Is it stalking if you use Satan magic to do it?

By now, it’s kind of an easy guess that Teri isn’t fond of me, but I still need her, here and tonight and vaguely willing. All the nervousness I started building over losing my virginity is replaced with so much panic—over the demon's threat, over my Custom Girl’s disappearance—that I go a clean minute before I remember what my phone does besides Satan magic.

Me: Hey, can we meet?

As soon as I hit send, I swap to Custom Girls and pull up Teri's information. The live feeds—now confirmed to be magical, oh Jesus, demons are real, OH JESUS!—continue to deliver: her car is still parked out front, empty. Teri herself, meanwhile, is now the passenger in a stranger's car, sitting and…

… and making a face at her phone.

As I ponder how this doesn’t bode well, she looks as if she’s making a mocking laugh before showing the phone to her driver, an older woman I don’t recognize, and then the two in the back that I do: Francesca Moines, the prettiest of those present, and…

… Sara Douglas?

I almost forget what I’m doing when I see her. Freckle-faced, red-haired, and wearing enough make-up to hide her near-albino skin except where it mismatches her neck, my nerdy old friend was riding behind the driver next to her freshman-year bullies. Along with the older woman (Francesca’s mom, I have to guess), she’s the one-half of the car’s occupants still allowed to wear bras, and her fat C-cups perch over her chubby gut only slightly less than I remember. She’s definitely lost some weight, but she’s still heavier than all the women present and still looks nervous as Hell in this car full of wolves.

Why is she hanging out with the same girls who'd call her "Whalra" that she used to mock? Not like they share classes, Sara's had a full advanced schedule since sophomore year. Questions fold on themselves as I take in the outfits, all trendy and fashionable dresses with skirts that just barely go too short for school… even Sara, who never gave a crap about fashion… at least back when we hung out. Fuck, now’s not the time to reminisce; I unmute the video feed.

“… Cha? Like, I mean in the middle of lunch! Like so typical and rude, right?” Teri’s earlier complaint isn’t hard to guess, and the only mom present shakes her head disapprovingly while Francesca giggles in a high-pitched squeal before making gagging noises.

Sara just watches them with a nervous smile. Maybe she doesn’t know-

“O-M-G, Sara, didn’t you used to, like, hang out with that guy?”

Teri’s pointed question barely feels lighthearted, and Sara shrinks in response before she nervously laughs, “I-I don’t know…”

My lips press tight as I listen. I guess I haven’t been that much of a friend since freshman… but it still stings to hear that.

“God, was he always such a douche?” Francesca rhetorically asks. She concludes without pause, “I mean, mom, it’s not bullying if it’s true, y’know?”

“You still shouldn’t use that language, Franny.”

“Oh my G, I told you not to call me that-!”

“Franny!” Teri laughs. Sara nearly joins her until “Franny” throws her a withering stare.

Sara nervously chuckles, “Y-Yeah, he always kind of… creeped on me when we started high school.”

… What did... when did... did Sara just…?

“Eeew, gross!” Teri and Franny both laugh before yelling, “Jinx!”

What?

Sara doesn’t retract or clarify… she just smiles and glances out the window. Their conversation rolls on, but my mind gets stuck looping back to the inconsequential betrayal of a former friend. Why would she say that? Was I creeping-? No, no I wasn’t! If my eyes wandered, well shit, Sara had the fattest tits in our group! Well, fattest tits on a girl, anyways... and I’m only a man, damn it…

My phone’s frame groans slightly as I squeeze it, and I let off with a start. I was… furious, but I had to focus.

“So you wanna hit Fifth Ave first, or the GAP?”

“Ugh, I don’t know why you like that store, Teri, it is literally the worst.”

“Because the sale, duh.”

“We can…” Sara pauses as the two glance at her, but she manages, “We should def… hit Fifth Ave first, no matter what, then figure it out from there.”

“Yeah, she right.”

“Yeah,” Teri agrees before returning to her phone, sending a text… and, I soon realize, ignoring my own message to her.

Fifth Ave... Saks Fifth Avenue, not hard to guess, though I admit I've never gone in myself. That and the GAP were located at the only thing within a thirty minute drive that anyone would ever call a "mall" in this town. I could start heading over there myself, meet up with them... maybe bitterly catch up with an old friend-

No, focus Don. It's already six o'clock. You need to get to the mall before they leave the damn place, and you've got just your dad's bike to get you there. You need to get in range of Teri...