The next day, Jasmine was cleaning up the house before her outing with Celeste. She just about tidied the living room area where Randy slept when the front door opened. Jasmine looked up and smiled when she saw her brother walk into the apartment with John.

"Hey guys!" Jasmine greeted

"Hi Jas!"
"Hey, lil' sis."

John put the bags of groceries down while Randy walked up to her.

"I thought you were going out with Celeste today…" Randy said

"I am… But, we're meeting at 12. It's only 10.45am." Jasmine said, "Speaking of which… You guys went out early just to go get groceries?"

"Yup. I know a friend who opened early for the both of us." John said
"Thanks, John." Jasmine said
"Don't mention it. Randy's my buddy and you're like my little sister. It's helping out family." John said

Jasmine smiled as she walked over to put away the groceries. John joined Randy on the couch and the two of them started talking casually. As Jasmine pulled the last item out of the bag, she found a piece of paper that had been placed right at the bottom of the bag. She put away the spaghetti sauce and took out the paper.

As she was about to open the piece of paper, someone took it out from her hands. She looked at who it was and the person was her brother.

"What is that?" Jasmine asked
"It's uh… Nothing… Just a scrap of paper." Randy replied
"That you would be worried about if I read it?" Jasmine said
"Yes." Randy said

Seeing Randy's serious look, Jasmine knew not to pry any further. She merely nodded and put away the grocery bag as Randy walked back to the living room area.

Jasmine arrived at the soup kitchen at 12 to see Celeste waiting for her.

"Hey!" Celeste greeted
"Hey…" Jasmine said

Celeste looked at Jasmine, "What's wrong? You look like you just encountered math all over again."

"It's Randy." Jasmine said
"What about him?" Celeste asked
"I keep thinking that he's hiding something from me." Jasmine replied
"And you came to that conclusion because…" Celeste said

Jasmine sighed, "He weirded out when I found this scrap of paper at the bottom of the grocery bag that he and John brought back."

"Really? Over a scrap of paper?" Celeste asked

Jasmine nodded, "I was about to open in when he took it from me."

"Maybe it's a love note or something?" Celeste said
"Could it be?" Jasmine asked
"Well… Think about it. If you're Randy, would you want your little sister to see the love note some girl gave you?" Celeste said

Jasmine thought about it and decided to give Randy the benefit of the doubt. Celeste did have a point. Back when Jasmine was in high school, she wrote love notes too and she didn't want anyone but the receiver to read it.

"Okay, enough worrying about what your brother is hiding. It's time for some window shopping!" Celeste said
"Do you think we should go to the mall?" Jasmine asked
"It's okay. Just because we don't have the money to spend, it doesn't mean we can't see what they offer right?" Celeste said
"Yeah… But, they are mostly filled with the makers and the middles." Jasmine said
"Then, let's pretend we're one of them." Celeste said

Jasmine looked at Celeste, who gave her a mischievous smile and nudged her arm. She smiled back and Celeste happily linked arms with her as they headed to the mall.

"Let's go in here." Celeste said

Jasmine looked at the store that Celeste stepped into and it was one of the big department stores in the mall. She followed after Celeste as they both walked through the lady's clothing area.

As they turned a corner, Celeste accidentally bumped into another lady's elbow with her elbow as they walked pass. Celeste said sorry before walking on but was held back by the lady.

"Do you think just saying 'sorry' can get you off the hook?" She said
"Look. It was an accident. I didn't do it to you on purpose." Celeste said
"Oh, really?" The lady's friend said

The lady looked at Celeste, "I am not one to make a scene but you should apologise properly."

"I already did." Celeste said
"Yes but not properly." The lady said
"What do you mean by 'properly'?" Jasmine asked

Before the lady could reply, Celeste grabbed Jasmine by the arm and pulled her away. Annoyed by their behaviour, the lady wasn't going to let it go.

"Mia. Do me a favor. Go see if those two girls are makers." She said

Mia nodded and followed behind the two girls. While they were both at the perfume section, just as Jasmine's back was facing a display of perfume bottles, Mia pushed pass her, making her knock into the display. As a result, one bottle went over the edge and it went crashing to the floor as Mia left the scene.

Jasmine turned around to see the bottle on the floor while Celeste spotted Mia fleeing the scene. Before she could call out the girl, a shop assistant came towards them.

"Miss, you'll have to pay for that." She said

Celeste was about to object when Jasmine shook her head at her before turning to the shop assistant.

"Of course. Sorry for my carelessness. How much is it?" Jasmine asked
"$100. That's an exquisite bottle you knocked over." She replied

Jasmine's eyes widened a little as she heard the price of the perfume that she had knocked over.

"O-One hundred?" Jasmine repeated
"Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" The shop assistant asked

By now, a few shoppers were gathered around, watching Jasmine, Celeste and the shop assistant.

Jasmine shook her head as she slowly reached into her satchel to get out her wallet, even though she didn't have the amount. She was about to open her wallet when someone stepped in.

"There the two of you are! I told you guys to be careful."

Jasmine and Celeste both looked up to see Colby coming to their aid.

"Here's $100. Sorry… But, she's a little clumsy sometimes." Colby said to the shop assistant.

He handed the money to her and she headed behind the counter to issue a receipt. She handed it back to Colby as the small crowd dispersed.

"You okay?" Colby whispered to Jasmine.

Jasmine nodded.

"We should leave…" Colby said

They nodded as they left the department store together.

The 3 of them headed over to the food court in the shopping mall. Colby bought them all a slice of pizza before sitting at the extreme corner of the food court where there were nobody around.

"Thanks for saving us back there." Jasmine said
"It's nothing. Besides, you were not the one who knocked the bottle over." Colby said
"He's right. It was that dumb skank's bitch of a friend who did it." Celeste said
"Sssh, Celeste. Not so loud." Jasmine said

Celeste shrugged and took a bite out of her pizza.

"Anyway… What were you doing there?" Jasmine asked

"I was looking for a gift." Colby said, "It's my mom's birthday this weekend."

"Did you manage to get her anything?" Jasmine asked
"Nope." Colby replied
"Is it because of us?" Jasmine said

Colby chuckled, "No… It's just that my mom has no use for those material things. So, I couldn't find anything suitable for her."

Celeste sipped her soda before saying, "It's better if you don't get anything from there. It's overpriced."

"More for the makers to earn, right?" Colby said

Celeste grinned and nodded at his comment.

Jasmine shook her head, "You guys aren't scared of getting heard, huh?"

Celeste chuckled and nudged Jasmine, "There's Colby around. They won't come near us."

Jasmine merely shook her head at her friend as she resumed eating.

As it got later, the three of them decided to leave the mall and go home. Since Colby was with them, he offered to walk the two of them home. They sent Celeste home first before heading towards Jasmine's home.

"Thanks for offering to walk us home." Jasmine said
"It's no problem at all. I couldn't possibly let you two girls go back alone." Colby said

Jasmine chuckled to herself, "No wonder all the girls had a crush on you."

Colby looked at her, "Were you one of them?"

"Well… Yes." Jasmine said
"Huh. I would have never thought you had a crush on me." Colby said
"Are you kidding me? You seriously never noticed my consistent presence at all your hockey games?" Jasmine asked
"I just thought you were very interested in hockey." Colby said
"Really? Why?" Jasmine asked
"Well… I tried asking you out on dates before but it seemed like you didn't take notice." Colby said

Jasmine stopped walking, "Wait, you mean those times that you asked me to help you with your assignments?"

Colby smiled shyly, "Yeah. My poor attempts."

Jasmine laughed and shook her head, "And my poor ability to read signals."

The two of them laughed for a while before Jasmine realized she was at her door.

"So… Uh… This is me." Jasmine said, pointing at her door.
"Right…" Colby said

Just as Jasmine took out her keys, Colby spoke again.

"So… Forgive me if this is another poor attempt… But, would you like to go catch a movie at the community theatre tomorrow night? They'll be screening Psycho." Colby said

Jasmine thought for a while before giving Colby a smile, "I'd love to. But… My shift at the soup kitchen ends at 7.30pm."

"That won't be a problem. The movie starts at 8.30pm anyway." Colby said
"Well, okay then." Jasmine said

Colby smiled, "It's a date."

Jasmine nodded shyly and entered her apartment after saying good-bye to Colby.