Shivering in the cold November air, Ashleigh rubs her hands together as she waits outside the loading bay of Toy Zone, her second job. Her friend and coworker, Lex Foster, is standing off to the side smoking a cigarette, hood drawn and backpack slung over one shoulder. They're waiting for their boss, Frank Pricely, to come out and sign for the delivery the store is expecting this morning, for those monster dolls everyone's been talking about for months.

Instead of the delivery truck they're expecting, however, a sedan pulls up and parks just in front of them. The man that hops out is a familiar face, though Ashleigh can't quite place it.

"Excuse me, miss," he calls, not looking at the girls, "do you think it's okay for me to park here?"

Ashleigh rolls her eyes, not bothering to respond as she blows warm air onto her fingers. Lex scoffs and says, "Uh, yeah. It says no parking at any time, but I'm sure the loading trucks can just park across the street. Does that work for you?" Ashleigh snickers quietly, wishing she was brave enough to snark at people like that.

The guy clearly doesn't hear the sarcasm in Lex's voice. "Yeah, that's perf— Lex?" He turns and actually sees the girls now, eyebrows furrowed in surprise.

"Hey, Mr. Houston," Lex says dryly, smirking as she takes another drag of her cigarette.

Ah. That explains why the man seems familiar to Ashleigh. He'd taught at the high school for years, and his wife had just passed away last year. Ashleigh had never taken his class— he taught shop— but he was well known enough.

"What you doin'?" Mr. Houston asks, looking around.

"What does it look like?" Lex asks in clear annoyance. "I'm having a bud before my shift."

"Hey, does your mother know you smoke?" Mr. Houston comes closer, concern clear on his face.

"Uh, yeah," Lex says, chuckling. "She lets it slide 'cause I score her weed."

"Weed?" Mr. Houston repeats. "Lex, I thought you were done with all that. Last year, you were back in school. You were on top of your classes!"

Ashleigh tries not to roll her eyes. As much as she loves her friend, on top was not how she'd describe Lex's work ethic. Lex herself apparently agrees with her.

"I was hardly valedictorian," Lex scoffs, rolling her eyes.

"You were doing alright in my class!" Mr. Houston protests.

"Yeah, shop class," Lex snaps. "Where you get an A if you don't chop off your finger."

"No," Mr. Houston corrects, "if you show up and put in the effort, I'm not gonna hold a little accident like that against you."

"Yeah, well, shop class was the only holding up my GPA," Lex says, shooting her former teacher a half-glare. "So when they canceled shop class because the teacher had 'family emergency'—" she uses air quotes, and Ashleigh winces. That seems like a low blow, even from Lex— "they flunked me. So I decided to follow the example of my favorite teacher and never come back. How does it feel to be a role model?"

"Lex," Ashleigh says softly, seeing the pained look on Mr. Houston's face, but she's ignored.

"That's not a very fair thing to say," he mutters, turning away.

"What's it matter?" Lex asks testily. "School's supposed to prepare you for the workplace, and I already have a job. Or is stock girl at Toy Zone a waste of my endless potential?" She gestures to her red vest, scowling as she takes another drag.

"Toy Zone?" Mr. Houston repeats, perking back up. "You work at Toy Zone?"

Ashleigh sighs, knowing exactly where this is going. For the last six months, ever since that stupid commercial aired, this is all anyone's cared about when they find out about Ashleigh's second job.

"What, do you have a problem with retail?" Ashleigh asks, annoyed. The day only seems to be getting colder, despite the sun rising over the eastern side of the mall, and Ashleigh knows she'll have very little patience today.

"No, not at all!" Mr. Houston protests. "No, I think Toy Zone's a great place for you to work— in fact, I'm proud of you, Lex. I always thought you had a great work ethic!"

Ashleigh snorts, and manages to pass it off as a cough when Lex glances at her. Mr. Houston doesn't notice.

"Yeah, well," Lex says, side-eyeing Ashleigh still, "if I don't support my drinking habits, who will?"

Again, it's clearly sarcasm, but the former teacher doesn't seem to get it. Ashleigh knows what Lex is really supporting with her paycheck, and it isn't alcoholism— at least not for herself.

"Yeah, that's funny," Mr. Houston says slowly, eyeing the two girls back and forth for a long moment. "Listen, Lex, I'm actually here to get a Christmas present for my son. It's a Tickle-Me-Wiggly."

Lex huffs, and Ashleigh rolls her eyes.

"I didn't realize so many people were trying to do the same thing," he continues, oblivious to the girls' negative reactions. "So, uh, you think there's anything you could do?"

"Oh!" Lex says, acting surprised. She looks around like someone else might be listening in, catching Ashleigh's eye over Mr. Houston's shoulder. Ashleigh smirks, once again wishing she was in Lex's shoes.

"You mean like… put one aside for you?" Lex asks, and Mr. Houston nods, grinning hopefully. "Yeah, like put your name on it, put it under the counter, just screw over hundreds of people who got here before you?"

Mr. Houston nods again. "That would be great!"

"Yeah," Lex says, grinning back at him, before dropping it and clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Well, you know… I could. But that would be violating company policy, and everyone's telling me to be more responsible lately, so I'm gonna go with them on this one."

Mr. Houston grimaces, clearly realizing the sarcasm this time.

"Oh, but hey!" Asleigh pipes up. "You could get in line like everybody else. And I'd hurry up if I were you, line's already backed up to Nordstrum."

"Nordstrum?" he yelps, and both girls nod. "Shit!"

He starts to hurry off.

"Wait, are you gonna leave your car there?" Ashleigh calls out.

"Let 'em tow it!" he yells back.

Lex scoffs. "Merry Christmas," she yells to him, and he grumpily returns the sentiment as he disappears inside the building. The girls stand in silence for a long moment before bursting into laughter.

"What a fucking day," Lex says.

"And you know it's only gonna get worse from here," Ashleigh agrees.

"For you maybe," Lex teases. "You know that offer's still open. There's room for one more in Ethan's car."

"That shitty old thing?" Ashleigh scoffs. "No thanks, I'd rather take my chances here in Hatchetfield." Lex shrugs, putting out her cigarette on the pavement as their boss joins them outside.

He's singing a Christmas carol, but the words are messed up. Instead of singing about the birth of Jesus, he's singing about his love of money. What a douchebag.

The delivery truck pulls up, with the company logo for Uncle Wiley's Toys printed on either side. It parks right up close to Mr. Houston's sedan, the driver seemingly unbothered by its presence. He jumps out of the cab and opens up the back of the truck, grabbing a dolley and starting to unload the boxes of Tickle-Me-Wiggly dolls.

Frank keeps singing to himself, something about the dolls making him rich.

"Right you are, good buddy," the delivery guy says, smirking as he looks down at his clipboard. He counts the boxes he's unloaded, and makes a little mark on the paper before handing it to Frank. "Now I just need your John Hancock here on the dotted line."

"With pleasure," Frank sighs, taking the clipboard and pen and scribbling out his signature before handing it back.

"So that's them, huh?" Lex asks, leaning against the wall.

"Yep," Frank says cheerfully. "Our own little miracle on 34th street. Tell me, girls, do you know why they call it Black Friday?"

Ashleigh refrains from rolling her eyes, having heard the speech a hundred times. Lex lets out a dry, "Because it comes after Thursday?"

The girls snicker to themselves, quieting as Frank glares at them. "Cute," he sneers. "They call it Black Friday because it's the day in America when most retailers go from being in the Red— losing money— to being in the Black— making money!" He wraps an arm around each of their shoulders, and Ashleigh tries not to squirm. Thankfully, the contact only lasts a few seconds before Frank moves away again, back toward the boxes of Wiggly dolls and their deliverer.

"Well, friend-o," the guy says to Frank, "I have a feeling that these babies are gonna take you so far into the Black, that you ain't never comin' back." His voice takes on an almost sinister tone there at the end, making and holding eye contact with the Toy Zone manager.

Ashleigh shivers, and not just from the cold. Something about that just didn't sound right…

He and Frank start laughing together, and the latter says, "I sure hope so!"

The delivery guy grins, drawing a thumb across his throat. "Oh, you are gonna make a killing!" He puts on a goofy voice to imitate Uncle Wiley's from the commercials. "And that's the Uncle Wiley's Toys guarantee!"

He takes his dolley back to the truck, and closes the doors up. He does a double take as he passes Lex and Ashleigh, winking at them. "Well, hello, Naughty List," he purrs, before sauntering off to the truck cab and driving off.

"Gross!" Lex snaps, throwing her arms up, and Ashleigh just shudders.

Lex looks like she wants to go after the creepy guy, but Frank speaks up from where he's caressing one of the boxes. "Excuse me ladies," he drawls. "I don't mean to bother you or anything, but do you think I could see some hustle out of you? On this, the most important shift of your life? On this, the holiest day in America for humble merchants across this fine nation?"

"If it's a holy day, do we get time and a half?" Lex asks, and Franks glares at her.

"You know, you've got a real attitude problem," he says sourly. "You're snippy to customers, your no-good boyfriend's always around. You'd think a drop out with a record would be thankful to have a job! You wanna end up like your mother?"

Lex's face flushes, glaring at their boss, while Ashleigh tries and fails to diffuse the situation. "No prospects," Frank continues ruthlessly, "and two kids she can't take care of? She dropped your sister on her head or whatever, but you… look at what a fine job she's done with you."

He pretends to straighten out the front of Lex's jacket, and Ashleigh finally manages to get his attention. Lex gives her a grateful look as she speaks.

"Look, Frank, do you want us to unpack these or what?" Ashleigh asks desperately, and he turns to her.

"That would be nice if our hot ticket item could be on our shelves when we open," he snaps.

"Fine!" Lex snaps right back.

"Thank you!" he yells sarcastically, storming back toward the door to go inside, but pauses when neither girl responds in favor of opening up the boxes. "Uh, ladies, do you have something to say back to me? Something a polite young woman might respond with?"

Lex rolls her eyes, glad she's facing away from him. "Thank you?" she tries, but Frank shakes his head.

"No, no, no," he says sternly. "Alexandra, I know this is hard for you, but try to keep up. I say thank you, so you should say…?"

"You're welcome," Lex mutters, and Ashleigh repeats it half a second later. Frank claps his hands, sarcastically cheering for them.

"They can be taught!" he exclaims. He starts to head back inside again, before pausing once more and getting Ashleigh's attention.

"Just because you're nicer to customers doesn't mean you're any better than her, Miss Maddox. You've got your own pile of shit to deal with. Good on you for not dragging it into my store all the time like she does."

With that, he finally does go back inside. Both girls are now red faced with embarrassment and rage, neither saying anything. They've had a silent agreement since the day Ashleigh started and Frank picked on them like that in front of each other.

After a few quiet moments, they resume their work. Lex takes a look around before pulling one doll out of the box and stuffing it into her backpack. Ashleigh pretends not to notice, already aware of the other girl's plans for it.

"Halt! Security!" a familiar voice cries out. "We got a shoplifter— drop that doll!"

The girls jump, startled, and pivot to face the newcomer, only relaxing when they realize it's just Lex's boyfriend, Ethan.

"Jesus Christ, Ethan, you fucking asshole," Lex scolds, unable to keep from laughing. Ashleigh gives him a half-wave, which he returns while hugging his girlfriend.

"C'mon babe," he teases. "It was just a goof!"

"Wait, where's my sister?" Lex asks, looking around. Ethan pretends to panic.

"Oh, no," he says, looking at her with wide eyes. "Hannah? Is that what you've been telling every day for the past four weeks? To pick up your kid sister? Oh, I must've forgot 'cause I'm so stupid." He hugs her, and Lex rolls her eyes. She'd started to panic, until it was obvious he was just 'goofing' again.

Ashleigh snickers, watching her friends. Three years ago, she never would've guessed she'd be calling them that, but here she is. They're all in a similar boat these days, although Ashleigh's still in school. If it weren't for her desire to graduate, she probably would have taken up their offer of joining them— and Hannah— when they run away from Hatchetfield.

"She's right over here," Ethan says, grinning and letting go of Lex. "But I gotta warn you, she's being a little snot today." He goes over to the corner of the building, and drags a nine year old girl over by her wrist.

She's got twin braids framing her face, and an oversized flannel as her only form of jacket. She's pouting, too.

"Don't pull her," Lex chides, and Ethan quickly lets go and raises his hands in defense.

"I'm not," he says quickly, as Lex goes to check on her sister.

Ashleigh gives her a quick wave, just as she had with Ethan, and Hannah shyly returns it. Lex tries to get her sister to wear the backpack, but the girl refuses.

"Let me try," Ethan sighs, and offers up a hat from his back pocket. He claims it can protect Hannah from anything bad that tries to hurt her, and she reluctantly takes it— she still won't take the backpack, though, so Ashleigh gives it a go.

"Are you still wearing the bracelet I gave you?" She asks, and Hannah nods. Ashleigh points to the one on her own wrist. "Me too. This means that neither of us can get hurt today. As long as I'm still wearing mine, it means you'll be fine— and vice versa."

Hannah bites her lips, fiddling with the teal and purple bracelet on her wrist. She also has a plain green one from Ethan. Finally, she nods and allows her sister to give her the backpack.

"I'm gonna take these on in," Ashleigh says, proud of herself, and wanting to give the other three some privacy. Maybe it'll help keep Frank off Lex's back today, too. She grabs a store-owned dolley and starts carting boxes inside, letting her friends have their moment together.

Ashleigh's not really looking forward to saying goodbye for good this afternoon.