Chapter 5: Aunt Alexis

Stella led the girls into practically every boutique and store in the mall.

"Stella, can we stop now?" Flora asked tiredly.

"Yeah, my feet are hurting." Layla, who was dragging her feet asked.

"Stel, it's illogical for someone to shop so much." Tecna commented.

"Maybe for you, but not for me."

They were currently passing through a lot of cafes and food shop.

"Stella, I'm hungry. I'm going in." Layla, arms loaded with Stella's shopping walked into Coffee Bean.

Flora and Tecna followed after Layla.

"Hey, I want to go to that boutique." Stella huffed at her friends. "There's a sale there."

"Don't worry, Stella. I'll go with you."

"Yay! Thanks, Bloom. You're the best." Stella moved to hug Bloom tightly, which was next to impossible because both of them were loaded with shopping bags.

"I know, how about we dump these with the girls first?"

"Great." Stella skipped into the cafe and went to where Layla and the others were eating cupcakes, donuts and drinking coffee - or tea.

"That'll be 20 dollars." the cashier, Jane said after ringing up the CDs that Musa decided to buy.

"Here." Musa handed Jane her credit card, specially for buying anything related to music.

The cashier swiped the card and handed it back to Musa. Musa took the card, bag and went out of Musical Melodies.

'Where should I go next?' Musa thought as she looked around the mall.

It's been a while since she last came here and some of the shops were new. The mall itself had been renovated when Musa was away, so the structure was a bit different from the old mall. Musa put on her earpiece and put the iPod on shuffle. The first song that played was 'Firework' by Katy Perry. She decided to just wander around the mall until she find somewhere she wanted to go. First, she went into Starbucks to buy herself a drink. Then, she went window shopping while sipping her Caramel Frappuccino Blend.

When she felt like going home, she took out her phone to call the boy who was living at her house. When she had her phone in her hands, she realized that she didn't have his number.

'Shit.' she cursed. 'Just my luck.'

She browsed her phone contacts and a name caught her eye.

'Aunt Alexis!'

She dialed her Aunt Alexis's - one of her father's younger sister - number and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Aunt Alexis. It's me, Musa."

"Musa? How's my favorite niece? Where are you now?"

"Good. I'm in Gardenia."

"Huh? But I thought Broader Inter let out tomorrow."

"Yeah, they are. I was expelled."

"Expelled? Oh dear, that's the - how many schools you've been expelled from?"

"Third."

"Honey, seriously. Now what was it you called me for?"

"Aunt Alexis, I need you to pick me up from the mall."

"Which one?"

"There's more than one? Wow, I seriously have a lot of things to catch up."

"Yes. Yes, you do."

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm at the mall when I was still here. The old one?"

"Gardenia Mall, got it. Meet at front, 10 minutes. Dinner's on me."

"Great. Thanks."

Musa hung up and went towards the front door to wait for her Aunt Alexis. There she saw the boy who was living at her house.

"Hey! Uh, I'm eating dinner with my aunt so you don't need to take me home." Musa waved him over and said.

"'Kay." he nodded and turned back to his car.

He got in and drove away. She watch him for a few seconds before tuning into her iPod. 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri was belting out. 10 minutes later, her Aunt Alexis's car drove into the pick up & drop off lane. She hopped down the steps and into the passenger side.

"Hey, Aunt Alexis." Musa leaned over to give her favorite aunt a hug.

"Musa! You've grown since the last time I saw you." Aunt Alexis pulled back and observed Musa. "How old are you now? 15? 16?"

"15." Musa laughed and sat back into her seat. She buckled up and turned towards her Aunt Alexis.

"Time went by so fast." Aunt Alexis gave a short chuckle and drove the car out of the lane, into the street. "It waits for no one so you better appreciate your youth."

"Aunt Alexis, you sound like Grandma Fanny." Musa laughed.

"Yeah, well it's true."

After Riven came out from the shower, he put on some clothes from the wardrobe - he had unpack after the girl took away her clothes - and jumped onto the couch, where he picked up The Book of Arts: How to draw...? that Helia had forced him to buy. Just then, there was a knock. He sighed and got up and opened one side of the door. The girl was standing outside, she had also taken a bath. She was wearing a simple blue shirt and shorts. Her wet long midnight-blue hair was let down to dry naturally. Most of the girls Riven knew - well, Stella - uses hair dryer and curlers after bath, but apparently not her. She pushed past Riven and into the room. She opened the wardrobe and rummaged in it.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Riven exclaimed.

"I'm looking for something." she replied. "It was my mum's."

Riven tensed at the word 'mum'. He slowly closed the door and sat back on the couch watching her dig through the wardrobe. She lifted up her head when she found what she was looking for and turned around to see Riven staring at her. Riven raised one of his eyebrow as if to say 'Well?' The girl held up her hand. She was holding a charm bracelet.

"Last time I was in here, I accidentally left it in the wardrobe along with my clothes. Well, the clothes I left it here on purpose." she explained and Riven nodded. "By the way, you seriously need more clothes."

"What's wrong with the amount of clothes I have?"

"Nothing." she shrugged. "I was just saying. But you should consider buying some more."

She was out the door before Riven could reply.

'She always need to have the last words, don't she?'