She was not necessarily a shy or quiet girl, its just that this was yet another new school. Although she has been at this one for two months she had decided not to allow herself to make any ties because for all she knew she could be in a new home tomorrow. That was why it was such a shock when one of the most popular boys in school asked her out on a date.

At first she declined thinking it to be a cruel prank, as a foster child she had been at the receiving end of more pranks than she could possibly count. It was only when he had persisted that she had finally relented and let down some the walls around her heart.

So she found herself spending Saturday afternoon shopping for an outfit with her foster mother, Mary. She liked this one as she reminded her of her own mother, wherever she was, anyway she liked her because she cared and when Mary had discovered that her foster daughter had a date she took her out for some girl time.

As they wandered around the shops she found she was becoming increasingly nervous about her date tomorrow night, she had never been on an official date before. She didn't know what to do or say, hell she didn't even know what to wear. She told Mary how she was feeling, a first for her, and she couldn't have been nicer about it. She took her to get her hair and nails done at a very fancy salon. Whilst she was sitting in the large, plush, purple chair getting her manicure Mary talked about what she could wear.

As Mary was rambling about different colours that would complement her skin tone she drifted off and thought about how it should be her biological mother helping her and giving her advice on boys and clothes. Before she knew it they were in the expensive designer section of the clothes store. She immediately spotted a beautiful, not quite maroon, tie back, halter neck dress. She took it off the rail to get a better look, her jaw just dropped, it was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen. However when she saw the price she placed it back on the rail and wandered over to the bargain rails.

What she didn't notice was Mary pick up the dress that she had fallen in love with, wander over and stand right beside her. Mary told her to try the dress on, she tried to protest by saying that it wasn't as nice as she had first thought. Eventually though she gave in and a few minutes later she was in the dressing room wearing the gorgeous halter neck. She allowed Mary to enter as she wanted to see the dress on her, when Mary saw her she was speechless.

After she had changed back into her jeans and t-shirt she spent ten minutes arguing with Mary, she liked the dress but she couldn't allow Mary to spend that much money on her. In the end though Mary won by protesting that she wanted to do something nice for the wonderful, thoughtful child that was in her care and that was final.

Once they had purchased the dress, they stopped for lunch before proceeding to find shoes and a bag to match the dress. By quarter to four they has finally finished shopping and headed for the car. On the way home, she was quiet once more and drifted off into her own world, she hadn't even noticed them pull up onto the driveway.

Mary asked her if she was okay and she just broke down, telling Mary how she was very grateful for everything but she couldn't accept the dress or the shoes because she wished that it was her real mother taking her out and buying these things. Mary comforted her and told her that it was okay to feel like that and that she understood how she felt. Mary told her how when she was seven her mother died and shortly after her father remarried and that all she wanted was her real mother back. She explained how she eventually learnt to let her stepmother into her life and how she wished that one day that her foster daughter would learn to do the same.

Mary climbed out of the car and headed towards the house leaving her alone with her thoughts, all of a sudden she turned back around and told her that she wasn't taking the outfit back so she would just have to keep it. The girl laughed and climbed out of the car, got the bags from the backseat and they walked up the path together.

Mary sent that evening helping her foster child get ready for her first date, after she had showered and was wrapped up in a dressing gown with her done up that showed off her new highlights, Mary sat her down and done her make up for her. Mary was done in less than ten minutes and told her to go and get dressed as the doorbell rang.

Mary answered the door and came face to face with a cocky looking teenage boy with jet black hair wearing jeans and a shirt. Keeping her opinions to herself she invited him in and told him that her foster child would be ready soon. Excusing herself, Mary went upstairs to let her know that her date was here. When she found her in her bedroom, she was speechless at just how beautiful she was. Mary told her this and she embraced her and thanked her foster mother for everything.

They headed back downstairs together where her date was waiting. Mary told him to take care of her, gave her daughter a set of keys for the house and told her to be careful. Her foster daughter said goodbye and left with her date, Mary watched as they got into his car and she shook her head when she saw that he didn't even open the car door for her. She thought to herself that this date was probably going to be a disaster but she promised to herself that she would be there to pick up the pieces.

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He had taken her to a small, romantic, Italian restaurant that she had never heard of before, but then again she had never been on a date before so why would she know anything about romantic restaurants. She was so nervous and didn't know what to say so she busied herself in reading the menu, after a five minutes of intense staring she decided on the bruschetta for starters and the Penne Al Pollo for her main course. He ordered the Calamari Fritti to begin with and the Bistecca Al Pepe for his main.

Whilst waiting on their order to arrive she began to ask him questions about his family and friends. He was quite content to talk about himself and never once asked anything about her, she was having a miserable time and things went further downhill when the waiter arrived with their drinks and starters. He mentioned to her date that he remembered him from the previous night with a different girl, last night it was a blonde. She was shocked, just how many girls did he take out in a week. He answered proudly that he had pretty much had every girl in their year and told her that it was pretty much an ongoing bet with the jocks to see how many girls they could date before college. She slapped him, picked up her bag and ran out of the restaurant with tears in her eyes.

She was so upset that she didn't pay any attention to anything and ran straight out into the road. The next thing she knew she heard a blaring horn and then she hit the ground. She blacked out.