Disclaimer: This is a complete work of fiction, there's no resemlance to actual persons or events or places. If so, it is utterly not intended. We, my co-writer and I, do NOT own Bratz, MGA Entertainment or anything associated with it what so ever. Any character exposure in this story is completely non-profit and just for fun only! No copyright infringement intended! Thank you.

Summary: Her eyes never saw clearly before meeting him. Her heart hadn't started beating until he kissed her. She wasn't living before she met him. But "he" wasn't her current boyfriend, and that was the problem... Rated T - may change later. Co-written with CreativeWritingSoul. Enjoy!

Masquerade

XXIX

It was a warm, sunny afternoon at the Stilesville Mall. Kirana, Thad and Gable stuck with each other while Penn and Brielle also had Odelia and Geneva tagging along with them. "Okay, so do we have some sort of check list or shit like that?" Thad asked Gable directly but it was an open question to the entire group.

Kirana shrugged, "Ain't my crap we're shopping for so I don't care." She nonchalantly shrugged, sipping her iced coffee hoping that it would make her day a little better. She wasn't really moody; she just knew that shopping with all these girls would take near forever if not longer.

Penn overheard his sister and her rather negative answer – he knew she figured this would be more of a pain in the ass than anything else, but he was very glad she came. He wouldn't have wanted to do this solo without his beloved sister.

They were inseparable and would always be.

Brielle walked next to her man, nervous about the whole shopping ordeal. Shopping hadn't become a favorite thing, due to the babies taking up all their space. It was routinely exhausting.

Penn could sense even her slightest mood change, he knew her so well. "Hey, you uncomfortable or wanna sit for awhile?" He asked her, giving her tummy a rub.

"Um, no I'm okay. Just wondering where these girls want to start." She groaned lightly, "Start – being the key word."

Kirana lightly scoffed, "It can't be all that hard. Start from one end of the mall and we work our way back to the entrance here, where we parked. I didn't think it was all that complicated."

Odelia pulled her sunglasses off her face and put them back, sitting pretty in her hair like a headband. "Oh Ki, Ki, Ki... not all of us can get our prom dress at a thrift shop."

Brielle glared at Odelia, "Hey, you." She poked her, "don't be a dick."

Odelia lightly sighed, feeling somewhat annoyed but forgetting that sometimes her jokes, weren't what other people classified as a joke. "Sorry Kirana."

Kirana shrugged her shoulders, "It's okay. That would be a one stop shop for me though." She thought about it, to which everyone told her 'No' in unison.

"I want my bestie to walk into the prom, making jaws drop." Gable told her discreetly, which made Kirana blush.

"You think you can pull that shit off?" She giggled, knowing it wouldn't be the first time they made a scheme of theirs successful.

He nodded, "I'm sure we can. You got Thad and myself here, we got this." Now Thad was over at the map board with the other girls and Penn. "I would say let's start in the food court but we can't get dresses there." He chuckled. "Maybe we'll try specialty prom stores; they're everywhere this season so c'mon guys!" It seemed as if Thad leading the group would be the only way to keep everyone calm and cool.

"Thad, slow down. Lady with babies." Brielle stated with a chuckle.

Geneva followed the group, trying to figure out what she wanted to wear at prom. She had been looking at books and online pictures, but nothing popped up.

There were so many looks to go for; a single girl trying to find the absolute perfect prom dress had to be the hardest shopping trip ever. It wasn't like a regular visit to the mall with friends, now you were choosing the dress you would be remembered in, that you only got to wear once, for many years to come. It was a huge deal! What was a girl to do?

"Well," Penn started, everyone's attention being shifted towards him. "As guys, we're pretty flexible. Whatever our date's dress color is, we have a matching tie. Tada – we're done." He smirked, knowing it was true. "Corsage and we're good to go. So it's you ladies that have the hardest time ahead of you, deciding what you want. I wish you the best of luck on this majestical journey."

Brielle laughed, swatting him. "You're such a dork."

"Okay no really guys, we have to focus." Odelia clapped her hands twice.

Geneva thought for a moment, "What if we did what Ki said? Y'know work from the farthest store and work back towards the parking lot. That way we don't have far to walk when we're getting tired." She questioned the group.

"Also the best craft store is down this way, right Kirana?" Brielle said with a chuckle joking around with her sister-in-law. Bri knew the other girl would more so like to find a white dress and throw rainbow paint at it, so she was thankful when she asked Ki if she would come and the other girl agreed.

Brielle's eyes shifted towards her brother and the love of his life, she was just glad Gable would be as happy as she was. "Thad?" Brielle questioned knowing he would be the one to give the funnier answer to her question. "If, as Penn stated, the guy doesn't really have to worry about his outfit... then how are your outfits going to look?"

Thad smirked as he shifted his eyes over to Gable, who looked pretty stunned. This was one of their first appearances in public together officially acting couple - ish. They were even taking this pretty slowly. It seemed a bit strange especially for Thad but seeing how they were acting with one another was very sweet. Penn and Brielle knew how big of an accomplishment even this was for them and they were proud. "Well, maybe the ties would match or something..." Penn shrugged, not sure what they would do but he was confident they'd come up with something.

And then Thad leaned in to kiss Gable's cheek nice and quickly. A little bit of affection in a public place, but not lingering as he knew it would make his love feel pretty uncomfortable. "You'll never know what we're gonna do. It's so awesome that we don't even know what that is yet." He chuckled as they started walking to the far end of the mall first, as both Kirana and Geneva suggested.

The farthest store was that of a shoe store. Would there be any point in this store first? Gable glanced over the group of girls – and Penn, plus Thad – with him.

Was this a potential stop before even looking at dresses?

Brielle could not stop smiling at all the shoes, she did miss her heels dearly but she knew with caring for the babies in her tummy it would be best if she was not three inches taller for the time being. "Shouldn't we pick out the dresses before shoes?" Bri asked trying to keep her eyes off this pair of black leather heels directly in front of her. She sighed longingly as she glanced at rows and rows of plenty different styled flats.

The shoe aisle was where Kirana shrugged her slender shoulders, one of them was bare with an off the shoulder top she was wearing, a pair of bright orange skinny jeans and pure black kitten pumps. "Well, we're here. Worst case scenario we have to come back here. Why don't we look around a little bit?"

Geneva giggled, "Says the one who didn't really want to come anyway."

Kirana smiled, Geneva – plus Brielle of course, were the only two she liked remotely of her friends. She didn't really like Odelia what so ever, but she was Brielle's best friend and no one wanted to rock the boat. "Well now that I'm here, I'm here so I might as well beat my time in." But glancing in the store, she looked back to the group again. "Maybe we'll see a pair of shoes that we'll fall in love with and have to find the perfect dress for? It's backwards, but why be so traditional?"

"Sounds like something I would say." she said with a chuckle. "Now can we please get our shop on?" She questioned either wanting to either be in the store or out.

As everyone walked into the store, a smile swept across the blonde's face.

She found the perfect shoes for Kirana. Grabbing the bright neon orange and pink shoes she went to find her darling sister-in-law.

Kirana was in the next couple aisles over, looking at heeled boots. "Hey Bri," she said without taking her gaze away from the fully stocked shelves. "I figure if I get something awesome, I'll be able to wear them more than just once, right?" She then shifted her gaze over to what Brielle held in her hands, causing her to drop the pairs of boots. "They. Are. Beautiful!"

They were about four inches high; pretty plain look but very bold colors. "Whether I wear them to Prom or not might be a totally different situation, but I am needing these now!" She hugged Brielle, kissing her cheek. "You know me so well, sis." She beamed with Brielle's new find. "How are you feelin', baby doll?" She asked her considerately, taking note of how Brielle sat down on the small seat in the aisle.

"I'm okay, trying to fight against my shoe addiction and dealing with wearing these kitten heels to the mall." She sighed and wiggled her feet. "I should have listened to Penn, but don't tell him that." She giggled, taking her feet out of the heels to rest them for a few minutes.

"Awwww, yeah. Well being pregnant kinda throws off your center of gravity, right? So I'm surprised you're walking so well in them really. So, have you found the beauties you're going to wear to prom yet?" She asked Brielle, trying on the gorgeous neon colored heels, walking up and down the aisle in them, shaking her booty to the song that was playing at a low volume in the store, purely for the fun of it.

"They look amazing on you." Brielle stated, watching Kirana rock the shoes. "For myself, thinking about sandals. It's just trying to find a real cute pair that has little to no heel, sadly." She said her eyes scanning every shoe. "You don't think Penn would let me wear heels this once and not worry that I'll fall over?" She questioned, already knowing the answer to that.

She shifted towards the rack of shoes behind her and that moment was when her blue eyes found her prom shoes! They weren't anything too special, just a plain black pair of gladiator sandals. They were covered in little studs and fake diamonds, looking at the shoe she knew it was something so simple but she had this strong feeling almost as if she knew were destined to her prom shoes. Also they had no heel, which meant a very happy Penn.

A couple aisles over was Geneva and she was having a hard time, since she had no clue what she wanted this was making it a little hard to go shoe shopping. As she continued look, an idea formed in her head. Get a simple shoe, that way it would go with what dress she picked out. As the idea came to mind, she found a simple black pair of heels that were about three inches tall. They were perfect.

The boys didn't really need to search for shoes; they already had dress shoes at home which would have been worn... maybe once or twice. No need for them to buy extra shoes for Prom, but they were assisting the girls. Well, Penn and Gable were, Thad decided he'd be the sales associate's worst nightmare. "I really love this heel here with the rhinestones," he told her, "but then again I love bold colors!" He made sure to tell her very loudly and vibrantly. He then pulled a size 8 and a half off the shelves. "Do you have these in a size thirteen? Can you check hon? 'Kay thanks."

Gable's eyes widened as he was in the same shoe aisle as Odelia. "Ooh tell me that's not Thad." He said aloud, a large smirk coming to Odelia's olive skinned face.

"I could tell you that it's not..." she began, walking towards the end of the aisle, beginning to laugh. "But it is!"

Gable rushed over with a blush on his face, "What did we say about you Thad's eyes widened momentarily as he saw Gable approaching. "Oh, right. Sorry dear." He glanced back at the poor innocent girl who was thrown in this quite awkward situation. "Seriously, you should carry a size thirteen."

Gable and Thad escaped a few aisles over, where Thad pressed his boyfriend up against the men's shoe shelves, kissing him suddenly and heatedly as they entered this steamy make out session in the middle of the shoe store, discreetly Odelia soon let out a very happy shriek as she pulled out a pair of absolutely gorgeous footwear. They were beige, a surprising two and a half inch, rhinestone studded heel, there was only a single strap going around the back of the shoe where a small buckle fastened the strap and could be adjusted. They were screaming perfect. "Perfection!" She said aloud as she tried them on quickly, test walking. They were even lower than her normal height when it came to shoes, but she didn't mind because this was prom after all and she just wasn't taking her shoes off for no one, not even if her feet screamed in pain.

She hurried to the cashier and swiped her father's credit card for this purchase and soon met up with everyone else just outside the shoe store. "Ah, I found my perfect pair of shoes." She revealed proudly.

"That's wonderful," Brielle praised, "so did Ki, Geneva and I. Now that we have our shoes, would it be okay if we stopped for something to eat? The food court's right here and unfortunately, I'm hungry again." She groaned, but didn't If they wanted to wait a little later, she could sacrifice that for her friends.

One thing she didn't like was how often it was that she was hungry. As long as she and the little ones were fed though, she'd be contented.

"Yeah, let's take a quick break and we'll get back to it again." Penn persuaded them, barely having to do so though, since they were all pretty much hungry too.

Brielle decided to go with a sub today; she'd been craving it for three days now and decided she'd satisfy her craving.

Odelia and Geneva stopped to grab a drink, "Y'know what though? I'm not that hungry yet and I have about an hour and a half before my dad comes to pick Gene and I up, she's spending the night and what not. I'll totally find you guys before we gotta leave, but I'd prefer to keep going, if that's cool with you Bri?" She asked her long time best friend, rubbing her pregnant belly. "Where's Auntie's babies?"

Brielle giggled, "Yeah of course Odelia, that's fine. I totally understand. When we all get home, we have to start working on our own masks for the 'Masquerade'."

Geneva nodded, "Yes! It will be, can't wait to see us all dolled up for Prom. We love you guys and will chat later on, our phones on speaker." She and Odelia gave their hugs and goodbyes as they headed on forward through out the mall, separating with the other bunch of their friends – who both had decided grabbing a bite to eat was the better option.

"No worries babe," Penn addressed Brielle, biting into his own sub. "we'll take it slow, take breaks and stick around to shop with you."

Brielle warmly smiled. Everytime she looked at Penn, she was reminded just how much more amazing her life had become since he entered it full time. "I don't care what we do, as long as I get to spend time with you and all of our family." She told them, looking around the table at Gable, Thad, Kirana and Penn. She was positive there wasn't a better group to be around than this bunch right here.