by Jasmine Starlight
A/N: Where have all the bastards gone? Where have all the riots gone? You better run for your fucking life.
Ah, more Green Day. Brilliant.
CHAPTER FOUR THE EXCURSIONWhen everyone was accounted for Hotaru turned to me and asked, "Do you have a car?"
I nodded my silver Lexus was parked in the school parking lot.
As people were divided up, Padma, Lita, Ginny, and Hotaru were riding with me. Everyone else excluding Ami and Rei, who were riding in Ami's zippy blue Volkswagen Beetle, hopped into Blaise's black Escalade,
As I directed them to my car, my stomach was tying itself into knots. What if I said something that put one of them off, then some of them would hate me, then slowly all of them would hate me.
That couldn't happen.
I couldn't afford to lose these people as my friends.
They were invaluable to me.
OoO
The ride to the mall was short and uneventful, unless you count the fight over the CDs, seating, and how I was to get out of the parking lot.
I kept repeating in my head, only that which doesn't kill me makes me stronger.
I just had to keep that in mind and I would be fine.
After following Blaise into the parking lot of said mall, I managed to snag an okay spot that wasn't to far from them or the mall itself.
Ginny poked me in the side to wake me up from my daze.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, fine." I said absently.
"Okay then let's get out of the car then." suggested Lita.
I flushed slightly; I needed to play it cool, no mess ups.
As we waited for the others to arrive at the designated meeting place, which was in front of the entrance, I shivered, which was odd because it hadn't even started to get cold. We were still in Indian summer, then as if out of nowhere, Relena, Dorothy, and Lavender came walking up the pavement.
It was some kind of horror movie for me.
I hoped they hadn't spotted us.
Alas luck wasn't on my side that day, as Relena saw me and immediately flounced over.
To my greater horror she began to embrace me, like the bad old days.
She didn't seem to take in my rigidity or my ramrod straight posture.
The other girls did though, Ginny looked like she was about to say something but Padma shook her head.
"Oh, Mina how're you doing? How're you holding up? Are you okay?" she asked sweetly, but it was so fake, I wanted to slap her so bad.'
I gritted my teeth and replied, "I'm fine Relena."
She went on oblivious of my irritation or maybe not so oblivious but either way she went on talking.
"Oh, we have to get together sometime and go shopping. It's just the thing you need." she gushed.
Someone behind Relena cleared her throat; "I think not." said Rei as she and Ami stepped out from behind Relena's idiotic braids.
"And you are?" she asked disdainfully.
"Me, I'm Rei." she replied.
"Oh." said Relena by way of reply.
Turning to me she said, "Aren't you going to introduce us Mina?"
"No."
Relena had the grace to be surprised, "Why not?"
"Because I don't want you to sleep with her boyfriend."
"How could you say such a thing!" she looked scandalized, which in its own way was ironic, the epicenter of scandals being scandalized.
"I think she just did." said Blaise acidly.
Relena taking stock of the situation decided to ignore Mina and greet or snipe at Blaise.
"Blaise."
"Peacecrap."
A vein started ticking in Relena's forehead, "It's Peacecraft." She corrected in a tightly controlled voice.
"Whatever you say, Peacecrap."
"It's Peacecraft!" Relena nearly shouted.
Blaise just nodded patronizingly, "Mina, let's go, these losers are getting to me."
Relena turned to stalk off, "Mina why aren't you moving?"
"Because these "losers" are my friends."
"Ha ha. Very funny, let's go."
"No."
"How could you do this to me? We're friends." She said beginning to tear up.
"No, we weren't friends; you just slept with my boyfriends."
"I did not! We are friends."
"No we're not because, they wouldn't blackmail me, stab me in the back, betray, or spread nasty rumors about me."
Relena just started sputtering and then turned on her heel to stalk off.
"You'll regret this Mina."
"No I won't." I answered cheerfully.
She just glared; I rolled my eyes and gave her the finger.
The girls burst into laughter, and Lita and Ginny offered me high fives.
Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
OoOo
After the whole incident with Relena we all headed inside the mall and began our search for my new wardrobe.
You see before I hadn't been allowed to wear anything baggy or non form fitting, not that I dislike form fitting clothes or anything it's just I needed something with large pockets, and extra fabric.
Everything Relena hated.
So, Hot Topic was a good place to start.
As Ginny took it upon herself to educate me on the finer points of the store the other girls spilt up and scoured the store for items.
It never occurred to me that they were shopping for me.
OoOoO
After modeling a bowler hat and cane, I was glad to slip into my old jeans and tee-shirt that read 'Young, Angry, and Poor'
After the main event was completed we shopped for accessories so many of them, wristbands, bracelets, anklets, CDs, how that counted as an accessory was beyond me but hey who cares? Anyway, earrings, more clothes, hats, belts, shoes, and finally bags.
Practical bags, just as I was eyeing a dead smiley face one Ginny pulled me aside, "Look Mina there's Seamus." She whispered in my ear.
"Uh, ok?"
"Don't get too enthused." She admonished sarcastically.
"Don't you have a boyfriend?" I asked suspiciously.
"Uh, yeah, Wufei, Seamus is totally your type."
"Why? I don't even know him."
"So, get to know him." said Ginny in a tone that left no room for argument.
Then she pushed me towards him, having no room for escape I meandered up to him.
He was looking through CDs aimlessly. He studied an Interpol case for a moment before putting it back.
"Hi." I said nervously.
"Hey." He said absently.
"So, Seamus, right?"
"Yes." He said by way of reply, looking immersed in The Guest by Phantom Planet.
"You should get that one, I have it, it's awesome."
"Really?" he asked finally looking at me.
"Really."
"Aren't you that girl Rei introduced at lunch?"
I brightened immediately. "Yes."
"Nina, right?"
My face fell, "Mina. It's Mina."
"I'm not very good with names." He replied, offering no apology.
"Oh." I said.
Then I wandered back to Ginny, "How'd it go?" she asked excitedly.
"Mmm, I'm deciding between horrible and a waste of time."
Ginny scoffed, "That's just how he greets people, it'll take a little while for him to warm up to you."
"Do I want him to warm up to me?" I asked wearily.
"Yes." she replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh."
OoOoO
After we finished raiding clothing stores, we went to Bath Body Works because Blaise wanted to get the incense smell out of her clothes.
As I browsed through pearberry soaps and face washes, I came to eavesdrop upon many a conversation.
"………what's Mina doing with them?"
"…………what's she doing without Relena……..Dorothy……Lavender…."
"…………..are we finally good enough for her now?"
I sighed and moved on to sample the cucumber melon soaps, meeting up with Hotaru, who was looking at a fox in a bathtub.
"Hey." I said.
"Hey." she replied.
"So, how much gossip have I caused by sitting and hanging out with you guys?"
"What gossip?" she said innocently.
"Just because I just started hanging out with you doesn't mean I'm deaf. I just heard people talking about me in this store."
Hotaru let out a breath of air, "Really? Sure you want to know?"
"I can take it."
"Alright, everyone's saying that you're a poser because you won't hang out with Relena and Malachite cheated on you, now that you're hanging out with us they think you've gone crazy."
I was on the verge of snarling, me, snarling!
Could imagine those two words in the same sentence?
I couldn't.
"Why do people think that?" I asked exasperatedly.
"I think your question should be, 'why people think like that?'." interjected Cere Cere.
"It should." I amended.
Cere Cere sighed, "It's not like we can blame the populous of our alma mater, most of them are blind sheep following the sheep herder."
Hotaru rolled her amethyst eyes, "Do you always have to use such intricate metaphors?"
"Do you really even need to ask anymore?"
I grinned this was more like it.
END
A/N: Hi peoples!
I know what took you so long? Well, I have been slightly disappointed with the feedback on my other new fic, Breaking The Band, do people not like band fics? Cuz if they don't you guys can tell me. If you're interested, go to my author profile it's there.
Kayla Tsukino- Thanks!
NixiNox- AP stands for Advanced Placement. Thanks!
Black Mage of Darkness- Thanks, I plan on doing a more Mean Girls type fic later. But with different people though, I'm thinking Hotaru and Ginny.
THANKS ALSO TO JEWELS14, APHRODITE2, CALOWIEL ELRYNDRA, AND FIRENZE.