Two weeks had passed into the year of 2010. Since then, school had resumed, and Matt was situated comfortably into his classes. We almost had the same schedules, except for science, which he opted to swap out for cooking. I sat at my work station in Mr. Mancini's class on a brisk Tuesday afternoon working on a picture. It didn't look the best, but Honestly, I didn't even know what I was drawing. I stopped, and looked at it.

"It could be worse," He mused as he walked by. I gritted my teeth.

"Thank you, Mr. Mancini," I dipped my brush into some red paint.

My thoughts drifted towards Matt, who was sitting a few stations away, smiling and looking at his picture. He looked very excited, and it made me curious as to why. I leaned my stool back and whispered to him. "Matt…what's wrong?"

He looked at me. "I'll show you when we're done!"

I had never seen him so excited, so when class was over, I hurried to join him, but Mr. Mancini stopped me. He had something to talk to me about.

"Did you find your tutor?"

"Yes, I did," I exclaimed proudly. "She's the best."

"Interesting…care to explain…?" He pointed his pen at my drawing. I covered my mouth.

"Oh, that? That's just a doodle," He nodded slowly.

"Melinda, I'm giving you an assignment," He said, giving me a worksheet. "The instructions are on that paper. I need you to hand it in by no later than February 28th. Have a nice day."

"You too…?" I left his class. Matt was nowhere to be found, so I guessed he meant by the end of the day.

I got through my next few classes very easily, and by the time the final bell tolled, I had time to look over Mr. Mancini's assignment, while walking back towards home. It said that I had to draw a picture of emotion; the picture, having nothing to do with anything in particular, had to reflect my emotions at the time I drew it. At first I was confused, but then a couple of ideas sprang into my mind just long enough for me to forget them in a scare when someone covered my eyes.

"Matt! I was in the middle of something!"

"Oh, sorry," His voice was still filled with excitement. "But you have to see this!"

He led me in the direction of an unknown destination. It had to be petty far, because we were walking for some time. He uncovered my eyes and we were now standing on another cobblestone street in front of an old vacant store. His mother could be seen in the inside, with a roll of fabric over her arm. I gasped.

"No…she didn't…" He nodded happily. "Oh my god, she got a store!"

"Yeah!" He exclaimed. "It was one of her New Year's resolutions. So for the last two weeks we were searching, and we found this old store!"

"How did she get it?"

"The original owner was kind enough to let us rent it out," He continued. "She says she's moving back to her family in Verdanturf Town after the storm, so that she could always be with them. She's a really nice old lady."

"Let's go in!" We walked inside and looked around. It was a work in progress, but the future of this place looked very bright.

"Oh, Hello Molly," I waved to her. "Do you like it? I know it's not much, but…wow, I'm nervous."

"About what?" I asked. "This road leads straight to the docks, which means that this is one of the first streets that visitors travel through when they're touring the city."

"That's good to know," She said. "Okay you two, I know you just got out of to school, but…it's time to work. Help me fix this place up."

We both nodded, and got to work. Many of the supplies had been brought and were just waiting to be set. Wallpaper, pictures of famous fashion designers, and some light fixtures were lying on the ground. I picked up a roll of wallpaper and took a deep breath. It brought back memories from when the restaurant was preparing for business. We spent most of the afternoon helping Matt's mother fix up her new shop, and when the sun started to set we called it a day and locked up. Then she looked at the both of us.

"If it's not too much to ask, Molly," She said. "I would like you to accompany Matt to the bank tomorrow."

"What for?"

"Well I need to get some money for the down payment, and tomorrow's the last day. And I thought since you know so much about the city, you could lead him there?"

"Oh, sure," I replied. "I have no problem with that."

We walked home.

The following afternoon Matt and I left school for lunch. Fortuitously, we were allowed to do this on Wednesdays, so we decided to go to the bank now. It was very windy today.

He turned to me. "Do you think I'll get a discount?"

"I don't know…do you deserve it?" I grinned.

"Hey, she's my mother!" He argued. "I have to get a discount on clothes!"

"Not necessarily. She's also the manager," I replied. "She could jack the prices up for you if you get a bad grade or something."

He chuckled nervously. "Yeah…that's something to think about."

The bank was not far from school. In fact, the convenience of the location was everything. It was centered in the middle of the city where numerous canals met; that's where the old marketplace was. In the old days, merchants could be found here, distributing their goods to the citizens in exchange for money and supplies for their ships. That changed in the 1940's though, so my history teacher says, when the docks were built. Since then many of the structures had remained intact, still doing business today, and some were left as landmarks or attractions.

"Wow, I've never seen this part of the city before," Matt said upon entry.

"I come here sometimes for lunch," I pointed him towards the bank. "That's the bank over there. Hurry and get the money; fifth period starts in a few minutes."

He ran inside. While waiting, I started to think over my assignment for Mr. Mancini. I felt happy in the marketplace, so I quickly unzipped my bag and pulled out my sketchbook…or maybe that's the catch.

"He's probably expecting me to do this," I'm pretty sure that half the other students in the class, if they were doing an assignment like this, wouldn't have chosen something so obvious to him. "Nice try, Mr. Mancini. But when I hand you my drawing, I'm going to earn my grade."

"Molly, who are you talking to?"

I spun around. "Matt! Oh…um…how long have you been standing there?"

"Not long, the transaction was pretty quick," He said. "You okay? You look a little tense."

"It's…it's just my art class," He nodded. "I'm not the best artist, so it's…it's frustrating at times."

We walked back to school.

We approached the store. Matt had gotten a check from the bank, and all we had to do was give it to the owner and the store would be theirs to operate. It was so exciting. The city frequently held parties, which meant that people would be in need of nice clothes. And who better to come to than this store…with no name.

"Matt, what's the name of the store?" I asked.

"Well, it is about clothing, and it will become very popular, I'm guessing. What about…The Fashion Joint?"

"Really? Are you serious?"

"Okay…a little more thought…" He paced as he walked.

I snapped my finger. "What about…Mostly Clothing?"

"What if we merged the two—"

"And put it in Italian?" I finished. "What? My dad did that with the restaurant."

"Okay…Mostly Fashion…what's that in Italian?"

"Um…" My Italian class would pay off, although I never thought it would help. "Molto...Di Moda."

"Molto Di Moda." He repeated. "Wow, that actually sounds pretty good!"

We spotted Matt's mother waving at us from down the street. He pulled the check out of his pocket and waved it in the air to her. She was trying to yell to us about something happening, but the wind picked up simultaneously, drowning her voice out. The check was swept out of Matt's hand and flew helplessly through the air.

He ran after it. "No! I can't lose it!"

I wanted to help Matt but his mother stopped me. "What's wrong?"

"That's just it. There's nothing wrong," She said. "It's even better than I expected!"

I followed her inside. She and the old lady who owned the store were just finishing up the papers. She looked very relieved, holding an envelope very tightly.

"This is quite extraordinary," She started. "I never expected you to buy the store from me."

"Buy?" My jaw dropped. The old lady smiled gently, and shook her hand.

"Thank you."

"Wait, so you're not mad?" I asked.

"Of course not, I've been trying to sell this place for years," She continued. "And I know exactly what I'm going to do with this money."

She walked out of the store humming an old tune, and upon departure Matt came back in, soaked from head to foot, and holding a piece of paper.

"I'm sorry, mom," He said. "The check got wet."

"Don't worry about it!" She said. "The place is ours!"

"What?" She went to hug him, but soon repelled due to his predicament. "But…I didn't give you the money yet."

"The place is ours as in…I bought it!"

"With what?"

"Okay sit down, this is going to be long," We grabbed some chairs and pulled it up to the counter. "Two weeks ago when we started searching for a store, I bumped into a young woman, which scattered her papers. I helped her pick them up and we became indulged in conversation. She's the one who lead me to this place. Before we could part she asked if I could make her a dress for a ball, which apparently happens to be this evening, and that she would come to pick it up in due time, which she did earlier. But this…this is amazing…the money was just enough to pay off this place."

"Those papers…were they drawings?" I asked.

"Molly, are you on to something?" Matt whispered. I nodded back.

"Um…yes. Very good ones, actually. Why, do you know her?"

I crossed my arms. "Yeah…I do. Kind of."