“Let’s get something to drink first,” Jennifer said.
She led the way across to a nearby juice bar and they walked inside to join the back of the line. They ordered as they reached the front of it and waited. When the smoothies were served they moved across to a window table and sat watching the people walking by at first.
“So what are you looking to buy?” Hannah eventually asked.
Jennifer shrugged her shoulders as she sipped her drink.
“I don’t really have anything particular in mind,” she replied and smiled. “But it’s always nice to have some pretty new things to wear, don’t you think?”
“I wish I had the money to buy some,” Hannah said.
The smile remained on Jennifer’s lips as she got a wallet from her pocket. She brought out a credit card.
“What you need are nice parents that give you a card with a $10,000 dollar spending limit,” she said then put it away. “You don’t always need a card to get what you want though. There are other more fun ways.”
The frown creased Carla’s forehead and the question was out of her mouth before she could stop it.
“What do you mean?”
“Drink up and I’ll show you,” Jennifer said.
Carla looked across the table, but Hannah just shrugged her shoulders and picked up her glass. When the three of them were finished their drinks they got back to their feet and walked out of the juice bar. They moved over to a set of escalators to go up to the next level and it was Jennifer that led the way again. She stepped over to the entrance of a large department store and walked inside. It took her a minute or two to find the ladies fashion section and she began walking around the racks of clothes when she got there. She finally came to a stop beside some pattered silk scarves in the furthest corner away from the serving counter and flicked through the hangers.
“What do you think of this one?” she asked when the other two caught up to her.
Hannah looked at the bright blue scarf and tilted her head to the side.
“It’s pretty,” she said. “Do you have an outfit to match it with?”
“I have plenty of clothes this would look great with,” Jennifer replied. “I think I’ll get it.”
She took the scarf off the hanger to fold it up and reached out towards the bag hanging on Carla’s shoulder.
“Wait…, what are you doing,” Carla said and stepped back. She glanced around nervously, but there were no customers or staff near them to see what was going on.
“It’s just one small scarf,” Jennifer said and laughed. “It’s not like a big department store is going to miss it. I do it all the time, but I don’t have a bag with me today and you do. Just let me put the scarf in and I’ll get it when we are back at the car.”
Carla hesitated and looked back and forth between the two other girls. She remembered Hannah’s comment in the bedroom before they left. What can go wrong her friend said. She was now finding out and knew it would be crazy to get involved, so decided she wasn’t going to.
“Sorry, I’m not taking it for you,” she said and looked at Hannah. “I’m going. Are you coming?”
“It’s just a scarf,” Hannah said.
“Are you kidding me?” Carla replied in a surprised voice. “You’re seriously telling me that you want us…, or should I say me to just take it without paying.”
Hannah said nothing and Carla knew it was definitely time to leave.
“I can’t believe you,” she said and shook her head as she moved to walk away.
The grip on her bag jolted her shoulder and she pulled harder without looking back. It didn’t free her and she finally turned to see that it was Jennifer that was stopping her leaving.
“Let go,” Carla said.
“OK, OK,” Jennifer replied and released her grip.
Carla just wanted to get away and didn’t even notice that Jennifer’s hands were now empty. She took a final glance at Hannah, who was staring at the ground then walked away.
“I fucking knew she was trouble,” Carla muttered under her breath as she headed for the exit.
All she wanted now was to go home and forget about what just happened, but as she stepped out of the store the security alarm sounded and things became a lot worse. The loud noise unnerved her and she stopped in her tracks. She looked around and expected to see someone else, but she was the only one walking out of the place
“I need to check your bag Miss,” a uniformed guard said as he hurried up to her.
“But…” Carla said.
She saw the expression on his face and the sinking feeling returned to the pit of her stomach. Sweat prickled on her brow and as the guard held out his hand she reluctantly removed the bag from her shoulder and gave it to him. Her eyes opened wide as she saw the blue scarf being taken out.
“Did you pay for this?” the guard asked.
“I…,” Carla started, but she didn’t know how to go on as panic erupted in her mind.
It was instantly obvious to her that Jennifer did a lot more than just tug on her bag when she made to walk away. The bitch tried to get her to steal the scarf and it appeared to have landed her right in the shit. The guard gave the item a closer inspection then looked up. He showed Carla the discreet security tag.
“I’m guessing you didn’t pay for this,” he said as he grabbed her upper arm. “You need to come with me to the manager’s office.”
“No, wait,” Carla replied as the sense of dread started to overwhelm her. “I didn’t take that.”
“Sure,” the security guard said in a skeptical tone. “That’s what they all say.”
“I’m telling you I didn’t take it,” Carla went on in a louder voice and struggled to free herself.
“You need to calm down Miss,” the guard told her. “I’ve got no choice but to take you back inside. You can explain to the manager how the scarf came to be in your bag.”
“Please…” Carla pleaded, but the grip on her arm tightened and she saw the look in the guard’s eye.
He wasn’t going to just let her walk away and she was aware that some of the people around them were now taking an interest in what was happening. She looked around and caught a glimpse of Jennifer, but the bitch quickly ducked out of sight. Her anxiety heightened as the guard made her walk back inside and tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. She was marched through to the back of the store and they finally stopped outside a room. The guard knocked and opened the door to lead her inside.
“What is it Simon?” the man sitting at the desk said when he looked up.
“The security alarm went off when this young woman left the store,” the guard said and held up the blue scarf. “I found this in her bag when I searched it. The security tag is still on it.”
The manager let out a sigh as he stood up. His gaze roamed over Carla before he pointed at a seat on the opposite side of the desk from him.
“Sit down,” he told her.
She wiped a hand across her eyes as she did as she was told.
“Thanks Simon,” the manager said. “You can wait outside. I’ll take care of this.”
The guard nodded then walked out the room to leave Carla alone with the manager. Every second that passed built her apprehension and she needed to fill the silence.
“I didn’t try to steal it,” she blurted out.
The manager sighed again as he sat in his seat.
“If that’s the case,” he said in a skeptical voice. “How did this get in your bag?”
“I…, I don’t know,” she said and dropped her gaze to the floor.
“And you expect me to believe that,” the manager went on. “If I was given a dollar every time I heard that lame excuse, I’d be a millionaire. You need to understand that this store takes the theft of its property very seriously and there are policies in place that I need to comply with.”
“I’m not a thief,” Carla cried out as she looked up at him. Things were getting out of hand and a fear crept over her that she really
was in serious trouble.
“So…,” the manager said and shook his head. “The scarf just jumped in your bag as you walked past the rack it was sitting on.”
“Look, I didn’t take it,” Carla said in a desperate voice.
“Then tell me what happened,” he demanded. “Tell me the truth.”
Carla knew she couldn’t do that. She felt no loyalty towards Jennifer and would happily have dropped her in it, but that would likely get Hannah in trouble too and she didn’t want that.
She wasn’t even sure if Hannah saw the scarf being put in her bag and that meant if she did tell the truth it would basically come down to her word against Jennifer’s. There was no doubt in Carla’s mind that the bitch would deny it. She’d been well and truly landed in the shit.
“I’ll pay for it,” she blurted out and reached for her bag to get her purse.
“It’s too late for that,” the manager said. “If you have the money to pay for it, you should have done that in the first place. What I see now is a scared young girl that tried her luck at stealing a scarf and is now trying to get out of the consequences of her stupid actions. What age are you?”
“Nineteen,” Carla replied.
The manager leaned forward to put his elbows on the desk.
“The store policy is to prosecute in cases of shoplifting,” he said. “But for those under twenty one, we give them an alternative of calling their parents…, if it is their first offence. I take it this is the first time.”
“I didn’t try to steal it,” Carla insisted. “I…”
“Look, you were caught leaving the store on your own, with the scarf in your bag,” the manager said as his tone hardened. “That are the facts of the matter as far as I can make out and you’re telling me no different. I’ve got no choice but to call your parents or the police.”
Mention of the police really scared Carla and brought it home to her how much trouble she was in. What was happening wasn’t her fault, but she suddenly couldn’t see a way out of it. She wanted to run even though she knew it was a ridiculous idea.
“What’s it to be?” the manager asked.
The tears did more than prick at the corner of Carla’s eyes this time and they silently rolled down her cheeks. It would be a disaster if the police got involved, but she could see that the manager was serious about calling them. That meant all she could do was give her home phone number. Her parents would be furious and she didn’t even want to think of the consequences of that, but the alternative was a criminal record for shoplifting and that could ruin her life before she’d even finished college.
“Parents,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Give me the number and your full name,” the manager said and slid a pen and paper across the desk.
Carla’s hand was shaking as she wrote the details for him then closed her eyes when he picked up the phone and dialed the number. She wanted to be anywhere else than where she was sitting right at that time, but it was too late for that.
“Hi,” the manager said when the call was answered and Carla knew it would be her mother on the other end of the line. “Is this Mrs. Coleridge?” He was silent for a second as he listened to the answer then went on. “My name is Mr. Barrett from the Spencer Department Store in the Central Mall. I’m afraid your daughter, Carla, was caught by one of my security staff trying to leave the store with a scarf in her bag.”
Even Carla heard the eruption on the other end of the line and she opened her eyes to see Mr. Barrett holding the phone a foot or so away from his ear. When the noise died down he brought the handset closer again.
“I need you to come down here,” he went on. He nodded his head as he listened then simply said goodbye. When he put the phone down he looked across the desk “Your mother is coming.”
“Great,” Carla muttered and wiped a hand across her face.
The tears stopped, but her anxiety grew. Things were about to go crazy and she dreaded to think of what was going to happen. The livid expression was obvious on her mother’s face when she arrived and Carla could only sit and listen as the discussion went on around her. At the end it she was banned from entering the store and warned by the manager that if she was ever caught again, it would definitely lead to a prosecution.
The silence of her mother unnerved her as they left the store and walked to the car. The simmering anger came to the surface once they were sitting in the vehicle.
“Are you out of your tiny mind,” the older woman shouted in a furious voice. “Didn’t we bring you up to be responsible?”
“It wasn’t my…” Carla tried to interrupt, but her mother wasn’t interested in listening.
“Now you’re stealing,” she went on. “Wait until your father hears about this. I thought grounding you after the drunken party fiasco might get a grip on your recent intolerable attitude and behavior, but obviously I was wrong. This is going too far Carla. Way, way too far. Your college work in recent times has suffered because of the influence of your so called friends and I don’t even want to mention your last grades. What the hell is going on with you?”
Carla didn’t get the chance to answer and hung her head as the tirade went on. She knew she would just be shouted down if she tried to interrupt and explain although she wasn’t even sure how she would do that anyway. With the mood her mother was in, she was unlikely to believe a story about someone else putting the scarf in her bag.
There was an injustice to the situation considering it actually wasn’t her fault, but there was little Carla could do but listen to the harsh words being thrown at her. They eventually ended and her mother started the car to make the drive home. The tense atmosphere made for an unpleasant journey although nothing more was said.
Cara knew it wasn’t the end of the matter by a long way and expected to be called down from her room that evening when her father got home from work. It didn’t happen though and that just made her all the more nervous. She wished she knew what her parents were saying, but wasn’t about to go downstairs to find out. In the end she just put on her pajamas and went to bed. It didn’t get her much sleep and she lay for much of the night just thinking.
She got up at the crack of dawn to have a shower then quickly dressed and packed the books she needed for college that day in a bag. Her intention was to go downstairs and leave for college before her parents got up, but she quickly found out she wasn’t the only one up early that morning. She tried to sneak past the open kitchen door, but the sound of her father shouting her name stopped her. There was no getting away and she prepared herself for the outburst of anger that would be aimed at her. The quiet calm she walked into was far worse and her nerves climbed as she moved to the table.
“Put the bag down,” her mother said. “You won’t need that for a while.”
Carla frowned.
“I don’t understand,” she replied. “What…”
“Just do as your mother says,” her father said in a harsh voice.
She looked at him and could see what appeared to be a mixture of suppressed anger and unhappiness on his face. The guilt welled up that she’d disappointed her parents. It wasn’t something she wanted although on this occasion she was blameless even if they didn’t think so. She sighed as she set her bag on the floor and sat down at the table.
“Yesterday was just too much,” her mother started. “I don’t understand what’s going on in your head when it’s got to the point where you are breaking the law. You got lucky that the manager of that store called me and not the police. Grounding you for a fortnight recently obviously didn’t work and it seems you are intent on heading down a path that will get you in more serious trouble.”
“But…” Carla said, but she didn’t get the chance to say more.
“Your father and I discussed your situation at length last night and we’ve decided that we need to act before things get even worse,” her mother went on.
It was an ominous statement and the goose bumps rose on Carla’s skin. She felt how cl
ammy her palms were when she rubbed a hand on her arm and her voice was hesitant when she spoke.
“What..., what do you mean?”
“We’ve decided it’s best that you leave here for a while,” her mother answered. “It will get you away from the bad influences we believe are leading you astray and give you some time to reflect on your recent behavior. Hopefully that will be enough to get you back on the straight and narrow.”
The frown deepened on Carla’s forehead as she looked back and forth between her parents.
“Away,” she said. “Away to where?”
“We spoke to your Aunt Katherine last night,” her father said. “She’s agreed that you can stay with her for a while.”
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