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“Which one would you want, Rachel?” Aspen asked.
“Probably the ability to be invisible,” Rachel answered.
“What about you, Aspen?” the boy asked.
Aspen didn’t hesitate. “To fly.”
“David?” a woman’s voice called from the front of the store.
“Over here, Mom.” The boy stood. “I’ll see you guys later.”
“Bye,” they called after him as a woman Pippa recognized from the diner, Brynn, cast her worried gaze over her son. Her shoulders relaxed as she pulled him into a hug. Relief painted Brynn’s face. It was the same every time she came in here looking for him, as if she were afraid he would just disappear one day.
Lady nudged her hand and licked it. Pippa bent down and petted her when a sneering voice caught her attention.
“What are you, like, a dyke now?”
Hot anger lit Pippa’s skin like liquid fire. She darted around the corner. Three girls surrounded Aspen and Rachel, their backs to Pippa.
“Just leave us alone,” Aspen said firmly as Rachel shrunk into herself as if she wanted to disappear. Aspen reached out and wrapped her arm around her friend.
“You’re so gross. What’s wrong, Aspen? Because you don’t have a mom, you became a lezbo?” The same girl said this, and the two girls by her side giggled as if it were the funniest thing in the world.
“What’s going on here?” Pippa snapped. What does she mean Aspen doesn’t have a mom?
The group of girls jumped and spun around, eyes wide with guilty looks.
Their leader’s face quickly formed into an innocent expression. “Nothing, just joking around with my friends.”
Pippa tamped her anger and bit back the urge to call this bully a little bitch. She’s just a child.
Pippa took a deep breath. Children were often a reflection of what they were exposed to, after all. “Can I let you in on a little secret?” Pippa asked.
The leader turned to her friends before she nodded to Pippa.
“What’s your name?”
“Cara.”
“Cara, other women are not your enemy. You girls are gonna have so much going against you in this world, trying to beat you down into submission. You will be criticized for your looks, your thoughts, who you love, who you don’t love, what you wear, and your weight. The last thing you need to do is be unkind to another girl. We are all sisters.”
The two sidekicks looked to the floor before turning back to Cara.
Cara rolled her eyes and snickered. “Well, Aspen here likes her sisters a little too much. Ewww, does that make it incest?”
Pippa leaned in so she was level with the young girl. “I’m sorry you feel so bad about yourself that you have to put others down to feel better.”
Cara’s eyes grew wide before they lit with anger. “You’re a fat bitch.”
Pippa shrugged like the comment rolled off her and didn’t bother her a bit. She’d had plenty of practice with girls like Cara. “I’m okay being a bitch if it means I stand up for what’s right. You’re a bully. You can choose to be kinder and you will have to if you three ever want to step foot in my store again. The Oyster Bookstore is a safe and inclusive place for everyone. If you can’t be nice, you can consider yourself officially banned from the premises.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” Cara whined.
“You can walk yourself out or I can call your parents.”
“Let’s go.” One of the sidekicks grabbed Cara’s arm.
“Shut up, Christie,” Cara snapped.
