Shout out to catastrophicmind for reviewing! You have made my night :)
I am having immense trouble doing proper spacing between paragraphs at the moment so I'm back to hard enter. If anyone has any tips for me, I would greatly appreciate it!
"Izzy! Homecoming is not for another three weeks!" Clary groaned.
Izzy just glared at her.
"All the dresses will be sold by the last weekend so really we only have two weeks, and you're working for one of them, so this weekend is really the only weekend we have to go shopping," Isabelle pointed out.
Clary huffed.
"You promised you would go shopping with me," Isabelle reminded her.
"I wouldn't so much call it a promise as much as being totally railroaded," Clary mumbled.
"What was that?" Isabelle asked, testily.
Clary gave her a wide grin.
"Nothing," she responded cheekily.
Isabelle smiled and shook her head.
"Go, go get dressed! Something cute but easy to get in and out of," Isabelle instructed.
Clary sighed and nodded, letting her friend in and going upstairs.
She dug through her clothes and pulled out a pair of black leggings and a long sleeved shirt dress. It had a thin strip of elastic along one side so it hugged her hips nicely and made her look taller. She grabbed a pair of black ankle boots and her bag before jogging back down to Izzy.
"You're getting better at this," Izzy complimented as she took in Clary's choice of clothes.
"What can I say, I learned from the best," Clary responded with a smile.
"Clare? Where are you going this early on a Saturday?"
The girls turned to see a sleepy Jon descending the stairs. His white blonde hair was sticking up in all directions and his eyes were red rimmed from tiredness. Clary realised that she hadn't even told Jon that Sebastian asked her to the dance.
"We're going shopping for Homecoming," Isabelle replied for her.
"Homecoming? That's ages away," Jon yawned, as Clary turned to look at Isabelle pointedly.
"It is three weeks. Clary is working next weekend and the dresses will all be sold by the next weekend so we only have one weekend left to get everything," Izzy explained.
"Whatever you say, Clare, do you need any money?" he asked her.
Clary gave him a grateful smile but shook her head.
"No it's fine Jon, I'll just use some of my savings," she reassured.
"Clare, that's for college, not dresses," Jon frowned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
Isabelle looked outraged.
"Dresses are everything! Don't underestimate the power of a dress, it may even land Clary her spot as one of Alicante's power couples!" Isabelle said hotly.|
Clary cringed as Jon's eyes focused on her.
"What does she mean, 'power couple'?" he asked warningly.
"Um. I meant to tell you earlier… but, um, SebastianaskedmetoHomecomingandIsaidyes," Clary quickly rushed out.
Jon's eyes hardened and he folded his arms.
"No," he said harshly.
Clary felt her temper ignite as she stood up to him.
"No? Jon, you can't stop me! You have no say in who I go to a dance with, no say in who I may or may not date, no say in what I do with myself or my body!" Clary glowered at him.
"But Sebastian—"
"No. You do not get to ruin this for me," Clary growled.
Jon sighed and held his hands up in defeat.
"Okay, okay… fine. You would think he would ask me before asking out my little sister though," he grumbled, walking over to the kitchen bench.
"Bye, Jon," Clary called.
"Wait!" he called and jogged over.
"Here, please don't touch your savings," he pleaded, pushing an extra fifty in her hands.
Her eyes softened and she threw her arms around her brother.
"He does anything out of line and I will kill him," he murmured in her ear and she chuckled.
"It's okay, I know enough self defence to incapacitate him," she joked.
He gave her a smile and then ruffled her hair.
"Ugh, brothers," Clary groaned trying to smooth down her now untameable hair.
"You love me," Jon teased.
"That's debatable," Clary muttered, walking down beside Izzy to her car.
"Okay, I have it all planned. We'll hit the shops until eleven, then we'll head for lunch for an hour, then back to the shops," Izzy said, as she drove into the city and parked the car.
Clary refrained from groaning externally, instead she just bottled it up.
"Izzy, I have to say, I'm a little afraid. I don't have the kind of stamina you do," Clary said a little hesitantly.
"Don't worry, we'll make it through the day," Izzy reassured her.
Clary took a deep breath and nodded, following Izzy as she led her into a big boutique store.
"Hi, how can I help you today?" the sales lady asked Izzy with a bright smile.
"Well, first off, I want to see everything couture you have available for homecoming, then if we find dresses I would like to see your shoe range, actually, I'll have a look at the shoe range anyway," Izzy laughed.
The lady smiled at her and then looked at Clary. Clary shuffled her feet feeling very out of place in her casual outfit as the lady judged her.
"And for your friend?" she asked pointedly.
"Like I said, the couture range," Isabelle said icily, any friendliness towards the woman vanishing.
Izzy never took too well to anyone judging her friends.
The woman nodded meekly and gestured for them to follow.
An hour later and Clary had already tried on everything in the Petite range this store had without success.
"Iz, let's go there's nothing in here, that we haven't already tried," Clary reasoned.
"Indeed you are right. What a shame. Oh well, onto the next one!" Izzy said brightly.
"Can we go to lunch?" Clary asked, her stomach starting to rumble.
Izzy looked at the time and nodded.
"Yes, it's a bit earlier than planned but it makes sense. There's no point leaving a store half way through trying on dresses," she laughed and walked breezily through the crowds of people to their favourite restaurant, Idris.
"Isabelle! Clarissa! Lovely to see you ladies!" Ragnor Fell, the owner welcomed them.
"Ragnor! It is wonderful to see you again! I see business is booming better than ever," Isabelle greeted.
"Much better now, but there is always room for my two favourite ladies. Head on out to your table, I had a feeling you would be coming in today," he winked at them.
Clary smiled and the girls moved on as Ragnor greeted the people behind them.
"Okay! So what is on the menu today?" Isabelle asked, opening her menu.
"I think I'm just going to have my usual, coconut pancakes with peaches and cream," Clary said, not even opening hers.
Isabelle glanced over the menu and nodded.
"I think I'll have the same. I've never tried them," she admitted.
Clary's mouth dropped.
"Never?" she asked incredulously.
"Should I have?" Izzy asked.
"Absolutely, they're fluffy little cakes of heaven!" Clary cried out.
Izzy giggled.
"I didn't realise they were life changing," she teased.
Clary just shook her head.
"That's because you haven't had them before," she responded in kind.
"Well then, you have to try the banana, mango and kiwi smoothie, it is honestly to die for," Izzy said seriously.
"Deal."
They ordered and ate, both agreeing that was the best meal they'd had in a long time. Before Clary knew it they were back in another boutique, though she was in a much better mood now with food in her belly.
"So Clary, what kind of look are you actually going for? I'm going for sexy and unattainable of course, but what about you?" Isabelle asked.
Clary pondered for a moment, she didn't think she could pull off sexy, she just didn't have the same kind of features as Isabelle, the legs, the body, the height, the face. She didn't want to be cute though. Cute was a 5 year old child smiling with a missing tooth.
"Pretty. I want to be pretty," Clary confessed to Izzy.
Izzy's eyes softened at her best friend and she gave her a smile.
"But you already are, Clary," she said quietly.
"I want other people to notice and think so. I want them to think, 'wow', like... maybe I could look like someone who actually deserves someone like Sebastian," Clary admitted, breezing past what Izzy had said.
Isabelle smiled.
"I can do that. I will make sure that when you enter—all eyes on you," Izzy promised.
Clary looked up at her shyly and smiled.
"Thanks, Iz," she said quietly.
She had never been more grateful for going shopping with her best friend than she was now.
"But just so you know, you more than deserve someone like Sebastian. It's he who has to work to deserve you."
Isabelle dumped a bunch of dresses in her hands and demanded she go try them on. Clary did so without a fuss. She kicked off her boots and pulled off her top, leaving her tights on. She threw the first dress over her head and slid into it. It was a mint green number with embellishments under the bust, over the sweetheart neckline and the straps over her shoulders. The chiffon skirt fell to just below mid thigh and Clary felt a little uncomfortable. She walked out of the cubicle for Isabelle's judgement.
Isabelle looked at her and frowned slightly.
"It's nice, you look pretty but… it's just not… wowing me, sorry Clary," Isabelle sighed.
Clary nodded, and went back into the cubicle, silently sighing in relief.
The next dress she tried on was marbled, with sky blue, a rich purple and white. It had a purple sash across her waist on on the right a spiralling of jewels. It was quite pretty on the hanger but the moment it went on her, Clary blanched. It clashed in all sorts of ways with her skin and hair. Nevertheless she walked out for Isabelle.
"No."
Clary had barely stepped out of the cubicle before Isabelle sent her right back in.
The next dress had a black bodice with spaghetti straps and a thin v neckline that plunged to her navel with a nude modesty panel. The skirt was some kind of satin-y material and was black with big pinky-red roses on it. Clary hated it. She hated how it plunged and how low the back went. She stepped out and Isabelle smiled.
"That dress makes you look taller," she approved.
Clary gave her a flat look.
"I came out to be polite. It's a no from me," Clary grumbled.
Izzy sighed and waved her hand, sending her back in.
Clary shrugged the dress off and reached for the next one and frowned. It looked exactly the same except it had sleeves? She slid the sleeves off the hanger and the skirt stayed while the top came off. Clary looked at it surprised. A shirt and a skirt? She thought Izzy wanted her to wear a dress. She shrugged and tried both on. The top exposed both her shoulders and was too short to reach the skirt so a little bit of skin was showing and she was extremely self conscious about it. She did like how it looked but didn't think she could wear it to Homecoming.
"Oh Clary, that looks beautiful on you! Please! Your skin and your hair are just made for that," Isabelle pleaded as Clary walked out.
Clary bit her lip and fingers the hem of the skirt which came down to just above her knee. She did feel pretty.
"Oh, biscuit!" Clary whirled around to see Magnus staring at her.
"That is the dress sweetheart. Just, wow. Isabelle, it is a criminal offence if she doesn't buy that!" Magnus informed her.
The Clary in front of him looked elegant and beautiful. The skin that was exposed was done tastefully and with her pale skin she simply glowed against the black material.
"You look delectable," Magnus reassured as Clary blushed pink.
He walked over and pulled her hair tie out ignoring Clary's protests. He quickly did a rough updo and secured it with the hair tie. He then quickly braided a small section of hair and wrapped it around, tucking the end underneath and stepped back.
It was very messy and nearly about to fall apart but it was enough to get an idea of what to do.
"Add some pretty dangly earrings and she is set," he said, mostly to Isabelle.
"Magnus, she is going to steal the show," Isabelle sighed happily.
"Indeed she will," he said quietly standing next to her, both looking on at Clary like proud parents.
