After School

Agnes Reads sat at her desk bouncing her leg as the final seconds of class slipped by. Everyone else around her was likely anxious to finish the last class of the day and get on with their weekend, but she wasn’t so lucky. The bell rang, and her peers filtered out of the room as she slowly packed her bag. Shouts and conversation from the hallway were muffled as the door shut. She rose and approached the desk at the front of the room.

“I’m sure you know why I’ve kept you after class, Ms. Reads?”

“I failed the last test, Mrs. Baker,” Agnes responded.

“I have to say I’m a bit worried for you dear. Your grades have been steadily falling, and with the end of the semester approaching it’ll be harder to bring up your average. We’ve already talked about tutors-”

“I don’t want a tutor,” Agnes cut in.

“You don’t need one. I know you know this material Agnes. Your essays are well thought out and I see you taking notes in class. I think you need to work on test-taking. I have thought of some solutions for your...impulsive method and wish to help you, if you’ll allow it.”

“Um…...sure I guess.”

“Marvelous. I’d like you to stay after school a few days next week so we can continue this discussion. For now you are dismissed, enjoy your weekend.” And with that, Mrs. Baker turned to her computer and Agnes left.

By the time Agnes was making her way to her locker the hallways were empty, unsurprising since many people had plans. The only plans Agnes had were to pack her bag, head home, and maybe catch up on the last few episodes of her favorite true crime show.

That was until she found it. A little, black book placed neatly in her locker, clearly meant to be seen.

She finished packing her bag, slung it over her shoulders, and then grabbed the little book before slamming her locker closed. It was smaller than her hand, like a memo book, and it’s leather-bound cover was cool and smooth to the touch. She thumbed open the front cover and found writing on the first page.

By the time she reached her car she was thoroughly intrigued. If this little book was to be believed, it promised $20,000 in cash just if she completed a few tasks. Normally Agnes would dismiss this as a total scam or prank, drive home, and shove the book into the back of one of her draws as a funky keepsake. But Agnes was a broke senior in high school faced with a future of student debt. She didn’t have any plans anyway, what’s she got to lose other than her dignity?

With that, she set off to her first location.

As Agnes pulled up to the local grocer and parked in one of the furthest spots, she once again mentally ran through the instructions given by the black book. She wondered if she had been singled out specifically, or if someone made a habit of shoving mysterious instructions in teen’s lockers just for kicks. Maybe they were watching her right now as she stepped through the automatic doors of the grocer and grabbed a basket. She stopped and turned to the fifth page of the journal, flattening the book all the way until the spine gave a satisfying crack.

Fifteen paces to left, three paces forward, four more left, and Agnes stumbled into the middle of the fresh fruit section. She ignored the offput glances she received from adults around her; she was used to those. Turning to the next page, she found a riddle for her next step.

“Red or green, you can look forward to bobbing for me on Halloween.”

Agnes glanced over to the stacks of the apples, all sectioned off by color and type, scrunching her brows. There weren’t any other clues included in the step. Not even what she should be looking for. She placed the book in her basket and got to work anyways.

When Agnes first started digging through the Granny Smiths people shuffled away from her. By the time she had gotten through the Fuji’s and nearly dumped all the Honeycrisps across the floor, it felt like half the store was staring. Just as an associate was walking swiftly towards her, likely to ask her to leave, she noticed a glint of metal underneath the Red Delicious apples she had been searching. She picked up the key and accidentally knocked an apple to the floor.

The associate picked up the apple as it rolled towards their feet and began to say “Ma’am, is there anything I can help you with?”

Agnes rushed out, “Sorry. Found what I’m looking for. Thanks for the help though,” grabbed the journal, handed the basket to the associate, and all but sprinted from the store. It took many minutes of leaning her head against the steering wheel until she felt like turning to the next page of the journal. And then she turned to the next. And to the next. And read through nearly a dozen pages of flowery writing, not even skipping a sentence in case there was a hint for the next step, only to find an address on the last page. By now it was evening, and Agnes was tempted to call it quits before it got dark. But then she would have mortified herself in the middle of a grocery store for nothing. She pulled out of the lot and headed towards the local mall.

Agnes was not in the habit of going to the mall. Unless one of her cousins dragged her there she wasn’t keen on shopping, sipping coffee, and judging other’s fashion sense. She did like pretzel bites though.

Tonight though, Agnes wasn’t there for cinnamon and sugar. Agnes was there to…hmm…do some retail shopping? She wasn’t completely sure why she was there yet. She’d only read far enough to figure out the name of the store and supposed she’d turn to the next page when she got there. She always did things like that; it made her operate faster and avoided thinking too much about the problem at hand. It helped that every part of every step of this journey was written on a separate page. It made everything easy to digest for Agnes, like a lego instruction manual. She was sure she’d see the full picture by the end.

Agnes arrived at the store, trying to avoid the gaze of the employees near the front, but not too much so she didn’t look suspicious. She felt a little underdressed in her baggy end-of-the-week school clothes but she supposed it wasn’t the kind of thing she usually cared about anyway, so why start now?

Agnes once again opened the book wide and found that her mission seemed to be to find the jewelry section. The cheap jewelry section that is, where everything is out in the open instead of behind glass cases. She gnawed her lip as she approached the displays strung up with necklaces and dripping with earrings. She didn’t think the employees would be all too happy with her digging around such cheap finery as she had the apples. Instead she began to circle around the cases like a vulture.

The riddle had been, “I’m something you might drop into a piggy bank or perhaps a wishing well, and if you found me on the ground you’d think your day is swell.”

Agnes was sure a coin would blend in with all the metal chains and tokens in this section, but she was determined. An employee refolding shirts a few displays over was side eyeing her subtly, but for now she looked reluctant to offer her assistance. Agnes felt a sense of urgency nonetheless. After wearing a path around every display with her pacing she noticed an out-of-place glint of pink beneath the curtains of metal chains in a necklace display. She reached her hand beneath it, trying not to make a mess, and grabbed it. It was a shiny, plastic coin, gold with a bright pink heart in the center of both sides.

Agnes pulled out the journal from her jacket pocket and flipped to the next page. Before she could turn to leave, the employee that had been keeping near approached her.

“Found everything alright today?”

“Uh yeah. I actually just needed to grab something…”

“Do you mind if I see?”

“Oh, uh, sure, here.” Agnes handed over the bit of plastic and watched as the worker held it up and turned it over and over between her fingers.

“Ah, I see. This doesn’t look like something we carry.”

It dawned a little too late on Agnes that the employee had thought she was attempting to shoplift. Her ears and cheeks burned hot with embarrassment.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make it seem like I was stealing something.” The baggy clothes probably didn’t help. “I was just picking that up, er, for someone who had left it here.”

The employee handed the coin back over.

“I hope the kid didn’t miss it too much. Sorry for assuming, I just-“

“Was doing your job. It’s totally okay. I’ll, uh, go ahead now. I think I’ve bothered you enough.”

“It’s alright. Have a good evening.”

Agnes gave an awkward smile and nod as she swiftly made her exit. She spent the entire walk back to her car trying to reign in her embarrassment, and failed.

Agnes’ next destination was a peculiar one. It was a home decor store, but it didn’t seem like she’d be entering the building itself. The sun was just starting to dip below the horizon as she snuck around the back. She’d be a bit more worried about her safety if the lot wasn’t well lit.

Closer to the shadows stood a towering dumpster. This was the final step in this long, arduous, mortifying process. “Break down your boxes and fold them away, the work will be worth it when it’s recycled one day.”

Dumpster diving. Yeah, it was mostly filled with cardboard so it wouldn’t be all too bad, but Agnes still wasn’t thrilled by the prospect. She wasn’t even sure what she was looking for but it would probably be at the bottom of the bin, knowing how this works by now. She jumped and heaved herself inside the metal container.

The cardboard was thankfully dry, and though it had a peculiar smell it wasn’t straight up garbage so Agnes wasn’t too disgusted. She began to dig. Halfway through she rested her achy, sweating arms and took a peak at the next page.

“Now that you have the items three: the key, the coin, and cork, it is time for the last page to see.” So she was looking for a cork then. That would blend in well with these boxes.

Eventually she peeled back the final layer, revealing the metal flooring and a small wine cork stuffed in the corner. Agnes grabbed it just as she heard a thump from one of the back doors. She froze, but didn’t hear any footsteps. Before someone could come out and accuse her of stealing or being homeless, she hightailed it back to her car.

With the doors locked and the lights on, Agnes spread out the items on her dashboard and turned to the final page. They were blank, but unnaturally thick, like there was something stuffed inside them. She tore open the edges and out fell bright pink bills. Toy money. For kids. Exactly $20,000 dollars worth. There was a note on the back cover of the journal.

“Ms. Reads,

I believe the main issue with your test taking skills is your unwillingness to read through the instructions fully before starting your answer. If we can break this habit, I’m sure your scores will improve.

- Mrs. Baker”

Agnes drove home.