Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They are the property of Ann M Martin and Scholastic.

'Dawn! You should try these on!' Stacey said, holding up a pair of bright blue skinny jeans.

'No way, Stacey! I wouldn't be able to move in those things!' I replied, and turned away from her. I was at the Washington Mall with Stacey and Claudia, shopping for some new clothes for winter. I now realized it was a bad idea coming with them.

'Oh, come on, Dawn! Try something new for once! Look, you can try it on with this sweater,' Claudia said, holding up a bulky black sweater with a big black button on it.

'I guess I don't have a choice, do I?' I sighed, took the clothes from Stacey and Claudia. I stepped into one of the fitting rooms, and managed to squeeze myself into the jeans. I pulled the sweater over my head, and shook out my hair.

I glanced at myself in the mirror, and smiled. I actually looked alright! But I was very uncomfortable, and they were very un-Dawn clothes.

'Come on, let us see!' Stacey called, and I reluctantly opened the door and stepped out of the fitting room. Stacey and Claudia said nothing; they just stood gaping at me.

'Well? If you really think I look that bad, I'll put you out of your misery.' I went to step back into the fitting room, but Claudia found her voice, and grabbed me by the wrist.

'No! You look fantastic, Dawn! Those clothes suit you perfectly!' She told me.

'Yeah! Why don't you buy them?' Stacey added.

'Because they are the most uncomfortable pieces of clothing I've ever worn! I can barely breathe!' I retorted. 'I'd much rather wear baggy jeans, thanks.' I once again went to step into the fitting room, but this time a salesperson stopped me.

'Wow! They look amazing on you!' She exclaimed.

'You just want a sale,' I muttered, soft enough so she wouldn't hear me. Out loud, I said, 'Thanks.'

'Here, look at yourself in this mirror,' the salesperson said, pointing to a large mirror over the other side of the store. I wanted to say no, but I thought, Why not?

I walked through the store to the mirror, and admired myself for a few minutes. While I was walking back to Claudia and Stacey, contemplating buying the sweater at least, a man stopped me.

'Are you a model?' He asked, looking me up and down.

'Uh, no,' I replied, and continued walking.

'Well, would you like to be?' He called after me.

I turned to face him. 'No way! I'd absolutely hate to be a model! Women demeaning themselves and starving themselves to death and old men perving over pictures of you! Yuck!'

He just laughed. 'Well, if you do change your mind, here's my card. Get one of your parents to call me, and we'll see what happens. Hope to hear from you.' With that, he walked away.

I looked down at the card and saw that his name was Rufus Redmont. When I got back to Claudia and Stacey, they asked what the man wanted.

I shrugged. 'Something about modeling. I don't know. Now, can we please leave?' I walked into the fitting room, put my clothes back on, and walked straight out of the store, with Claudia and Stacey trailing behind me.

'Let's go and get a Smoothie,' I said.

'Dawn. Claudia and I need to have a serious talk with you. Don't you DARE throw that card out.' Stacey and Claudia each took me by an arm, and led me up the escalator.