[A/N: This is not going to be M/K slash. Kylie's just possessive of her friends. I thought I'd clear that up after giving this thing a once-over. With that said, read on!]

"So this is your mall," I said, a little nervously, looking around. I hadn't seen this many people crammed into one place since the battle ship I'd been dragged on with my father. Not a comparison I really wanted to make. I gulped.

"This is our mall." Melissa looked proud. "Big, isn't it? Hey, are you hungry?"

I blinked twice, trying to decide. "Sure?"

"Come on. The Amazon Cafe has some great stuff." She started walking quickly to the left. I followed, a little discombobulated. I kept my eyes on Melissa instead of the rush of people around us. She was enjoying this. I wondered if she had a lot of friends, and determined to ask as soon as it was tactful. For some reason, being just another of her friends among many bothered me.

"This place," she said, pointing ahead.

"Is it cust... is it normal to have wildlife inhabiting the marketplace...?"

She laughed as if I'd made a joke. Maybe I had. I was too confused to know.

We were seated, and handed a small book that listed foods. Next to each was a series of numbers. Price. Panic hit me. I had no Earth money. I'd been an idiot.

As if reading my mind, Melissa commented, "I love their salads here. By the way, I'm paying -- you know, taking out the new girl."

I smiled. "Thanks," I said gratefully. "So, tell me about this place."

"The restaurant or the mall?"

"The city."

"Oh." She laid her menu down, looking thoughtful. "The school's nice -- Dad's the vice principal, and he really does a good job. The mall's big, always a plus. Good to go shopping in."

"What's the normal... shopping... experience... here?" I was making little to no sense.

She shrugged. "Probably the same as in North Dakota. Take some friends, head to the mall, shop, try on stuff. Buy stuff."

"Friends?" I frowned slightly. "Who do you go with?"

Melissa lowered her eyes. "I... sometimes people from gymnastics..."

"Like Rachel?"

"We used to."

"Why don't you anymore?"

Swallowing, she replied, "I don't think she likes me that much anymore. She's really cold, distant. Like something happened to her, and I don't know what. I don't know whether to ask and I don't know if she'd tell me, anyway."

"Oh." I felt rejected, for some odd reason. I shrugged and picked the menu back up. "What do you recommend?"

Seeming glad for the change of subject, she leaned across the table and indicated the spaghetti. "That. 'S good."

"What is it?"

She looked blank for a moment. "You don't know what spaghetti is? Don't they have that in North Dakota?"

The blood rushed to my face. "I've never tried it."

"You've never even heard of it?"

Embarrassed, I shook my head. She laughed.

"It's like..." She waved her hands vaguely in a circular motion. "Noodles and tomato sauce and meat and stuff."

Noodles? Tomatoes? I wondered. Meat, I knew. "I'll try that," I said, nonchalantly closing the menu. "So, what do you do for fun here, besides shopping?"

She was looking at a man approaching the table. I glanced at him, wondering why she was staring. He stopped just beside me. "May I take your drink order?"

"Pepsi. And actually, I think we're ready," Melissa answered. "I'll have the garden salad with Thousand Island dressing."

They both looked at me. I swallowed. "I'll have the spaghetti?"

"What kind of bread?"

I stared at Melissa.

"Their garlic bread's good," she offered.

"Yes. That."

He wrote it down. "Your drink?"

I tried to remember what Melissa had said. "Pepcid?"

Melissa was restraining a laugh. The man looked astonished for a moment, then tried to clarify: "Pepsi?"

"Yes. That," I repeated. "Right," he said, picking up our menus. He left.

Melissa giggled slightly. "Pepcid?"

"What?"

"Never mind."

Something told me not to ask, so I left that alone. I cleared my throat and decided to repeat my earlier question. "So, what do you do for fun here, besides shopping?"

"I do gymnastics... tennis, but I'm not really that good at it." What in the world are those? "I'm starting to get into a cool organization, too."

"What organization? What do they do?"

"They're the Sharing. They help people, you know, 'building a better life.' Lots of community service. It looks absolutely great on an application to college -- shows you care about the environment and underprivileged and whatnot. It's cool. You should get into it. Great way to meet people."

The man was back with our drinks. They had small, hollow white cylinders sticking out of them. As he set mine down in front of me, I blinked in confusion. I watched Melissa, who closed her lips over the cylinder. Brown liquid shot up it, presumably into her mouth.

Hesitantly, I lifted the glass, sticking the cylinder in my mouth yet leaving it in the liquid as a pathway. I waited for the liquid to flow upwards. It didn't. Once again I was left confused.

I watched her more closely. Judging by the slight indentation in her cheeks, she was sucking on the cylinder. I tried that.

My eyes went wide. She wasn't reacting -- why not? The sweetness! Even better than the apple I'd had at lunch. Was this a normal thing for humans, this ecstasy? I controlled myself, but drank more rapidly.

She put her drink down. Regretfully, I followed suit.

"Do you think you'll join?"

"Huh?"

She frowned at me.

"Oh, the Sharing?" I considered. "Maybe. When's the next meeting?"

"There's one tonight... I'm thinking of becoming a full member. That'd look good on a transcript, too. Sort of like showing the college you apply to that you're really serious about it." She shrugged, a little self-consciously. "I mean... plus, Dad's really active in it, and he might like it if I joined. Sort of something we had in common. Maybe we'd spend more time together."

"Don't families spend a lot of time together anyway?" Yet again I felt the now-familiar confusion. My father and I had been very close. All Dalenite families were.

She shrugged again. "Sometimes. Anyway. Do you want to come? They have some kind of barbecue going on tonight -- should be pretty fun. Chicken wings and ribs and drinks and all that."

"Pepsi?"

She nodded.

"Then I'm there." I took another quick sip. "Just give me directions."