Danny stared at the clock. The hour was almost up, he could not remember half the codes and failure would cost his job. He flushed when he thought about the girls laughing at him. Bitches.

He squinted at the test. All but one of the girls had finished and left the room. He heard them cackling in the stairwell. Harpies.

Danny peered around. The remaining girl smiled.

“What you stuck on?” she asked.
“Uh, zucchini.”
“42.”
“Asparagus?”
“127.”
“Got tangelos?”
“55.”

She told Danny more produce codes and turned in her test. He watched her leave. She looked back; he glanced quickly at the clock, avoiding her eyes.

Danny dashed out the final answers and hurried after her. Her smile, her kindness and her paint-on jeans drew out Danny’s courage. He would talk to her. Outside the door heard the girls on the stairs.

“Are you kidding?”
“Nope. He may be cute, but he’s dumb as a post. I had to give him like twelve of those produce codes.”

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