It was finally Friday. All the students were more than enthusiastic to kick back and relax for the weekend after the long, tiring week of school.
Sky was planning to go to the mall that night with her new friends Lani and Meghan from gym class. She was excited to get the chance to hang out with and get closer with them.
She sat at the desk in her room, busily doing homework. There was surprisingly a lot of homework that the teachers gave out. Way too much. A second after she finished her last math problem, her phone buzzed.
It was Meghan.
"Hey!" It said. "My mom offered to drive us, and Lani is already here, so what's your address? We can pick you up"
Sky smiled to herself and replied with the location of her house. Fifteen minutes later, a black van arrived in her driveway. She walked downstairs and saw Crow at the kitchen table, doing homework.
"I'm going to the mall. You wanna come?"
Crow looked up and made a face. "Do you think I do?"
She rolled her eyes. "Suit yourself."
Her mom was currently shopping for house equipment, so Sky sent her a text and walked out the door. She waved to her friends and got in, feeling excited. "Hey."
"Hey!" exclaimed Lani, looking excited.
Meghan grinned. "I've always wanted to go to the mall with other people besides my mom."
"I heard that!" Mrs. Ranger said, causing the girls to giggle.
The ride to the mall wasn't long at all. Within twenty minutes, they were already there and said goodbye to Mrs. Ranger. The girls smiled at each other and entered the mall, which was extremely crowded since it was Friday night.
"My mom can talk forever when she meets other moms," said Meghan.
Lani laughed and looked down. "So can mine."
"I think all moms are chatter boxes," said Meghan. "It's their job."
"I agree," Sky said with nod. "Less my mom. She's quieter and focuses more on work. But they're all crazy."
They stopped to look at a directory, which had a list of stores on it. Meghan put her finger on American Eagle. "This one first?"
Sky and Lani shrugged and agreed. They walked to the store and the hunt for clothes began. It was far more fun than Sky thought it would be. She showed the girls everything she was considering, which was a few shirts and a dress. She tried them all on and modeled for her friends, who also tried on a variety of clothes.
They ended up getting not as much as they thought, but Meghan got two shirts, Lani got a pair of overalls and a blue skater dress, and Sky got three shirts. They exited, laughing and talking.
"Where to next?" asked Lani.
Sky shrugged. "God, I dunno. We could go to Garage? I heard they have nice clothes."
"Yes!" Meghan exclaimed. "I love that place."
They went straight to Garage and searched as quickly as they could, showing their clothes to each other. At the end, Lani got nothing, but Sky and Meghan both got similar dresses. They went to a few more stores and each bought a few more cute clothes. At the end, Sky, Lani, and Meghan were all pretty exhausted. It was getting late and the mall would be closing in an hour.
Lani went up the escalator and the other girls followed suit. "Wanna go to Starbucks? It won't be crowded."
Meghan nodded tiredly. "Oh, this was so much fun. You guys are fun to hang out with, I'll give you that."
Sky and Lani laughed in response.
Turned out, Lani was right. Starbucks didn't even have a line. Sky entered first, recognizing instantly that the worker was their music teacher, Claire Morning.
"Hello girls," said Ms. Morning, her eyes widening and a smile on her face. It was so weird seeing her outside of school. She looked different and more tired. "Small world, huh?"
Meghan grinned. She loved Ms. Morning, since music and singing was her specialty. "Ms. Morning! You work here?"
"It's only a small part time job outside of school," Ms. Morning said, brushing her honey blonde hair out of her eyes. "I work here on the weekends at night."
"Wow," Meghan gushed. "Well, that's simply awesome! I don't know any teachers that work at Starbucks."
Ms. Morning smiled. "Mr. Simber used to work here."
Lani tried to hold her laugh back but failed miserably. "I would die to see that."
Sky cleared her throat. "Not to break this up...but can we order?"
Ms. Morning turned more serious. "Oh of course, girls! What would you like?"
"A pumpkin spice frappuccino, please?" asked Meghan.
Ms. Morning made the frappuccino quickly, and in the meantime asked Lani and Sky what they would like.
"I'll have a vanilla bean frappuccino," Sky answered with a polite smile.
"Caramel frappuccino, please," Lani spoke up.
Their music teacher made the items and even wrote their names on the cups in delicate, curvy handwriting. They exited the shop and said goodbye to Ms. Morning. The three decided they'd leave the mall since majority of the stores were closing, so Meghan called her mom. They waited outside in the nice, warm breeze.
Meghan yawned. "I have no idea what I'll do tonight. I think maybe sleep sounds good. Enjoy the time away from school."
Sky sat down on a bench. "Ugh. I have homework...still. You'd think the first week of school they wouldn't give so much homework."
"Agreed!" Lani cried. "Why do they do that? Teachers are seriously awful."
"Not Ms. Morning, though," Meghan said.
Her friends were silent.
Meghan stared at them in disbelief. "You don't like Ms. Morning?!"
Lani shook her head quickly. "No, I do! Trust me. But honestly, I don't do well with music class. It can be fun but I'd be too embarrassed to sing in front of anybody if I had to."
Sky nodded. "Exactly. Singing is not my forte."
Meghan put her hands on her hips. "That shouldn't give you a reason to dislike her. I sing all the time, and I love Ms. Morning, but not just for that."
Lani rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, okay."
Meghan's mom came to pick them up, and Meghan climbed in the front while the other two piled into the backseat. She started playing with the stations and landed on a particularly catchy song. Mrs. Ranger turned up the music as Meghan, followed by Lani and Sky, burst into song.
They sung the whole way home, and Sky realized that despite her ability to sing awfully, it was more than fun to sing along with friends and music.