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joke?”
    â€œIs someone here named Jack?” another worker shouted. “Find Jack! Find him now!”
    A wave of panic rolled down my body. I ducked behind a tall cardboard sign and pulled Eli after me.
    The girl’s voice rang out from the wall of TVs. “You can’t hide from me, Jack. You can’t leave me here. Give it up. Give it up, Jack.”
    I peeked out from behind the sign. Store workers were gazing around.
    â€œWhy is this happening?”
    â€œDid someone hack into our system?”
    â€œJack — are you here in the store?”
    Eli and I pressed together, hiding behind the tall sign. My heart pounded.
Should I step out and tell them I’m Jack? Should I tell them the truth about the girl on the TV screens?
    Would anyone believe me?
    Of course not.
    Suddenly, music blared through the store. The flickering light changed.
    â€œThe picture is back,” someone said.
    â€œBack to normal,” another voice agreed.
    â€œWhat was
that
about?” a woman demanded.
    I stumbled over Eli’s shoe as I moved away from the sign. I stared at the wall of TVs. The screens were all showing a music concert now. A rock band with flashing laser lights.
    I let out a long sigh. The red mouth had vanished. Customers and store workers turned away from the TVs.
    â€œWeird,” Eli muttered. He blinked his eyes several times. “Did that really happen?”
    Before I could answer, my dad appeared. He handed a silver-gray box to Eli. “Here you go,” he said. “The manager gave you a new game-player.”
    â€œHey … thanks.” Eli took the box and studied it.
    Dad had been in the manager’s office. He missed the mouth on the TV screens and the girl telling me not to leave her.
    â€œThe manager couldn’t believe what happened to the old one,” Dad told Eli. “He’s going to call the company that made it.”
    â€œWhat did you do with the old game-player?” I asked.
    â€œTossed it in the trash,” Dad said.
    Eli and I exchanged glances.
    â€œGood,” I muttered.
    I raised my eyes to the wall of TVs. All back to normal.
    The game-player was in the trash. And maybe … just maybe, the girl was in the trash with it.
    A guy can hope — right?
    She was scary and evil. And I suddenly felt so much happier thinking maybe I’d gotten rid of her for good.
    Eli and I went to the DVD shelves and checked out the new movies. At the back, I saw Dad moving down the wall of TVs. He was talking to a saleswoman and checking the red and blue price tags.
    A few minutes later, he came striding back to us. “Did you buy one?” I asked.
    He shook his head. “I have to come back next week,” he said. “I was wrong. The sale doesn’t start till then.”
    Eli had the game-player box tucked under his arm.
    â€œGuess you’ll want to get home and try your new player,” Dad said.
    Dad had no idea how eager we were to get away from that store.
    Eli nodded. “Yeah. Thanks for exchanging it, Mr. Harmon.”
    I started walking quickly to the exit. I kept glancing back at the wall of flat screens.
    I still thought maybe the red lips would come back on all the TVs. And the girl would start calling: “Don’t leave, Jack. You can’t leave without me. I’m warning you. Don’t leave the store.”
    But no. The rock band continued to blast away on all the TVs. The white laser lights flashed.
    We made it to the glass doors. I could see our car in the brightly lit parking lot.
    The doors slid open. And someone grabbed my shoulder.
    I spun around. “Dad? What’s the problem?”
    â€œJack, we forgot something,” he said. He tugged me back into the store.
    Eli squinted at me. “What’s up?”
    I shrugged.
    â€œWhy didn’t you remind me?” Dad asked. “A cell phone? Remember? Mom and I want to buy you a cell phone?”
    â€œUh … that’s