Bonnie's PoV
Bonnie and Octavia approached the ticket booth inside Arowana Mall. The former put out some coins and pushed it towards the lionfish running it. "Three tickets, please!" Bon-Bon requested.
"Three tickets for the Arowana Fashion Show?" the lionfish asked. They nodded. "OK." He took the coins, put in the cash register, and gave three tickets to the duo in exchange. The blue-haired inkling swiped the tickets, gripping them in her hand. "Have a nice day."
"You too!" Octavia called as they walked away from the booth. Bonnie ran her thumb through the three tickets, making sure each one she asked for was there.
The Arowana Fashion Show was a semiannual event held at Arowana Mall. Though the show does not garner as much attention, from both citizens and companies alike, as its much more prominent cousin, the Inkopolis Collection fashion show, it has the convenience of being much cheaper to attend. Plus, this year, it also happened to land on Geneva's birthday—they couldn't just not go!
"Who's the third ticket for?" the wavy-haired girl asked her friend.
"Ge... oh." Her blue eyes drifted down to the tickets she held. For a moment, she had forgotten that their green-haired friend was still on vacation. And to Bonnie's worry, no one knew when she was going to return. She wasn't answering their texts, answering their calls, or even posting on social media. "I guess it's for no one, then," she concluded.
"We could give it to Alexis," Via suggested.
"Why Alexis?"
"Well, she's my sister." She smiled. "And she's a Rainbow Squid, too."
"True." They met each other's eyes. "Wanna go ask her?"
"Exactly what I was thinking."
At Octavia's house, they were met with a 'no' from Alexis, much to their dismay.
"Why not?!" her older sister cried.
"I... promised my friend I would hang out with her tomorrow," the short-haired girl answered. "I'd hate to change my plans."
"Aw..." Bonnie muttered, disappointed. She whispered to Via, "Who are we gonna ask now?"
"Well... we'll just look around," she whispered back.
The two left the house and walked back towards Inkopolis Square. They stopped in front of the tower and looked around. Bonnie then saw Fable, sitting on a bench outside it. The violet-haired inkling was playing a game on her phone.
"Hey, Fable!" Octavia called.
Fable paused to look up at them, and then she stood up. "Hi!"
"We were wondering..." the orange-haired girl started.
"Would you like to come to the Arowana Fashion Show with us?" the blue-haired girl finished the question. She waved the tickets around.
"When is it?" the fair-skinned inkling asked.
"Tomorrow," the bronze-skinned inkling replied, "after school."
"Sorry," she started, "but I have choir practice tomorrow." Bonnie pouted at her response. "If I didn't, I'd love to come!"
"It's OK," the beige-skinned inkling told Fable. "We understand." She looked over at Via. "Right?"
"Right," affirmed her friend.
"I'll see you guys at school tomorrow!" she exclaimed as they departed.
"You too," Octavia replied back. After they went deeper into the street, she let out a sigh. "Who're we gonna ask now?"
"We can ask that jellyfish," the girl with the double bun suggested, pointing to one wearing a white tee. She walked up to them, kneeled down, and asked, "Do you wanna go to the Arowana Fashion Show?" The jellyfish shook their head, and Bonnie frowned in response. She stood up and shrugged towards Via.
"WAIT!" the wavy-haired girl suddenly exclaimed. "I got an idea!"
"What?" the other asked.
"We go ask Maya!"
"Maya?" The funny-looking inkling was in Bonnie's math class—she never seemed too keen on the latest trends.
"Y'know... black-and-purple hair, blue eyes..."
"Yeah I know what she looks like; I was just surprised you brought her up."
"Oh..." For a moment, Via looked a little disappointed, but she quickly perked back up again. "So, anyways, we go and drive to her house..."
"Can't we ask her tomorrow at school?" Bonnie interrupted with a question.
"But what if she isn't here tomorrow?" she argued. "Not gonna lie, though, I wanna see if she cleaned it up, too."
"What does...?" The kid with the double bun shook her head. "Y'know, let's go."
The two inklings travelled back to the orange-haired girl's house, where they took her car and drove it down towards Perry's mansion. They stopped in front of a building in slightly-worse shape than the ones around it. Scents of freshly-cut grass lingered in the air. The porch of it appeared to have been repaired lately, the wood looking sharp with a new coat of paint. Octavia's mouth formed an 'o' when she saw it, and as soon as she parked it, she leaped out of the car and ran up the steps. Bonnie trailed behind her, hands clasped. The girl eagerly rang the doorbell.
"It is open!" she heard Maya yell from inside.
Via turned the doorknob and opened it, accompanied with a creak. They stepped inside the house, where they saw the funny-looking inkling lounging on a couch, reading a book. Her dull blue eyes looked up the pages and met the eyes of the newcomers.
Maya turned her body so she would take up less room and then patted the cushion of the couch. "Come join me," she requested.
The two girls sat down, Octavia next to Maya, Bonnie next to Octavia. "What book you're reading?" the beige-skinned inkling asked, leaning over to see the cover.
"It is called, 'The Plight of the General'." She focused her eyes on the pages again. "It is about the struggles of General Octin during the Great Turf War."
"General Octin..." Bonnie murmured, searching her memory. "He's an Octarian general, right?"
"Why're you reading about him?" asked Via.
"I like the history," she replied. She put a purple bookmark in it and closed it before turning to the orange-haired inkling. "You know, since I meeted you, I have wondered why your parents named you 'Octavia'."
"Me too," the other admitted. "But, my dad is a historian." She chuckled, lying back into the cushions. "I guess he was looking into the Great Turf War when he had me."
"To speak of historians..." Maya flipped to the beginning of the book, looking at the copyright information. "Is the first name of your dad Dwight?"
Via bit her lip. "Yeah... why?"
"I believe he wrote this book." The funny-looking inkling showed her the cover of it. It depicted an illustration of the Octarian general, the title and author in bold letters. "Published 2002."
"'Dwight Bobatal'," she read. "Yeah, that's my dad alright."
"I knew your dad had a few books," Bonnie commented, looking at the wavy-haired girl, "but I didn't know he wrote something on the Great Turf War."
"I think I remember him telling me about that book," she started to explain. "He said he wanted to research more into the Octarians during that war, so he picked out one person of importance, researched them, and shared his findings. The end result was a controversial book." She shivered. "Sometimes I go get the mail, and I see a hate letter to my dad in it."
Ouch... The blue-haired girl figured the controversy was the reason why she didn't know about it. Still, she couldn't help but feel bad for him. I wonder if he released it today, how things would be different.
"Well... please tell your dad I like this book, then." Maya smiled. "It is well written."
"I will," Via promised. "But that's not why we're here."
"Oh?" The girl tilted her head, curious.
Bon-Bon pulled the tickets out of her pocket. "We accidentally bought an extra ticket for the Arowana Fashion Show tomorrow," she explained.
"How do you 'accidentally' buy an extra ticket?" she requested, her tone becoming darker.
"We..." She pulled her knees to her chest in fear of backlash from Maya.
Octavia put a hand on the beige-skinned girl's shoulder and finished, "We forgot Geneva was on vacation, alright?" Her orange eyes met Bonnie's, and she smiled.
"Who is Geneva?" the funny-looking inkling with light brown skin asked.
"Geneva's our friend!" Via exclaimed. "She might look mean at first glance, but she's actually a very nice squid."
The blue-haired inkling brought her knees down and pulled out her phone. "Here's a picture." She pulled up a group photo of the Rainbow Squids, pointing to the fair-skinned girl in the very front. Taken the day of their last turf war with Geneva, they had all super-jumped on top of some buildings to snap it. While most everyone had a large grin on their face, Bonnie wore a sheepish smile, while Perry, not surprisingly, was sticking his tongue out at the camera. Alexis even tried joining in, squeezing in on the bottom of the picture. The green-haired inkling had sent it to them all through a group chat. It was the last reminder of Geneva, for now, anyways.
Maya's eyes had widened upon seeing the photo. "I think I have seen her before," she confessed.
"Where?" Octavia suddenly inquired.
"Ehh..." She scratched the back of her head. "I do forget."
Both inklings sighed. "But, still," Via continued. "You wanna go with us?"
"I suppose," the funny-looking inkling agreed. "I do not have anything else planned."
"Yay!" she cheered.
Bonnie handed a ticket to Maya. "See you tomorrow."
"You are going to leave?" she questioned.
"Umm..." the blue-haired girl muttered.
"Can you not stay for a while?"
"Umm..."
"It is lonely."
"Ohh, alright..." Bonnie conceded.
Maya smiled. "Would you like tea?"
"I like coffee better," Octavia protested.
"I do not drink coffee," she pointed out.
"Oh, fine," she grumbled. "I'll drink leaf water." The other two stared at the wavy-haired girl, unimpressed. "Hey, I'm not wrong!" she defended.
The girl with light brown skin went and fetched them all hot green tea. She turned on the TV in the living room, and they all watched live turf war matches while they drank their tea. Alexis even popped up in one of the matches, garnering loud cheers from Octavia. Several hours past, and at nightfall, Via and Bonnie decided to leave.
"Bye, Maya!" Octavia exclaimed.
"Don't forget about the fashion show!" Bonnie added.
"Do not worry," she called back. "I have a good memory."
The next day, the reception at Arowana Mall was packed. The two girls leaned against the wall, waiting for their funny-looking friend to arrive. Soon, they heard footsteps approaching them. They looked up, but instead of seeing Maya, they saw two familiar octolings instead. Two familiar octolings Bonnie did not want to see.
Even though Yvonne normally wore an eggplant mountain coat, today she wore a custom painted F-3—the same jacket Asher wore the day of the tournament. She recalled the yellow-haired girl's curiosity over the jacket and figured she bought it some time afterwards. A squid hairclip was stuck to the left side of her hair, and she wore N-pacer Au shoes today. A dumb smile was plastered on her face as she curled one tentacle in her pigtail around her finger.
Iris still wore a squash headband, though her other clothes were different. She impatiently tapped her deepsea leather boots on the ground, the shoes shining in the fluorescent light. Matching her blue boots was a Firefin navy sweat she wore around her body. Interestingly, the fair-skinned girl also had a white scarf draped around her neck. A tag with Splash Mob's logo could be seen hanging off of it. She folded her arms as she smirked at the two inklings.
"You here," Iris sneered. "Why?"
"...The same reason as you," Bon-Bon replied. "The Arowana Fashion Show... It's today, y'know."
"Why are you not in the line?" Yvonne asked, cocking her head slightly to the side.
"We're waiting for a friend," Octavia replied.
Blue eyes searched the area, and in the corner of her eye she saw Maya, walking around aimlessly. "Hey, Maya!" Bonnie called to get her attention. The funny-looking inkling stopped and looked around. The wavy-haired inkling seemed to notice her arrival and started waving her arms around. Quickly, she ran over to them and greeted them.
"Her?" the octoling with indigo hair chided.
Maya looked over at Iris, then the two inklings, her mouth gaping.
"You know her, Iris?" Via asked.
"Yes," she confirmed.
"She stealed my brush one time," Maya spoke up.
"I the give it to the back."
"No, there was several people searching for it. They finded it in your quarters."
"I had will of give it to you if they no did find it first."
"You know, I would love it if we got in line just about now," Bonnie interrupted.
"Agree, I want a seat good," Yvonne concurred.
The two girls gave glares at each other before returning their attention to their respective companions. They nodded, and they got in line to enter the room where the fashion show will be held. Iris and Maya continued arguing while the others watched them awkwardly. When they got to the ticket counter, they simply gave their tickets to them, and they were promptly let in. The two groups ended up sitting next to each other on the back end of the auditorium.
Bonnie looked over at Iris and Yvonne, and suddenly, a memory from the tournament came to mind. The blue-haired inkling was carrying the Rainmaker down Walleye Warehouse, her watchful eyes scanning the eyes for any member of the opposing team. It was a clear path to the goal—she could win this for the team. With newfound confidence, she had raced towards the hill, but then, a roller slammed down on her. She splatted, and immediately Octa Prisma had claimed the Rainmaker. Giovanni grabbed the Rainmaker, and with the full support of his team, he easily made his way to the goal. The Rainbow Squids had him surrounded, but it was too late as the Rainmaker set in place. From the hill, Gio began laughing, and he was quickly joined by Iris.
Hearing their scorching laughter made her feel like a failure—she had failed to take the win for her team, and now everyone would suffer because of it. For the next half hour or so, it was like she was a ghost. Her body simply dragged her through the events of the day, her mind tired and begging for rest. All of her words felt empty as she spoke. For the most part, all she could do was look at her New Squiffer. One of the few things that brought her comfort.
"Bonnie?" Octavia muttered in her ear. "You OK?"
"I'm fine," she assured.
Someone tapped on the microphone, and everyone brought their attention to the sea anemone standing on the edge of the gleaming catwalk. "Welcome to the forty-fourth biannual Arowana Fashion Show!" she announced. "We have quite the line-up today from your favorite brands." She pulled out some cards and read, "First up, we have the daring new stars of fashion, Annaki!"
The crowd cheered as a jellyfish model walked out on stage. Matching the jellyfish's color, they wore an elongated prune parashooter and an Annaki mask, doing a few poses before walking back behind the stage. Another model came out, this one an inkling. The emphasis seemed to be on her shoes, which were studded with metal adornments. The boots matched the bracelet that came with the Annaki polpo-pic tee. The crowd ogled over the shoes in curiosity. Bonnie wasn't all too interested herself—but if a trend came off of this showing, then she might just have to buy them. The inkling model struck a pose in such a way that highlighted the shoes, remaining for a few seconds. She then turned around and strutted backstage.
"Next, this brand has exploded in popularity over the last few years with their sportswear. You guessed it—it's Enperry!"
The jellyfish model that came out also wore a face mask—this one the King mask. Covering their eyes were some sunglasses with the Enperry logo on the frame. Once they were at the end of the catwalk, they stretched, highlighting the white King tank they also wore. They wore multiple bracelets, each a different color. The jellyfish saluted goodbye and walked backstage. The next model to walk out was a spider crab, not unlike Bisk, the operator of Shella Fresh. They wore a variety of shoes of their many legs, all tennis shoes of many different colors. The crab also wore a slash King tank. They struck various moves before heading back.
"Our next brand is a classic—it's SquidForce, coming down the runway!"
The next jellyfish wore rather simple clothing, sporting only a white tee. Very few people cheered, with most being disappointed. The jellyfish looked around nervously and quickly left. They were replaced by another jellyfish model, wearing more interesting clothing. Their shirt was patterned with the SquidForce logo, and they wore a Squid facemask as well. A painter's mask hung off of their arm, which they held up while striking a bold pose. They retired to backstage, and out came another inkling model. He wore a camo layered LS. Once he arrived at the end of the walkway, he took the shirt he wore off, revealing another shirt underneath. He continued taking off shirts until he was down to his last shirt, where he then bowed. Some jellyfish came along to pick up the shirts as he walked back.
"This brand is especially known for its outdoor wear. Please welcome Inkline to the stage!"
This jellyfish wore a chilly mountain coat and a Yamagirl beanie. Around the collar of the coat was a thick scarf, which Bonnie found fitting. Once again, they struck more poses before walking back up the runway.
At this time, Bonnie was trying not to fall asleep. She rested her head in her hand, leaning back in her chair and throwing her legs up on the seat in front of her. Though she liked looking in fashion magazines and seeing the latest outfits online, attending actual fashion shows seemed boring at times. This one seems to be rather underwhelming this time. But, it would be rude to leave in the middle of the show. All she could do was just sit here and wait.
"Hey, Bon-Bon," Octavia whispered, prodding her arm. "Look at this!"
"Huh?" The blue-haired girl put her feet down and leaned forward in her seat, looking at the model on the catwalk. The inkling girl wore a Takoroka windcrusher, some shutter shades, and crazy arrows. She pulled the shutter shades down the bridge of her nose, highlighting the bold eyelashes she sported, and gave a toothy smirk. The crowd went wild. A few people up in the front threw flowers onto the catwalk, while Bonnie heard someone else scream, 'I love you!'.
"And that's the end of the Arowana Fashion Show!" the sea anemone announced. "Thank you all for coming, and we hope to see you in the summer!" The lights in the auditorium flickered on, and multiple people got up from their seats.
"That is it?" Maya muttered.
"I so-so want to buy the glasses now!" Yvonne exclaimed. "It look the fresh on the Takoroka girl."
"Me too," agreed Iris.
Bonnie closed her eyes, smiling, and adjusted her glasses. "Looks like I'm gonna have to get out my contacts, then."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Octavia asked. "There's a ton of stores in this mall. We can buy one right now!"
"You're right, let's go!"
"You wanna come, Maya?" Via asked the funny-looking inkling. She nodded. "Great!"
The three ran out of the reception, towards one of Takoroka's exclusive shops in the mall. As expected, it was packed, and shutter shades were selling out fast. The girls tried on various shades, all with the company's logo somewhere on the frame. They walked out of the shop with new shades and smiles on their faces.
If anything, at least one new trend came out of the fashion show.