Chapter 2: Try This on for Size

I dressed in a comfortable pair of jeans and high-top sneakers, brushed the tangles out of my long red hair, and rode my bicycle down to the shopping district. I came to a stop at a roadside tree across from Leigh's store. As I fumbled with my bike lock, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a huge head of blonde hair closely followed by two brunettes filing into the store.

Amber.

I let out an audible groan. We weren't even in school, and she still somehow found a way to ruin my plans.

I decided I would go into the store anyway. I was tired of letting her push me around. Besides, it would only take a minute or two to switch out the bathing suit. Worst case scenario, I would just return it and use the money to buy myself a ticket for a matinée at the discount theater.

I hoped Amber and her drones wouldn't notice the door chime ringing as I stepped inside. There was Leigh, as immaculately dressed as ever, listlessly folding multi-colored burnout tees that had been carelessly flung where they didn't belong. He carefully watched the three nightmarish girls, ready to kick them out the second one of them so much as thought of shoplifting.

He glanced my way acknowledged me with a nod.

I sheepishly waved back. "I wondered," I asked in a hushed voice so as not to alert Amber and Company of my presence, "if I could exchange this swimsuit." I showed him the contents of the shopping bag I had brought in. "My Auntie bought it for me, and I'm afraid it isn't really...my style."

He understood and waved me in. The swimwear was displayed in the window for summer. I crossed over to the neon-colored suits and started my search.

Meanwhile, since Amber, Charlotte, and Li lacked the capacity to speak with 'inside' voices, it wasn't exactly hard to eavesdrop on them.

"Want to go to my house after this?" suggested Charlotte. "My stepbrother and his hunky friend are there."

"Didn't he get sent to military school?" Li asked, squeezing her lips into a tiny 'o' and admiring her reflection in a rhinestoned compact.

"No, you're thinking of his other friend," corrected Charlotte. "This one's even hotter!"

"I already told you losers," Amber huffed, "that I'm spending the day at the beach with my big brother. You two can do whatever you want—you just have to give me your opinion on this swimsuit before I get it."

At the sound of their approaching footsteps, I hid myself behind a clearance rack where I could wait unnoticed until they moved away.

Of course, she has to get in the way of the exact thing I came in for.

"Ooh, what about this green one with the starfish?" I heard Li ask.

"I already have a green one, and I'm sick of looking at it," Amber snapped. "I want this one—this purple and white one with the beads."

"You're right, it's pretty, but..." Charlotte's voice faltered, then fell to a whisper. "Don't you think the cups are a little too...big? I mean, just...the way they're cut..." Charlotte's voice trailed off.

I imagined Amber scowling at her friend, as she so often did. "I'll try it on and then you'll see it's perfect."

The three of them wove through the racks and tables to the back of the store. Amber claimed one of the stalls and pulled the curtain closed behind her. Moments later, she reemerged from the fitting room to show Li and Charlotte the purple bikini.

"See? Don't you think it was made for me?"

The silence that followed seemed to suggest that neither Li nor Charlotte thought the bikini was, in fact, made for her.

Mimicking Charlotte's whisper, Li asked Amber, "But what if the top comes undone in the water? You really should get a smaller top, so it would fit better..."

Amber considered the suggestion, and then yelled, "Service, please! I need some service here!"

Leigh sighed heavily and abandoned his shirt-folding to placate Amber in the back of the store. "How can I be of service, Miss?"

"Do you have this bikini top in a small?"

"I'm sorry, Miss. I just got the beaded bikinis in, and I'm already sold out of the smaller tops. All I have left are larges. Again, I'm sorry about that," Leigh apologized. "Let me know if there's anything else you need." He resumed his straightening and folding.

As soon as his back was turned, Amber blurted, "Let's get out of here, girls. This dump never has anything good, anyway. I knew it would be a waste of time." She made sure to yell loud enough for Leigh to hear.

The ringing of the chime as the door closed behind them signaled that it was safe for me to emerge from the clearance clothes. Now able to shop freely from the window display, I picked out a fluffy beach towel and a tube of SPF 80.

Leigh flashed me a knowing smile as he cashed me out. "So, you think that one's your style after all?"

I shamelessly grinned back. "Yes. I think I just needed to see it in different light."

"Good choice," he said mischievously.

"I think so, too," I agreed. "May I use a fitting room to change?"