Free Ellie Quin Book 2: The World According to Ellie Quin by Alex Scarrow Page A

and the larger swooping blurs of airborne traffic passing by beneath her. But now she had grown accustomed to it, it was a spectacular distraction to fill the few slack moments in the day between taking and despatching orders.
    *
    Jez looked the two young boys firmly in the eyes. They were perhaps only a year younger than Ellie. Scruffy young street-shavs, both of them grinning, showing gemstone teeth implants and countless pigment-swirl arm tattoos.
    And they were also taking the piss.
    ‘I already gave you some StarSauce cartons,’ she replied icily pointing to the tray. ‘There? See them?’
    The bigger of the two young lads, winked at her. ‘Well, I’d like another, miss.’
    Jez turned round reluctantly and bent down to grab another few cartons from the dispenser. As she did, she heard both of the young boys snigger.
    ‘Hey
Star
Chik, nice tail.’
    She gritted her teeth as she stood up again and slapped the sauce cartons down on the tray along with the other ones they had already asked for.
    Just keep your cool, girl.
She dug down deep and pulled out her best over-the-counter-smile. ‘Is that everything?’ she said flatly through her teeth.
    The tallest of the two young boys leaned casually against the counter taking his best shot at appearing sophisticated and cool. ‘So, you got a tug-friend? You want to go love-pup with me, chik? One-on-one date-action?’ he asked, his adolescent voice warbling up and down awkwardly along with his bobbing Adam’s apple.
    She sighed.
    Although this StarBreaks outlet turned out to be conveniently close to home, it seemed unfortunately, to also be one of the principle gathering points for New Haven’s young bucks. More specifically, the young lads who skulked around in the daylight hours in their hooded puffas, and at night raised a racket surfing the various tower’s thermals on their carbolite-boards.
    ‘Sorry…I’m betrothed,’ she replied drily, ‘anything else?’
    ‘Uh?’
    ‘Anything else?’
    ‘That’s it.’ He turned to his friend and flicked his wrist.
    She took the boy’s money and then turned to the auto-chef and voiced-in the order. As she waited for the StarMeal to be restructured on the other side behind the fascia of the machine from raw blobs of protein paste, she looked across the kitchen to the order cubicle. She saw Ellie taking another call-in. Her friend looked up and they shared a grin and a wave.
    ‘Hey! Chik!’
    Jez cursed quietly and slowly turned round to face the boy. ‘How about my mate?’ he said, pointing to the kid standing beside him, who, despite the off-world scarlet hue of his skin, had managed to go a tone more red.
    Jez ground her teeth. The cheeky little jerk was a determined little sod. She leant forward across the counter. ‘Not in a million years,’ she muttered under her breath, ‘not if either of you dick squirts were the last pulse on this planet.’
    There was a soft ping from behind her and, with a sense of relief, she turned round, picked the steaming-hot meal up, placed it on the tray and pushed the tray across the counter.
    ‘Thank you,’ she said with hooded eyes and her lips turned up into a sneer. The boy turned away with a victorious smirk on his face, no doubt convinced by some nuance in her reply that he had successfully arranged some sordid little group activity for her with him and his friend.
    Jez continued to grind her teeth as she watched the boys swagger outside to join several of their friends, hanging around the entrance to the restaurant in a surly group. She watched the jerk who had placed the order tell his tale of conquest, pointing in her direction once briefly, and then watched them as they laughed and cast several furtive glances her way.
    If she wasn’t wearing this bloody degrading uniform and on StarBreak hours, she could quite happily go out there and knock a few of their little coconut heads together.
    Think of the money girl.
    She prepared her composure for the next customer in