The next day...

"James, wake up." A female voice spoke, sounding as if it's somewhere off in the distance; presumably ten feet away or something. "If thou thinks that he'll be sleeping in all morning, then thou wouldst be mistaken; now get up!"

It didn't take long for him to realize what's going on right now, as he was starting to fade both in and out of consciousness. It didn't help that he could actually feel someone tapping his arm as he was slowly waking up; and the person who was doing so knew damn well that he hates it whenever she, or anyone else for that matter, does that to him. Eventually, he opened his eyes, seeing the person who was standing right beside his bed, giving him an all-too-familiar glare that he's came to know at this point in his life.

"What do you want, Stacy?" James muttered as he slowly sat up from his bed.

"The present day just so happens to be mine day off, and as much as I detest to do so, I must ask of thee to drive me to the mall." Stacy explained to her stepbrother as she pulled his car-keys out of her skirt pocket, tossing them over to him once she got them out. "Beforehand, I asked one of mine other fellows if they'd be willing to lend me a ride, but unfortunately, all of them are too busy; so, that just leaves me to ask thee to take me there instead."

"Can't you get my mom or your own dad to do it?" The emo grumbled as he laid back down.

"Mine father would usually be at his job at this present hour, and as for Fair Nancy, one of her fellow companions invited her out to breakfast a mere thirty minutes ago; so, that just leaves thee to do it, James." The former drama-student went over to her stepbrother's door, saying one more thing to him before leaving. "I'll be waiting downstairs for thee in the garage; don't taketh too long to get ready."

Once his stepsister left the room, James proceeded to do his usual morning routine: he got dressed in his usual attire; then he went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and to com his hair afterwards; and finally, he went downstairs to retrieve himself some breakfast. Unfortunately, because of his mother not being here and because of his stepfather being at work, the emo had no other choice but to collect himself one of the chocolate-chip muffins that his mom brought home from one of her meetings one time...hopefully, Nancy doesn't wind up noticing that one of them's missing. After he's gotten all of this finished, James collected his keys and headed into the garage to finally meet up with Stacy, who was currently leaning against the front of his car, waiting for him.

"Art thou ready to go now, imbecile stepbrother?" Stacy asked as the emo went over to the driver's seat.

"I am." James simply answered as he unlocked his car-door, then proceeding to sit down inside; once he and his stepsister were seated, the emo decided to say something to her, most likely out of spite on his end. "By the way, while we're there, I want to stop by some of the stores that I want to visit too."

"Dost thou really expect me to stand around the video-game store and wait for thee to search through shelf after shelf to see what game's new or not?" Stacy asked in a dry, annoyed tone. "The last time thou brought me to that ridiculous place, I felt like we were never going to leave."

"Hey, it's only fair that you do this, Stace." James retorts back. "If you're dragging me to all of your favorite stores...which are all of the ones that I hate...then I should be obligated to bring you along to the ones that I personally love."

"Dost that also include the arcade?"

"It does."

"Blimey...this is going to be hell..." Stacy muttered to herself, before ultimately agreeing to her stepbrother's terms. "Just as long as I don't have to stand inside any of the stores while you're in there."

"Very well." James said, accepting everything with his head held high and his nose pointed upward. "I'm so glad that you and I can come to a compromise."

"Wouldst thou shut up?" Stacy muttered as her stepbrother started up his car, then proceeding to drive out of the garage once the door was wide open.

Back at the Morris's House...

"So, have you heard anything from any of those pharmacies yet, Crystal?" Katie asked her best friend on the phone, all while the former was just finishing up putting on her dental uniform in front of her bedroom mirror.

"It might be awhile until I hear from any of them right now." Crystal told the dentist. "I did only turn in all forty of those applications yesterday afternoon, and most of them probably have even more people that they're looking into hiring or not. So, I'm afraid that I might be stuck waiting for one of them say something until then."

"I'm sure one of them might." Katie assured her best friend in an optimistic tone, before going over to her desk to retrieve her case of dental tools. "What are you going to be doing today?"

"Well, first off, I'm gonna be leaving this house, and then I'm gonna head off to-" Crystal immediately paused so that she can yell at one of her sisters, which Katie could unfortunately hear. "Goddamn it, Rose; would you turn your fucking music down before I throw that stereo out the window?! I'm on the phone, bitch!" There was another pause, but one could easily hear the sound of footsteps coming from the other side of the phone, as well as a door opening and closing. "Well, looks like I'm going to be continuing this phone-call in my backyard now, because Rose decided that now's a good enough time to piss me off..."

"I can hear that." The studious tomboy replied in a dry tone. "Anyways, please continue."

"So, now that I'm outside, I'll most likely be heading off to hang out at the mall and probably buy myself a few things, or maybe even find somebody to date there."

"It's been awhile since we've been to the mall." Katie cooed as she crossed her arms, keeping her Smartphone close to her ear. "It's kind of a shame that you're not letting me come along with you."

"Well, even if you were coming along, there's not a lot of stores around here that you're really interested in." Crystal reminded her studious best friend. "I think there's only, like, three of them that you and I shop at whenever we come here together."

"I know, but I'm only saying that because it would've been nice for us to see more of the town, even the parts where we tend to go to the least."

"Perhaps I can bring you along to Club Candy one of these nights, if you really want to go someplace you've been to the least."

"I think, for now, we should save coming up with ideas on that for later; because right now, I gotta go to work."

"Alright then." Crystal said as the sound of footsteps could be heard on her side of the line, as well as the sound of a wooden-gate opening and closing, implying that the rebel's now leaving her own backyard. "Enjoy your first day on the job, Kate."

"Thanks." After Katie says this, their phone-call came to an end.

It was around this time that Maxwell gave walking into his daughter's room, giving the door a gentle knock as he entered. "Are you ready to go, Kathryn?" He asked as he walked through the door.

"You bet I am, dad." Katie gleefully replied as she picks up her tool-case off of her desk, hugging it as she did a twirl towards her dad. "Oh, this is going to be the best day in my entire life!"

Maxwell couldn't help but give a light chuckle at his daughter's enthusiasm; it was probably one of the many things he missed out of her when she left for college years back. "I'm sure that it'll be a wonderful day for all of us, Kathryn." He told her as he stepped outside the bedroom. "But we mustn't wait; because all of my employees, both old and new, have been waiting patiently in order to meet you."

"Most of them have already met me, so I believe that the correct idiom here would be 'see me again'."

"Indeed, most of them have already met you; however, not all of them, especially not the new employees whom I've recently hired." Maxwell then pulled his keys out of his coat-pocket. "I'll let you meet them all before both of our shifts start."

"Alright." Katie replied as her father headed off downstairs, leaving her to look at the reflection in her mirror one last time. 'Let's get my first day on the job started, baby!' She shouts in her thoughts as she tugs her collar up, then proceeding to exit her bedroom in order to meet up with her dad.

After about twenty minutes of driving, the step-siblings had finally arrived at Simport's mall...

After finding a parking-space in the unfortunately packed lot outside, James and Stacy made their way into the building; the former of the two step-siblings stood there for a second or two in order to get a feel of his surroundings. Like most malls, there were stores everywhere, both on the first floor and the second; there was a fountain dead ahead of them, indicating that that's where the mall's intersection is, or at least one of them anyway; and just like most ones that anyone would see, the place was filled to the brim with people, regardless if they're kids or very old adults. Despite the large amount of people around here, one could easily hear the sound of the mall's radio playing anywhere and everywhere in the building, except for the stores; the song that was currently playing up there was 'Glamorous' by Fergie (featuring Ludacris).

"Imbecile." Stacy said to her stepbrother, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Art thou just going to stand there and admire the scenery?"

"Sorry, I zoned out for a second." James said as he and his stepsister began making their way down the mall's corridor.

"Well, I believeth that thou wouldst not be 'zoned out' it thou hast focused on something other than those silly little video-games." Stacy says in a dry, mocking tone of voice. "Honestly, there's a lot more to life than just sitting up in thy bedroom and whatever ridiculous game thou hast upon thy laptop."

"It's called 'Halo'." The emo replied under his breath. "It's not that difficult for anyone to not know what that is."

"Dost thou honestly think that I wouldst know which game is which?" The British girl asked sarcastically, before approaching one of the mall's maps. "Anyhoo, I need to figure out which one of these stores I want to start with first."

"While you're doing that, I'm gonna go get myself something from the one of the vending-machines nearby." After he says this, James walks off, leaving his stepsister by her lonesome.

'Now...do I want to start this day by getting my nails done first, or do I want to start by buying myself some new pink things?" Stacy asked herself in her thoughts, staring at all of the stores that were all on the map in front of her. 'Oh, sometimes, I'm left wondering WHY this mall has to be so big. It would've been a lot more simple for me to shop if there were-'

Right before Stacy could finish what she was saying in her thoughts, something caught her eye. From a distance, she was able to see a familiar face walking out of a nearby store, talking on his phone as he did; and when she took a second glance at him, she discovered that it was none other than her old friend: Ray Frowler. It wasn't clear who he was talking to on the phone; but if one had to guess, it was probably either his girlfriend, his father, or maybe even Goth Boy; but regardless, the goth has Stacy's full attention now.

'Oh, my word...I can't believe it's him!' Stacy exclaims in her thoughts, staring at her old friend from behind the map-stand. 'Ray, my fair glorious prince...oh, it has been so long since I've last seen you! The times have been MUCH to long for us to reunite, my dearest-'

"GODDAMN IT!!!" James exclaimed from close by, catching his stepsister off-guard once again; it sounded like he was having trouble trying to get his snack out of one of the machines from the clanging that was heard. "No offense, dude; but you guys really need to replace the vending-machines that are in here, because most of them aren't working properly." He told one of the random workers here, as they were currently walking up to him.

"Chill out, spooky dude; it's just this one that needs to be replaced." The mellow-sounding worker stated as he walked over to the side of the machine. "This one may be old, but you can still get your snacks out with no problem at all." He then pats the side of said machine, causing the bag of chips inside to fall out of its coil...only for it to be stuck leaning against the glass.

"You have got to be kidding me..." The emo muttered as he glared at what just happened.

Stacy remained standing there, watching her stepbrother fail to try and get his snack out of the machine, before she eventually decided to head off and find Ray. 'Eh, I doubt that I would've had the patience to deal with waiting for him at his favorite stores anyway...' She said in her thoughts as she was beginning to walk towards the direction of the mall's intersection. 'If he wants to go to the arcade, or the comic book store, or the video-game store, then he'll just have to do it on his own.'

After his stepsister left, James came back over with his bag of chips and a bottle of Pepsi in hand. "Sorry it took so long; let's just say that-" He immediately stopped talking as soon as he noticed that his stepsister had completely disappeared, leaving him confused. "Stacy?!" He shouts as he glanced around his current area, until eventually giving up, assuming that she went off to one of the stores without him. "Eh, it's not like we had an actual deal to tolerate each other's favorite stores in the first place, so...looks like it's more time spent at the arcade for me." After he says this to himself, James headed off towards a random direction in the mall.

Back with Stacy, she was just walking along the mall's corridor, following Ray to whatever store he was heading towards. She kept her distance, wondering if she should call out his name or wait until he turns around before finally approaching him; both seem to be options that are a little bit difficult and unlikely due to the fact that he was still on his phone, and she didn't want to be rude and interrupt his call. Regardless, she remained silent and simply continued to follow him to wherever he's going.

Eventually, after a few more seconds of walking, Ray's phone-call came to an end, which was probably a good enough time for Stacy to finally make her presence known to him, but there was one tiny problem that was standing in her way right now: Ray has finally arrived at the book-store, which was where he was meeting up with his girlfriend, Raven Wright, one of the members of their school's poetry club. It was no secret that that's the reason why Ray was coming all the way out here in the first place; and it was no secret to Stacy that, despite never having interacted with her beforehand, knew that this was where Raven worked at, since she's been here on multiple occasions in the past. It's times like these that Stacy can't believe she's forgotten that those two goths were together; despite this, she decided to follow her friend into the store anyway.

Upon entering the store, Stacy glanced over to the one spot she knew where to look first, which was the front-counter; and when she did, she found Ray to a girl who has red hair tied in a single braid that was going down her back, and was wearing a black dress that was similar to Violet Nightshade, except that her corset was red instead of purple; it was obvious that the girl was indeed Raven Wright. From the looks on their faces, the goth couple appeared to be happy at the moment, talking and letting out some laughter every few seconds or so, but what they were talking about was something that Stacy didn't know about; obviously, because they were too far away for her to hear them. Regardless of what they were currently talking about, the girl in pink remained standing at a distance as she pulled a plastic skull out of one of the pockets of her skirt.

"Oh, the dreaded pity..." Stacy said to the skull in a soft voice, turning away from the goth couple as she spoke. "There art so many fair maidens in this town hath all the luck to find their true love...but alas, the one whom I wouldst consider mine true love hast already found himself another. It's a shame that I-"

"Stacy?" A male voice asked, interrupting the British woman in the middle of her sentence. "Is that you?"

After hearing that voice, Stacy immediately turned around, instantly knowing that voice off the top of her head; and when she saw him standing there, she noticed that he also had his girlfriend with him too. "Ray..." The girl in pink said as she saw that the goth couple was now standing right behind her.

Note: It looks like we're taking a trip to Simport's mall in the next few chapters or so, except, like I've previously said in the last chapter, we're going to be focusing on James and Stacy rather than our tomboyish duo this time. Obviously, both step-siblings are going to be focused on individually, with Stacy and her crush on Ray, and James with...I don't know, maybe bragging about high-scores at the arcade or something like that. The two might stumble upon each other somewhere in the mix, but I haven't decided on it yet; although, it might be inevitable either way.

Let's take a look at what reviews we have for today are...

lordgemini: To be fair, Chaz buying her flowers doesn't really annoy her; it's just that he kept the bouquet in his jacket for roughly thirty or forty minutes via motorcycle, and then the petals fell off most of them. I feel like him hanging out with Katie and him giving her his own, as well as his own girlfriend's, phone-numbers are probably more of a reason for Summer to get annoyed with him; but at the same time, I believe that this is more of a perspective thing than any.

Next time, we'll be seeing what will go down between Ray, Raven, and Stacy; and we'll also see where James ran off to after he gave up on finding his stepsister...after one second. Until then, I'll see you guys soon.