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Gregory wasn’t exactly somewhere he was supposed to be when he got the call. It wasn’t his fault no one had taken back the security card he’d upgraded to the maximum level. Therefore, it wasn’t his fault that he used it. Frequently.
Besides, the pizzaplex was his home now. It was only right that he explore every nook and cranny.
Freddy called him on his watch while he’d been poking around some of the super off limits areas, said Roxy had asked if he was busy and could he come to the raceway if he wasn’t? So through the walls and back hallways and secret passages he’d traveled, and then he just had to go and slip out right next to a guest.
She looked to be the same age as him, and he genuinely felt bad for the way she violently startled at his sudden appearance from inside one of the raceway’s fake rock formations. But she wasn’t just startled, she was crying.
“Sh—crap,” Gregory said, crouching down next to her. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you or anything.” He fumbled in his pockets for a pack of tissues he knew he kept somewhere.
The girl giggled weakly. “No, it’s—it wasn’t you. I mean, you surprised me, but this,” she gestured at her teary face, eye makeup streaking down her cheeks, “this wasn’t you.”
Gregory sheepishly handed over the tissues nonetheless. “Still. I try not to give guests heart attacks unless they deserve it.”
Her laugh was stronger that time, and he decided that whatever Roxy wanted could wait for a few minutes. He settled down on the dusty floor beside her as she blew her nose. He looked her over, trying to figure out why she was sitting in a relatively secluded spot in what one might consider to be the back of the raceway. Her appearance—skin darker than his, curly brown hair in pigtails, hazel eyes—didn’t ring a bell, and Gregory was good at remembering regulars, so she probably wasn’t one.
She was, however, wearing Roxy-themed sneakers. As she finished scrubbing at her face, he nodded down at them. “She your favorite?” he asked.
The girl lit up. “Yeah! Roxy’s awesome!”
“She’s not so bad,” Gregory allowed, teasing. Roxy really was awesome when she wasn’t trying to bite his face off.
“Well, clearly you’re biased,” the girl sniffed, lightly kicking at his own Freddy-themed sneakers.
“Nah, I’m Gregory.”
She threw one of the balled-up tissues at him for that one, which was probably deserved. They snickered together for a minute, and he was glad to see she didn’t look so droopy and sad now.
“I’m Cassie,” she said. She held out the pack of tissues, and he shoved them back into a random pocket. “Thanks for those. I, uh…”
“You don’t have to tell me what’s got you upset,” Gregory offered. He thumbed over his shoulder. “Just so long as you also don’t tell anyone where I came from.”
Cassie peeked backward at the innocuous boulder. “Counteroffer: you tell me why you were in a fake rock, and I’ll tell you why I’m sad.”
“You drive a hard bargain, Cassie. But—” Gregory hopped to his feet and held out his hand to help her up— “sounds like a deal to me. Let’s do this right, though. Fro-yo’s on me.”
In addition to the security pass, he had a Freddy-authorized VIP pass that worked a little bit like a debit card at any register in the pizzaplex. Where the money in the account came from, he didn’t know and never asked. Monty had joked about it being allowance once, and it wasn’t a suggestion Gregory could get out of his head after that.
Among the many little stores tucked into the raceway’s perimeter was one of Gregory’s favorites: a serve-yourself frozen yogurt bar. Cassie was initially hesitant when he told her to go wild, but after he’d assured her that his parents were the ones really footing the bill (a new and novel thing to say that made his stomach flip-flop a little bit, in a good way), she followed his lead and put together a small mountain of fro-yo and toppings.
“So,” Gregory started once they’d sat down at one of the tables. “I was in a fake rock because I’m a certified explorer of all the secret passageways the pizzaplex has, and that just happens to be one of the hidden exits.”
“Certified, huh?”
Gregory, having pulled this same joke on Sun, Chica, and Freddy, whipped out his little laminated card with Certified Pizzaplex Explorer written on it (in crayon, for maximum hilarity) and a printed picture of him and everything. Cassie snorted, nearly inhaling crumbled brownie bits.
“Ever found anything cool in those secret passageways?” she asked, sounding like she did and didn’t believe him.
“There’s an old log flume ride behind the raceway’s walls,” he told her, because that was a safer, more reasonable thing to find than Bonnie’s broken body, a mass grave of STAFF bots, a serial-killer creep in the basement, or the literal actual corpse of a previous night guard.
“No way! That’d be awesome! I wonder why it’s not out.”
“Beats me.” Gregory surreptitiously looked around for any eavesdroppers. “Wanna see it?”
Cassie’s eyes lit up, and she leaned forward, nearly smacking her towering frozen yogurt with her chin. “Really? You’d show me?”
“I’d have to swear you to secrecy, but yeah! It’d be an adventure!”
Cassie zipped her lips. “I won’t say a word to anyone!”
Man, Gregory had never made a friend so easily before. “Sweet! Are your parents around? Will they notice if you’re gone for a while?”
A question he probably should’ve asked before he dragged her over here, but oh well.
Except, he must’ve said something really wrong because Cassie’s expression immediately collapsed back into dejection. “I guess now’s a good time to tell you why I was sad. It’s my birthday, and my dad, he’s real busy with work, and it’s not like I didn’t know he wouldn’t be able to hang out with me today, but it still didn’t feel great, I guess. We planned that he’d drop me off here for the day, so I sent invitations to some of my friends at school, but…”
But Cassie had been alone and crying when he’d nearly tripped over her. “Aw, I’m sorry, Cassie. That sucks. Those losers are really missing out.”
She smiled, small and fragile, eyes shining with fresh tears. “Thanks, Gregory.” She sniffled and poked at her fro-yo. “You’re pretty good company, though. And Roxy hung out with me earlier, and she was really nice and stuff. Getting to meet her was a pretty great present, and she stuck around as long as she could. I hope she didn’t just feel bad for me…”
Oh. Oh. Gregory suddenly had a pretty good idea of what Roxy had wanted him to come to the raceway for.
“Nah, she wouldn’t do that,” Gregory said confidently. “She’s awesome, even if she’s not as awesome as Freddy.”
Cassie stuck her tongue out at him, once more shaken from her sad thoughts, and then she reached across the table to dig her spoon into his cup. Which was a clear declaration of war, and Gregory retaliated appropriately.
• • •
By the time the pizzaplex started closing down, bit by bit, area by area, Gregory had showed Cassie the old log flume, the tunnels made for DJMM and the arcade storage with all its working games, and the secret catwalks over the laser tag arena. They were also both wearing shirts from one of the many gift shops, on account of the Great Fro-yo War having gotten a little out of hand.
“Consider it a birthday gift from me,” Gregory had insisted, and Cassie seemed like she might usually have been too polite to accept (especially after he’d bought their frozen yogurt) but was ultimately swayed by the large, sticky wet spot in the center of her shirt.
She had been delighted by the behind-the-scenes tour, so to speak, and she hadn’t even come close to crying again, so Gregory counted it as a pretty good win.
“I’ve got one more surprise for you,” he said, pulling her by the hand through the back hallways. There was no show tonight, so the animatronics were done entertaining early. Their favorite shared lounge space was their destination.
He’d managed to get a hold of Roxy while Cassie had gone to change her shirt. After she’d confirmed that she’d intended to ask him to come keep the lonely birthday girl company and he’d explained that he was doing so even regardless of being asked to, Gregory’s plan for the best birthday present ever was put into place.
“Gregory!” Cassie protested half-heartedly. “You’ve already done so much—and you weren’t even technically invited to my party!”
“Yeah, but let’s be honest, if you’d known me before today, you’d totally have invited me. So I’m just making up for lost time, really.”
She grumbled but tellingly didn’t deny it. He grinned over his shoulder at her.
“Where are we, anyway?” she asked.
“We’re below the atrium, in Parts and Services.”
“In Parts and—guests aren’t allowed here!”
Gregory cackled. “That’s never stopped me before!” He skidded to a stop outside the right door and turned to Cassie. “All right, cover your eyes. And no peeking!”
With a put-upon sigh, she acquiesced. Gregory pushed open the door, made frantic gestures for silence at the room’s occupants, then carefully guided Cassie inside. After firmly shutting and locking the door so no one would stumble across them, Gregory got Cassie in the perfect position.
“All right, you can look now,” he said as he rounded her side so he could watch her reaction.
Lowering her hands, Cassie’s eyes got really big really fast, and she squealed, bouncing in place. She clutched her hands together in front of her new Roxy shirt, looking over-the-moon.
Roxy laughed boisterously. “Happy birthday, Cassie! I know we’re probably not the party you imagined, but hopefully we’re not too bad.”
Chica threw a handful of confetti into the air, carefully avoiding the cake Monty was holding. “Happy birthday!” the two of them and Freddy chorused.
“This is the best!” Cassie cried. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I—Gregory!” She turned to him and shook him by his shoulders. “How did you do this?!”
He laughed and drew her closer to the waiting band. “I have my ways. Don’t go spreading the word, though. This is a special occasion, not something the average brat can have.”
And Cassie leaned forward and hugged all the air from his lungs. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You really turned my day around.”
Gregory hugged her back. “Hey, I had fun too. Don’t go forgetting about me once you buddy up with Roxy, yeah?”
“No way, no how,” Cassie promised. Then, hesitantly, “Best friends don’t abandon each other.”
“But best friends do put together totally awesome birthday surprises, so… what are you hanging around with me for? Roxy’s literally right there!”
There was no trace of that sad, crying, wilting girl Gregory had first met. Now, as Cassie pulled back with a beaming smile before enthusiastically bounding right into Roxy’s legs, she was exactly as a birthday kid should be: positively radiating joy.
Gregory tucked himself into Freddy’s side for a moment, pressing into the hand that gently cupped the side of his head.
“You did very well, superstar,” Freddy said quietly, watching Cassie greet the others with nearly as much exuberance as she had Roxy. “I am proud of you.”
“Aw, it was nothing. Cassie’s super cool, so it wasn’t like I got the short end of the stick or anything.”
“Still,” Freddy insisted. “You went above and beyond to give her a wonderful day.”
With a little shrug, Gregory said, “I just made a new friend, is all.”
“Then you are both very lucky. Now, come. We cannot let them have all the fun.” Freddy nudged him forward to join the celebration.
“Or all the cake. Cassie! Save me a piece! It’s your sacred duty as my best friend to make sure these bottomless pits don’t eat it all!”