Chapter 3: Over Blue Jeans and Make-Up

"It's just like I was telling him, 'there is no use in having sex with you if we aren't going to be together.'" Jenny was holding a blue off the shoulder blouse they were at, what Allison assumed, was a trendy clothing shop she had never been to. "I'm not that kind of girl."

"Oh, yes you are!" Leslie replied.

"I know," she turned to Allison, "hey Al, this shirt will totally look cute on you, try it on." She handed it to her and walked away before Allison had a chance to reply.

That's how it had been all afternoon. They would walk into a store, led by Leslie's persistent squeals, 'oh I love that shirt!', and slowly make their way through the racks of closthing. Jenny entertained the group with her wild stories and juicy gossip, Claire and Leslie added their general concents for rebuttals, and Allison would just stand there and watch it all happen. The dynamics of the group were something that she had never experienced before. Sure the conversations were still superficial and mundane but Allison felt as though she could stand it. She was in complete state of shock She couldn't believe it she was actually shopping with Claire and her group, she supposed she was a little nervous and at first she didn't say much. But then as they were looking through a pile of Guess jeans...

"...So then Old Man Vernon gave me the biggest lecture on being tardy, he was like 'I expect you to behave like a responsible adult', and I was like shut up!" Jenny was rambling on about Vernon and suddenly Allison felt like saying something.

"That geezer is such a drag, he probably just needs to get laid."

And then they all laughed, Allison had voiced her opinion and people had listened. The conversations may not have been to her liking but at least now she was feeling as the she mattered, as though she actually existed. It was quited a social whirlwind. Driven by her sudden spotlight she added Saturday's incident with the toilet protector, leaving out the details from fear of upsetting Claire. Once again the group roared with laughter. After that talking to them just became easier and easier.

"Yeah, Claire told us about the detention you had on Saturday," Leslie said. "Must have been a total bummer."

Allison looked over at Claire who merely shrugged. She wondered how much of Saturday's events she had let her friends in on, but when they mentioned nothing else she figured she hadn't gone into much detail.

"These jeans are totally going to match that shirt I got, I'm going to go try them on," Leslie ran to the dressing room and the other's followed. Apperantly there was strength in numbers in the dressing room, becuase if when one went everyone else did too. Inside they all tried on a pair, they all complimented each other, and they all said that the other looked better.

"I don't know about these, don't they make my butt look flat?" Jenny asked them.

"No your ass was already like that," Leslie said, and Allison had laughed. Sure it was a mean comment, but Jenny hadn't been offended.

This Allison understood was what all girls did, they pointed out each other's flaws and called each other names. But instead of becoming upset the simply laughed it off. She had been so cut off from the social world that she had missed out on simple female behaviour. Sure it was cruel but it seemed to be in good fun.

Later at the make-up counter of a department store Allison and Claire finally got a chance to talk privately, Leslie and Jenny had gone to try out some perfume.

"You didn't talk to Andy?" Claire asked as she took the cap off a lipstick and dabbed some on her finger.

"No, I kind of froze up when I saw him in the caf, why did he say something?" She wondered if maybe Claire had spoken to him earlier that day and wondered if he had told her something.

"I ran into him before school and he seemed so happy about seeing you. He even asked me what I thought about the whole situation," she put the lipstick back deciding to look at the eye shadows instead.

"What do you think?" Allison asked ignoring the make-up for a while.

"I don't know," she said running her finger over a golden shadow. "I think that you two should definately give it a shot. I can tell he really likes you."

Allison wanted to ask her how Claire had drawn her conclusion but decided she already knew that answer. The way he had looked at her those last few moments at the library and when they had said goodbye said it all. It was the same look she had carried too. When thought back to the incident in the cafeteria his expression had not changed.

Claire handed her the golden shadow, "Here buy this, it will look really good on you."

Allison walked into her bedroom with several bags of clothes and make-up in her hands. She was finally making up for her years of bad wardrobe choices and purchased her fair share of trendy pieces. It wasn't as if she had made her purchases becuase Claire and the other's told her she looked good. It was because when she tried them on and looked at herself in the mirror she couldn't help but agree. The jeans hugged her curves perfectly, and the blouses showed off her girlish figure. Even the make-up made her dark eyes stand out. While she was putting her new things away she thought about what Claire had told her.

Andrew had been looking for her all day, not just merely hoping to run into him as she had been. He had been looking for her and he had been thinking the same exact thing that she had, whether or not they were going to continue what they had started. In a panic Allison hoped that her dumb reaction had not ruined any chances she might of had. She wished deeply that she could take back what had happened earlier.

Glancing at her clock she headed down stairs for dinner.

"I went to the mall," she answered her mom when she had asked why she was late back from school. Her father was once again absent from the table.

"Oh, well I hope you didn't just go there to buy some more of that dark make-up that you like so much. It makes you look horrible."

Glancing at her half finished plate, Allison left the table. Her mother always had a way of making her lose her appetite.

Upstairs Allison contemplated calling Andrew, she had even gone as far as looking up his number in the school directory and picking up the phone in the hallway. But she qucikly put it down deciding that she might hang up if she heard his voice. When the phone rang a few seconds later her heart raced. Slowly she picked up the reciever and said hello.

"Allison? Hey it's Claire. I hope you don't mind I got your number from the school's directory."

"Hey Claire. No, I don't mind."

"Did you have a good time today?"

"Um, yeah actually, I did. Your friends are pretty cool."

"Yeah, it's so easy for people to criticize when they don't really know someone."

"I know what you mean. How exactly did they agree to your bringing me along. I mean It's not like you and I ever talked before."

"Well it really wasn't that hard for me to convince them after I talked to you in P.E. Leslie had asked about you and I said you were cool. And Jenny was okay with it once Leslie and I were."

"Listen I really think you should try talking to Andy tommorrow. He looked like he really wanted to talk to you this morning."

"I don't know Claire, what if I freak out again? It's just so strange."

"Trust me, you two definately need to talk. Listen I gotta go, I'll see you in school tommorrow okay? Bye."

"Bye"

She hung up the phone. She stood there in the dark hallway for a minute trying to wrap her mind around everything that was going on. Had she just had a friendly conversation on the phone with another girl? Had she just spent the afternoon with some of the most popular girls at school? She kept drawing the same conclusions, yes she had, but she still couldn't believe it was real.

"Who was it?" her mother asked her from the bottom of the stairs.

"No one, it was for me." her voice showing every bit of shock as her mother's face was.