Chapter 15 - Shopping squabble
Looking at the massive shopping mall, I resisted the urge to walk right back out again.
Karen had described it as; 'A haven for sassy girls everywhere.'
Faced with endless streams of girls who looked like they'd just walked out of a fashion magazine, I decided that I definitely wasn't sassy.
This trip was more of a chore than I'd thought it would be, but then again that might have something to do with Richard. I'd been invited to hang out with him that afternoon when he'd suggested we both just ditch the dance and do something else.
At first I'd been reluctant, but as the last lesson passed I thought about it more and realized that I'd rather spend time with him than go to a school dance. However, Karen was having none of that and she'd made me decline his offer simply because; "The dance is more important."
What wonderful friends I have.
Still, I was grateful that if I really had to do this shopping, it would be with my friends rather than alone. They'd all offered to help me search, and keeping this in mind, I tried to cheer myself up a little.
Rachel seemed to be resigned to her fate now, and I got the feeling she was used to Jenny and Karen dragging her into shopping. Still, she complained all the way there and couldn't help but give one last plea to the other girls as we stood outside a store.
"Do we have to do this? Kori and I don't want to go into those fancy shops, so why don't you two go on without us? It'll be easier that way."
"Nope, we dragged you this far and we're not stopping now. Lets go get some dresses girls!" Karen ran forward excitedly, Jenny trailing along with an amused look on her face. They both entered the posh looking shop, leaving Rachel and I alone.
A thought came to me as I turned to the quieter girl at my side. "We could just leave now."
"No, I've tried that before, she'll just track us down and bring us back. When it comes to shopping Karen isn't to be messed with."
We sighed and prepared ourselves before walking into the store.
OOO
After the initial worry of going into such a fancy place where so many serious fashion types stalked the area, I found that shopping at the mall could actually be quite fun.
Doing girly things wasn't high on the list of things a woman from Tameran did. They were free spirited yes, but not overly concerned with what matched what. But searching for different dresses with my friends was nice. We chatted as we looked, and found ourselves laughing more than anything. Even Rachel joined in.
However, that had been two hours ago, and the novelty had worn off now. I sighed for what seemed like the billionth time as I searched through the dresses on silver hangers.
Rachel had given up looking, and made it clear she wasn't going to humor Karen anymore as she sat reading a book. This was probably the 15th store we'd been in, so I couldn't blame her for giving up. I wished I'd said yes to Richards offer.
I looked through yet another a rack of of dresses, none were right for me. In my opinion they all seemed far too bright and flashy for a nice school dance, some were even a little slutty.
Sighing in frustration, I ran a hand through my hair, scarlet locks spilling around my shoulders. At this rate I'll be going in a bunny suit.
While Rachel had given up, Karen and Jenny had already found their perfect dresses and were getting impatient. As I pondered over another set of dresses, Karen moaned.
"Oh hurry up!"
"Yeah, we've been waiting for 30 minuets!" Jenny chimed in, resting her chin in her palm. I grit my teeth, if it weren't for those two I could have been spending a pleasant afternoon with Richard, maybe even riding his motorcycle through the city.
But nope, Karen says a dress is more important.
Rachel seemed to sense my anger as she stood up, looking a little tired. "I suppose its about time I find a dress."
Jenny and Karen's eyes seemed to shine and they got up and dragged her to a rack of cloths.
"Okay this one would go with your eyes, but this one would better suit the occasion." Jenny blabbed on while Karen picked out jewelry she thought would suit her. Rachel seemed to tune them out as she turned and nodded at me to continue.
I smiled and thanked her silently before moving on to a different part of the store. Out of the corner of my eyes I thought I saw a blonde haired girl enter the store, but when I turned there was no one there. Shrugging, I turned to the set of dresses that were on sale.
It was then that I finally spotted the perfect dress.
It was hung up in all its glory and was black with see through short blue sleeves. The dress would probably cover my knees, and go great with a beautiful necklace I had inherited from my mother. I ran forward to nab the beautiful dress, uncaring of the price. I could just imagine Richards face if he saw me ware it tonight.
I grabbed it from its hanger, but just as I was about to turn and head for the changing rooms, someone yanked it back.
Blinking in confusion, I looked up and gasped. Right before me was my worst enemy Kitten Moth.
Kitten sneered, and her grip tightened on the dress. "What are you doing here? They don't allow tramps in places like this." Her voice was so high pitched I had a hard time listening to her without covering my ears.
"If that's true what are you doing here?"
Kitten narrowed her eyes. "I'm here to get my dress so I can impress my new boyfriend Fangypoo, now let GO!"
"Your boyfriends name is Fang? I bet you two are a match made in heaven, and no I wont let go, I was here first." I tugged at the dress, wincing when Kitten tugged back, her sharp pink nails digging into the material. My friends joined us at the scene, along with Kittens three other friends I'd never paid much attention to.
Kitten sneered. "Fangypoo appreciates me, unlike that loser Xaviour. Richiepoo wasn't much better, but I know he still has feelings for me, he'll never belong to you!"
This made me pause. "Wait...do you mean Xaviour went out with you?"
Kitten tossed her blonde hair over her shoulder. "He sure did, he asked me out himself. I dumped him earlier today."
My eyes widened in genuine surprise. Why hadn't he told me? Moreover what was he doing going out with someone like Kitten? She was awful, the worst type of girl imaginable. I couldn't think up a logical reason why he would stoop so low as to date her. The shock loosened my grip, and Kitten seized her opportunity, tugging the fabric free from my grasp.
"Ha! Message for today girls, Kitten Moth is like the best -" Kitten was cut off as a pair of hands with red nails suddenly snatched the dress from her.
Turning to face the new comer, my eyebrows rose in surprise. She had black spiky hair with red highlights, and was wearing a red corset dress with black laces. She was also wearing red combat boots with black tights and had a no nonsense attitude about her.
"Why don't you go scuttle back into the hole you crawled out of Kitten? Leave these guys alone." She spoke in a British accent.
"Yeah, well why don't you...go back to..er...that..place.." Kitten stammered as the girl approached her, looking quite intimidating.
"Leave. Now." She stated firmly.
Kitten looked like she was ready to talk back until she noticed the height difference between her and the punk. She smiled sweetly, exuding falseness before she walked past her. The blonde deliberately bumped into my shoulder so I gave a glare in return.
Kitten just smiled again and trotted off with her snooty friends, leaving me and my own friends with the stranger.
"Hey sis, thanks." Jenny grinned as the girl turned around with a mischievous smile on her face.
"Ah it was no problem. I kind of enjoyed it, did you see the look on her face?" She laughed.
"Wait! What? You have a sister?" Karen turned to Jenny in confusion, who shrugged.
"Well if you want to be specific, this is my step sister Toni. Toni, these are my friends Karen, Kori and Rachel."
As Karen confronted Jenny about why she had kept this from her, Toni stepped towards me.
"I think this is yours, I didn't think Kitten of all people should get such a nice dress." She handed the dress to me and I couldn't stop the broad smile that spread across my face.
"Thank you. I don't think I've seen you at school before, do you go to Jump City High?"
Toni shook her head. "Nah, I know I don't look it but I'm a little older than you guys. I've already left school."
She was right about looking younger than she was. I was a taller than her even without wearing heals. What she'd said about school had caught my interest though, and I asked her what it was like now that she'd left.
"I've been thinking about leaving for another city actually because I've been offered a modelling job, and they need me to start right away. Although I don't know if I could live by myself in a place so far away, just for my career. I guess in the end I'll just go where I'm needed most. I mean I wouldn't want to take off while my family needed me, you know?"
Her words struck a cord in me somewhere, and as Rachel asked her a few more questions, I found myself falling silent.
"So wait, we know you for 6 years and you never mention having a step sister?!" Karen was shouting hysterically.
Jenny grinned, her eyes shining. "I didn't think it was important."
Karen seemed like she was going to faint.
OOO
Kittens POV:
Stalking away from the shop, I grit my teeth and hissed for my friends to hurry up. I couldn't believe I'd just been humiliated like that! Kori was some piece of work. First she swans into school like she owns the place, then she fools everyone into thinking shes miss innocent, steals Richiepoo from me, and now steals my dress from me?!
It was a good thing I had Fangypoo now to cheer me up, he was good at doing that. At least he wasn't entirely useless like Xaviour had been for a boyfriend. Sure enough, I saw him leaning against one of the various shops not too far away. He was wearing that awful spider t-shirt I'd begged him to throw away, and his brown hair was a mess. If loosing a dress to Kori didn't tick me off, Fangypoo looking like a homeless bum certainly did.
"Fangypoo!" I wined, grabbing him close to me.
"Hey Babe. Whats the deal? I thought you were buying a dress or something." He pulled me closer around the waist and grinned, his brown eyes as bored as ever.
"Urgh, I was but then that upstart Kori Anders showed up and ruined everything. I hate her!"
He smirked, "you hate everyone babe. It's what makes you so beautiful."
I pouted and leaned into him. "But I hate her especially much. She stole Richiepoo from me! I even think that loser Xaviour from school has the hots for her too."
Looking up at my boyfriend, I frown when I see that hes gone very still, looking at a point over my shoulder. When I turn, I grit my teeth together when I notice Kori and her friends walking out of the store.
Fangs voice is strange when he says; "You never told me Xaviour was at your school. Is that chick with the red hair Kori?"
I swing my gaze back to his, glaring harshly. "You better not tell me you're starting to fall for her too!"
He chuckled. "Not at all." None the less his gaze followed her form until she disappeared. I tugged at his shirt and asked what he was thinking.
"I just think its about time Xaviour got what was coming to him. He's been laying low for so long now, we were starting to think he'd left the city."
As I puzzled over his words he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, leading me away. With his other hand he brought out a phone from his pocket, texting quickly with an eerie smile on his face.
OOO
Koris POV:
Later on our group (minus Toni who had to do extra shopping) walked home. Karen was still ranting on about Jenny's step sister, Jenny was tuning her out and Rachel was reading as she walked. How she achieved this amazed me, as it was already dark and the only lights on the path were the occasional street lamps.
Toni's words earlier had me thinking about Uncle Galfore oddly enough. I thought about him alone in Tameran, with only his drinking buddies to keep him company. When we'd left, Koma had been more than happy to go, but I'd been reluctant, riddled with guilt. Our Uncle was the only surviving member of our family, and I couldn't help but wince whenever I thought about him.
His brother, who was our father, had died only a few years ago along with the rest of my family. I wonder if he resented us for leaving, letting him drown in the memories alone with no one to talk with him about them.
I shook my head and turned a corner, following Karens lead. We were going to her house to change into our dresses and then head to the dance. To take my mind off my uncle, I began talking about the boys, which grabbed the others attention.
"So Rachel, who do you most want to dance with tonight?" I smiled mischievously.
"I would say Gar, but we all know he can't dance and I wouldn't want to. Unfortunately that wont stop him from dragging me onto the dance floor like you guys dragged me to the mall." Rachel rolled her eyes as Karen and Jenny grinned.
"That's so sweet, you two are so cute together. Hey Jen I bet you want a dance with Wally huh?" Karen nudged Jenny who smiled.
"Well yeah, I am going out with him now. It'll be a miracle though if he can stand still for more than five minutes. We know you'll definitely dance with Vic of course."
Karen smiled and suddenly realized they were missing one person from the conversation. I looked away, trying to hide a blush.
"Kori's practically in love with Richard, so its a obvious that they'll have at least one dance."
Karen along with Jenny burst out laughing, while I jumped back in surprise. I really did like Richard but...was it love? Or was it just another high school crush?
I didn't deny it, so Karen and Jenny took this as a sign that I really did love him. They talked about this until we reached her house, and then excitedly raced up the stairs to get dressed. Rachel gave me a consoling pat on the back before following them.
I called out to her before she was out of sight. "Can you tell Karen and Jenny that I'll be there in a second?"
She nodded and I turned away, slipping my phone out of my pocket and rolling it around in my fingers, just as Xaviour had done with his lighter. I wondered if I'd see him at the dance too, and hoped we could patch things up between us.
At that moment though I had another relationship to patch up. Dialing the number and holding the phone to my ear, I waited.
I had called my Uncle since getting to Jump a few times, but we hadn't really spoken of anything important. I hadn't asked how he was dealing with things, and I felt awful for ignoring his feelings.
The phone was picked up on the other end and I smiled. "Uncle? It's me."
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Sorry, I know that wasn't as good as the other chapters but you know, it'll pick up again soon. Please be patient and don't stop reading! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx review!