Upgrade by Asa Maria Bradley

Author:Asa Maria Bradley [Bradley, Asa Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Down & Out Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

The next morning, I call Mia up on my laptop. As usual, I have to jump through hoops and enter a bunch of codes before I connect with her. She’s paranoid about her online security, which seems ironic for a hacker but also makes sense.

Her smiling face appears on my screen. “Hey,” she says. “How’s the op going?” Her dark brown tight curls frame her face in a riot of hair. She has cobalt-blue highlights and her lush lips are covered in the exact same shade of lipstick. Gold glitter covers her eyelids, perfectly complimenting her bronze skin tone.

I can’t help but grin when I see her. “What part are you auditioning for?”

“Not auditioning. I got it already.” She does a little victory dance in her chair, her arms up in the air. “I’m one of the understudies for Kinky Boots while they are on tour here in Boston.”

“Congratulations. That’s amazing.”

“Thanks. I’m heading out in a few to go to rehearsal, so get me up to speed on where we are.”

I fill her in on what’s happened and how we’ll need her in the meeting tomorrow. “Are you sure you can talk to these guys about the kind of things they expect you to know?”

Mia nods. “I probably do know the things they expect me to know. And if not, I know enough to fake it. Plus, the plan is still to make them feel bad for questioning me.” She grins big but then turn serious. “You look horrible. Have you been sick?”

I didn’t bother with makeup or even brush my hair before I called her up. I’m still in bed, under the covers. “Something like that,” I answer.

She moves left and then right, turning her head to the edges of the reach of the web camera. “Where’s Sam? Is he happy with how the op is going?” I pause for too long before I can come up with an excuse for why Sam isn’t there and she pounces. “Wait…red eyes, puffy face. You don’t have a cold, do you? You’ve been crying.”

To my horror, I feel my eyes well up. “No,” I lie. “I’m fine.”

“Bullshit, tell Auntie Mia what’s wrong.” She and I met when we were teens during a period of my life when I was living on the streets. Mia didn’t have much more than I, but because of her computer knowledge, she pulled a little more money than the rest of the runaways and had enough to rent a room in a house. She shared that with me until I could get enough money together to get my own place. It was cheap and run down, but it wasn’t the street and I am forever grateful to her for that. She’s the closest I have to a confidante other than Sam.

“Sam and I are arguing,” I finally say. “He’s completely out of control and won’t stick to the game plan.” I tell her about Sam not trusting me, spying on me, and that he thinks I’m going to run off with Warrick because he’s a better conman.

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