisted. “If you’d taught it to me.”
“If you were really one of us you wouldn’t have needed to be taught,” Beans said accusingly. “You would have just known. Deep in your guts.”
I would have instinctively known their weird bopping dance “deep in my guts”? What the fuck did that even mean?
“Why don’t we try it right now?” I asked desperately. Casting an embarrassed look at Dan, I started bending my knees, bopping up and down slowly. They watched me in silence.
“He’s good,” Frank then said with approval.
“No!” Beans hissed. “It’s wrong. He’s an outsider. Do it, Frank. Do it. The perfect head.”
“No, wait—I’ll make that robot for you!” I blurted desperately when Frank lifted the scissors. He paused. “The… what was it? The—”
“Karate robot,” he said slowly, sounding suspiciously intrigued.
I nodded frantically, my arms still outstretched. “Yes. I’ll build you a karate robot. Just put down the scissors and give me the head.”
Dan had gone quiet, his nostrils flaring as his eyes darted between us.
“What about Holt?” Frank asked cautiously.
“I won’t tell Holt.”
“He will, though.” Beans pointed at Dan’s head. “He already snitched on us.”
My gaze darted to Dan. He was glaring at Beans, seething with rage. Had they done this to him before? Little fucking shitheads.
“I’ll talk to him,” I said calmly, even though I had absolutely no intention of convincing Dan not to tell Holt. The thought of this having already happened to him was making me furious. The idea of it happening yet again made me want to punt these two creepy fuckers across the room.
“Why would he listen to you?” Beans asked suspiciously. “You’re just the computer nerd.”
I bristled as Dan’s eyes flared with anger. He snarled something at Beans through the sock.
“Shut up, Beans,” Frank hissed, then looked at me again. “So, the karate robot?”
“I’ll start it right now.” I nodded at Dan. “Just give me the head.”
Tense silence followed as Frank and Beans exchanged a long look. I had no idea what they were thinking as they stared at each other, having a silent conversation.
