Something... Unexpected

Hailey did her best to stay still as Emily turned on to a bumpy back road, the vibrations rattling her around in the box. Suddenly, Emily hit a pot hole, causing Hailey to yelp as she flew up into the air and landed in the back of the van on her back.

"Ow..." She groaned. Upon seeing Emily look in the rearview mirror, Hailey quickly said, "Hey, Stud Muffin! My name's Hailey! Wanna do the horizontal tango?"

"Return to your box and deactivate." Emily ordered, returning her eyes to the road.

Hailey sat up and climbed back into the box, placing the lid back on top as she went back to staying still. About an hour later, the woman in the box could feel the van coming to a stop before Emily opened her door and stepped out, closing the door behind her.

"You're late!" A male voice said, muffled from the outside.

"Be glad I came at all!" Emily's muffled voice snapped back as Hailey heard the back doors of the van opening. Now more clearer, Hailey could hear Emily say, "If Ms. Gal knew I was selling her products on the side, she wouldn't just fire me. Oh no, she'd throw me into the incinerator herself! She won't even put the defects on the black market because it's, quote-unquote, 'dishonest and wrong'. So if she found out her most trusted employee was selling these..."

Hailey couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. So the rumors about Amanda Gal selling these on the black market were false? An actual employee was selling them without her knowledge, and one of her most trusted to boot? Hailey could almost smell that Pulitzer now!

Suddenly, her excitement turned to concern as she realized that she was currently being sold on the black market as one of these dolls!

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever!" The male voice said. "What kind of defects are we talking about here?"

"Nothing dangerous." Emily said nonchalantly as she climbed into the back, "Just makes random noises and movements when deactivated. Sometimes it has delayed reactions. Now, about my payment..."

"Here!" The male voice said as the sound of an envelope hitting the floor of the van. "$795 in cash! And it'd better be still worth it!"

Emily grabbed the envelope, looked inside, and said to the owner of the male voice, "If anyone asks, you did not get this from me."

After a bit of waiting, Emily lifted the lid on the box, setting it aside as she pressed Hailey's tattoo.

"Hey, Stud Muffin!" She purred as she sat up, "My name's Hailey! Wanna do the horizontal tango?"

That was when Hailey noticed the surroundings outside the van. The van was parked on the side of the road right in front of a pickup truck. In front of the truck was a chubby, eighteen year old man with glasses and dressed in the most nerdiest clothes imaginable.

Great! She wasn't just being sold on the black market, but she was being sold on the black market to a guy who was a pathetic and insulting nerd stereotype!

But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that Hailey recognized this guy the instant she laid eyes on him!