I do not own Lilo and Stitch.

The Mall Mishap

Lilo lazily browsed through the selection of cotton tank tops resting on the Clearance table. Most of them were wrinkled to the point where no iron in the world could salvage the material, but being a fourteen-year-old girl with no job, there were limited options when you had to shop on allowance money.

"This isn't so bad," Lilo said aloud as she removed a decent mint-green tank top from the bottom of the pile. Her colour choices always seemed to be reds or greens, but why change something that's been working since childhood?

"Please. It looks like someone threw up on it."

Lilo continued studying the shirt, not bothering to look over her shoulder to see who had spoken. She knew the taunting voice very well. "I think it looks nice."

"Of course you do," Mertle sneered. "And that really doesn't surprise me, considering you're weird and have weird tastes in everything-from clothes, to movies and to dogs."

"The last one really doesn't count," Lilo said idly. She made up her mind and threw the shirt over her arm. "Stitch is an alien, so of course he's different from dogs. Speaking of which, how's GiGi?"

Mertle paused, caught off guard by the genuine interest in Lilo's voice. "Fine," she said reluctantly. While she was willing to accept GiGi being an alien experiment, she wasn't willing to get caught up completely in her alien 'ohana.

"That's good." Lilo finally glanced at the redhead with a sincere smile. "So, what brings you here?"

Mertle arched an eyebrow. "Duh, doing exactly what you're doing. Shopping, except I do so with high standards."

I've noticed, Lilo thought. "Well, I'm on a tight budget, so I can't afford designer earrings like you can."

An amused smile curled across Mertle's face. "Neither can I. But yet I have them." She flicked the sparkling emerald earrings in emphasis.

Lilo blinked in confusion. "What do you mean? You can totally afford those earrings! And how would you be wearing them if you can't afford them?"

"Sometimes your stupidity baffles me." Mertle shook her head. "Of course I'm rich. But Mom thinks if she gives me a larger allowance than the rest of the neighbourhood kids, I'll 'lose sight of what matters most'. So, when I want something and don't have the money for it, I just take it anyway."

Lilo mulled this over for a moment before complete shock crossed her face. "You shoplift?"

Mertle snapped her head around, but she needn't have worried. There was no one around to overhear them. "Shut it, will you? And yes, it's something normal people do."

"No it isn't!" Lilo snapped. "It's something criminals do!"

Mertle rolled her eyes. "Stop being such a goody-goody."

"I am not a goody-goody," Lilo cried. "In fact, I just got detention last week for punching Elena in the face."

"Admittedly, she deserved it. Even I know it's a stupid move to insult your family." Mertle crossed her arms. "But other than the occasional detention, you still obey most of the school rules. And you always make sure you're home by curfew. Need I go on?"

"Well, Nani would be disappointed in me if I got in trouble at school," Lilo defended. "And there are six aliens living in my house. I have to help out. It's the least I can do for Nani."

Mertle smirked. "Point proven. Goody-goody's worry about disappointing people and do everything they can to make those people proud."

Lilo stomped her foot in frustration. "I am not a goody-goody!"

The redhead leaned in close. "Prove it."

A tension crackled between the two teens. Lilo gritted her teeth. Her conscience was screaming at her, telling her to ignore the girl and walk away. But Lilo was having difficulty doing that. If she walked away, she was denying a challenge from Mertle.

She never denied a challenge from Mertle.

"I will," Lilo growled. She stood up straight and walked casually over to the jewellery spinner. Her fingers brushed a green and red glass bead necklace. She took a deep breath and lifted it from its metal hook. Gingerly, she hovered the necklace over her homemade purse (made completely out of duct tape and decorated with vampires) for a brief moment before letting it drop inside. The raven-haired girl whirled around and grinned at Mertle, who rolled her eyes in return.

"Whatever. I guess you're not a complete-"Mertle suddenly stopped speaking, her eyes growing wide with horror behind her glasses. Without speaking a word she turned on her heel and walked out of the store.

Lilo frowned in puzzlement. What's her-?

Before she could finish her thought a heavy hand fell on her shoulder. Lilo froze, her heart beginning to pound. Very slowly, she peered up into the disappointed expression of Officer Clyde.

Relief and terror clashed as those two emotions filled her; relief at being busted by her cousin but terror at being busted in the first place.

"I-" Lilo started, but she realized she had nothing worthwhile to say.

"Put it back, Lilo," Clyde said, his paw not leaving her shoulder.

Lilo swallowed and put the necklace back where it belonged, shame welling up in her chest. Tears welled up in her eyes and she brushed them hastily away.

Clyde studied the girl for a moment before sighing. "C'mon, kiddo. We're going to take a little ride."

Lilo nodded. She tossed the mint-green shirt back on the Clearance table as they passed. She didn't feel like she deserved to buy anything right now.

The two walked out into the cool evening air. Bonnie glanced up when they approached the police cruiser and smiled. "Hey, kid. Need a ride?"

"Yeah, to the police station," Lilo said miserably as she collapsed in the back seat.

Bonnie looked at her in surprise. "What for?"

"Busted her shoplifting," Clyde informed his partner as he lowered himself into the driver's seat. "So I thought we'd take a little ride to see what's up." He started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, speeding onto the twisting dirt roads.

"Oh, Lilo." Bonnie frowned at the Hawaiian girl in disappointment. "You're better than that stuff!"

"I know," Lilo whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks. "It was stupid!"

I wish I had brought Stitch with me. He would have stopped me. Although I should have been smart enough to stop myself.

"Alright, there's gotta be a story behind it," Clyde prodded gently. "I know you, doll. You don't do stuff like this. What happened?"

Lilo burrowed her face in her hands. "Mertle Edmunds got to me. Again. And whenever she challenges me I can't walk away from it."

"She challenged you to shoplift?" Bonnie asked incredulously.

"No! She accused me of being a goody-goody, I told her I wasn't, and she told me to prove it," Lilo said. "I caved to peer pressure, and now I'm starring in my own after-school special."

Clyde snorted and Bonnie punched him in the shoulder. "Not the time to laugh at her jokes," she muttered under her breath.

"Am I going to be arrested?" Lilo asked nervously. "I mean, I totally deserve it."

Bonnie and Clyde exchanged glances. It was their job to bring justice to Kokaua Town, and if you committed the crime, then you do the time.

But they also got the job in the first place because of the girl in the backseat of their cruiser.

"I'm gonna tell a story," Bonnie began. "Of a little girl who believed in others so much it could be sickening."

Lilo smiled softly, knowing where this story was going.

"This little girl put two no-good thugs in the big house. They deserved to be there, and they deserved to rot in there. But one day the little girl came back and convinced the warden to put the thugs on parole. The thugs were mad at the little girl for puttin' them in the slammer in the first place, but no matter how many cracks they made the little girl was patient. She didn't give up, and soon the thugs realized this was the one person who would give them a chance to redeem themselves. Because of that little girl, their lives are a hundred times better."

"Wanna take a whack at who this little girl is?" Clyde asked, winking at Lilo in the review mirror.

"It was me, five years ago." Lilo suddenly realized that the car had stopped and glanced out the window. They were at her house. Surprised, Lilo looked at the two officers in the front seat.

"Bingo. You gave us, and all the other experiments a second chance. You deserve one to. Everyone screws up, but it's what you learn from that screw-up that matters." Bonnie grinned. "This is your chance. Don't screw up again, because the road that you nearly went down isn't a pleasant one. Take it from two jerks that've been there."

"You're not jerks." Lilo leaned towards the front seat and threw her arms around her cousins. "You're the best cousins ever!"

"Everyone's your favourite cousin." Clyde grinned and ruffled Lilo's hair fondly. "Now get out of here. A pretty little thing like you shouldn't be in the back of police cruiser."

"And be a good girl," Bonnie added. "The next time that redhead challenges you-"

"Keep my head high and walk away," Lilo finished.

"Thatta girl." Bonnie smiled as Lilo gave them one last squeeze before jumping from the cruiser and sprinting to her house. Clyde threw the gearshift to reverse and tore out of the driveway before anyone spotted them.

Lilo considered Mertle, and what to do about what she just learned. She decided she would have a talk with Mertle, and if nothing changed she would take it from there. Lilo understood that the one act she did could have cost her her future. That was one mistake she didn't want to make, and it was one mistake no one else should make, either.

I figure that Lilo would still be one to agree to Mertle's challenges when they're teens, but the challenges would get more drastic as they got older. I can see Lilo getting into a situation like this. As for Bonnie and Clyde, it took a lot of convincing, but Lilo managed to get them jobs in the police force when they were completely reformed.

(Obvious) Lesson of the story: don't shoplift. It's a criminal act, it's wrong, and it will stay with you for the rest of your life.