XXIX. Phillip, October 29

As one might expect, the days leading directly up to the 31st of October were the busiest for the little costume shop in downtown Buena Vista. Halloween was falling on a Sunday this year, and Phillip was working at the shop Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The shop usually closed at six in the evening, but for these final two days before the holiday, the shop was staying open until ten, and Phillip was working from three until close on Friday. After the holiday came and went, everything in the shop would go on clearance, and then the store would close and Phillip would have to go off and find another part-time job if he wanted to continue to have any gas or spending money.

Phillip drove right over to Buena Vista after school and arrived at the shop a little early. He walked in with his backpack and saw Nani Pelekai, one of his co-workers, sitting on a stool behind the counter with her feet up, looking at the screen of her phone. The shop wasn't very crowded yet, with just two customers perusing the offerings. But Phillip knew that wouldn't last long, and as Nani was only there for the morning shift, the shop would soon be all his responsibility.

"Hey Nani," he said, dropping his backpack behind the counter.

"Phillip!" she said, checking the time on her phone. "You're early!"

"Yeah, I beat the traffic getting out of the school parking lot," Phillip said.

"Hey, would you mind taking over a little early, then?" Nani asked. "My sister should be getting home soon, and I don't like having her home by herself for too long… She's fourteen now, but… she tends to get herself into trouble a lot still."

"Yeah, that's cool," Phillip said. "Let me just check in with the boss and then I'll come take over."

He headed to the back of the shop to the tiny office that the shop owner always sat in when the shop was open. He knocked before opening. His boss, Yzma Kulli, sat at a little desk, holding a mirror and carefully applying long, thick clumps of mascara to her lashes. She was an older lady with sickly looking pale skin and black hair. She was completely obsessed with her appearance, but her wrinkled skin seemed to hang off her bones in a rather unattractive way. Still, she didn't seem to realize how others saw her, and she applied heaps of purple eyeshadow and deep red lipstick along with the aforementioned mascara.

"Ms. Yzma?" Phillip said.

"Yes?" Yzma pronounced the word long and slow, clearly trying to keep her frustration at the interruption at bay.

"I, uh… just wanted to let you know that I'm here, and I'm a little early so Nani's going to head home now and I'll take over," Phillip said.

"Yes, fine, whatever," Yzma said, waving her hand in the air dismissively.

Phillip shrugged and closed the door. He headed back to the counter, where Nani was checking out a customer. When she was finished, Phillip took over and Nani headed out, thanking him. Phillip settled himself down behind the counter, grabbing a textbook from his backpack. He wouldn't have much time for homework, he knew, but he figured he would do what he could during this calm before the storm. Now that both the high schools of Marceline were letting out and most of the kids at Les Clark University were undoubtedly finishing up most of their classes for the day, the shop would soon be bombarded with last-minute costume shoppers.

By an hour after the beginning of Phillip's shift, he had no time for anything but work. The shop was bustling, and he was constantly either ringing someone up or helping someone find just what it was they were looking for. As he was picking up some costumes an obnoxious patron had knocked to the ground, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to find Wendy, along with a shorter, short-haired brunette.

"Wendy!" Phillip said, giving her a quick hug and kiss. "What a nice surprise—I thought you already had a costume?"

"I do," Wendy said. "But my friend needs one—this is Rapunzel."

"Nice to meet you," Phillip said, putting out a hand politely.

"You too," she said, accepting the handshake.

"I figured I might as well come along and pay you a visit," Wendy said. "You seem like you have your hands full—we can show ourselves around."

"Okay," Phillip said, smiling. "Just let me know when you want to be rung up."

The shop stayed as busy for several hours. Things only started to let up around 8:30. At that point, Phillip started tidying up. The place was basically a mess, and when he left, it needed to be spick and span for the next morning. If there was a single thing out of place, Yzma would surely throw a hissy fit, and no one wanted that. But Phillip also didn't really feel like staying at the shop too long after it closed at ten, so he started the cleanup now. By the time nine rolled around, the shop had cleared out. Everything was looking pretty neat, so Phillip was once again seated behind the counter, scribbling away at his homework, when the bell above the door jingled.

He looked up to see three girls enter—Snow, Aurora, and Ella. He hadn't been formally introduced to Ella, but he of course knew Snow and Aurora. He smiled and stood, putting his pencil down.

"Hey ladies," he said, getting up and walking towards the front of the shop.

"Phillip!" Snow said excitedly, skipping over to him. "I didn't know you were working here."

She gave him a big hug.

"Yep," Phillip said. "Just temporary, of course—but money is money."

"It sure is," Snow said. "This is my friend Ella—and of course you know Aurora already."

"Nice to meet you Ella," Phillip said, shaking the girl's hand. "And nice to see you, Aurora. What can I do for you girls?"

"Oh, we're looking for a costume for Aurora," Ella said. "Snow's already got hers."

"And what about you?" Phillip asked.

"I won't be needing one this year," Ella said, with a tint of sadness she seemed to be trying to suppress. "I'll just be handing out candy at home."

"Not alone, I hope," Phillip said.

"No," she said, brightening a bit. "I'll have company."

"And you two—are you going to Jasmine's party?" Phillip asked.

"No, actually, not this year," Snow said. "Prince's friend Kuzco is having a party, so we'll be going to that one."

"Ooh, college party—sounds like fun," Phillip smiled. "What about you, Aurora? Are you dating some exciting college boy, too?"

Aurora laughed, "No."

"Aurora has sworn off men," Snow said.

"Snow!" Aurora squealed, giving her friend a light hit on the arm.

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Snow asked, raising an eyebrow at Aurora.

"Kind of," Aurora muttered, looking down as her face reddened. Phillip thought a change of subject might be in order.

"What kind of a costume were you looking for? Got anything particular in mind?" Phillip asked.

"I don't know…" Aurora said, looking around at the vast array of options—there were sections for all different kinds of costumes. Humorous joke costumes, intricate and expensive costumes for those who took Halloween maybe a little bit too far, costumes for guys and costumes for kids, couples costumes, and of course those short-skirted sexy costumes.

"I think Aurora wants to wear something sexy," Snow said, grabbing her by the arm and dragging the reluctant girl over to look at the array of nurses, French maids, and skimpy pirate dresses.

Ella stayed behind to chat with Phillip.

"What's her deal?" Phillip asked, watching as Snow White offered Aurora a few different costumes.

"Aurora's… dated a lot of guys," Ella said, watching her friends for a moment, then turning to Phillip. "I guess she's just sort of given up at this point."

"So she's been hurt a lot?" Phillip asked.

"Not really," Ella said. "I mean—a couple times, yes, of course. But mostly it's just been… that they weren't compatible. Nice guys, a lot of them—she even dated Charm before me. I think she just doesn't think there's any guy out there who's right for her. It's a shame, but… I probabl would feel the same way if it had happened to me that way. She just really wanted to fall in love, I think. And it didn't happen, so I guess she's kind of jaded about it."

Phillip nodded, "Well, it'll be good for her to spend some time being single, then. I think it's better to just let things happen, anyway. If it's meant to be… it will be."

"That's a nice way of thinking about it," Ella said, smiling sweetly.

"Where's the fitting room?" Snow shouted over to Phillip.

"Right over here," Phillip said, and he led the three girls over to the curtained cubicle.

He waited by the counter while Snow made Aurora try on a few different outfits. It was about 9:15 now, and the three girls were still the only patrons in the shop. The day hadn't been quite as bad as Phillip had imagined, but there was still tomorrow—he imagined tomorrow would probably be worse than today had been. Plus, by tomorrow night everything would be pretty picked over, and people would be upset about that in addition to everything else.

"Oh my goodness, that is adorable!" Phillip heard Snow squealing from the dressing room. "Come on, let's show Phillip."

Phillip heard Aurora's futile protests, but soon Snow was dragging her out into the main shop area. Aurora had on a short-skirted retro stewardess uniform. The costume was all light blue, with a scarf tied around Aurora's neck and a matching pill box hat. Aurora cringed and pulled down at the hem of the short skirt. Despite her obvious apprehension, the costume was very cute on her, showing off her lovely long legs. The color also contrasted nicely with her golden hair.

"Wow," Phillip said, his eyes widening.

"Wow?" Snow asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow. "Care to add to that?"

"Just… it looks really good on you," Phillip said, nodding his head in approval. "It really suits you."

"You think?" Aurora asked, looking down at the dress, then walking over to a full-length mirror.

She cocked her head at her reflection and adjusted the angle of the hat. She twisted her mouth into a contemplative expression.

"He's right," Snow said, walking up behind Aurora and putting her hands on her friend's shoulders, then putting her head next to Aurora's and smiling at the reflection. "This is the best one yet for sure. You should definitely get it."

"Hmm," Aurora said, biting her lip.

"I'm with Snow on this one," Ella said, adding her encouragement to the mix.

"Well, alright," Aurora said finally, but Phillip could see in her reflection that she was smiling and was only faking her lack of enthusiasm.

She went back into the fitting room to change, and her two friends went with her. Phillip went back to the counter and sat down at the stool. He thought it was probably for the best that Snow and Aurora would be at a different party than him, mainly because the costume he had bought for himself was a pilot's costume. Of course, if they wouldn't be seen together at all, it wouldn't be a big deal, but had they both been at Jasmine's party, people might talk. Obviously matching costumes was the kind of thing couples always did, and as Wendy wasn't going to be wearing a costume that matched Phillip's, to have another girl at the party matching his outfit had the potential for a social disaster. Phillip wasn't really interested in being involved in any kind of drama, especially since, being new, most of his peers had yet to form an impression of him yet anyway. That would not be a very good thing to start off with. The social mores of high school were exhausting sometimes.

The three girls soon came back out and headed up to the counter. Phillip rung Aurora up for the stewardess uniform, and Ella for a small pair of dangling skeleton earrings she noticed while she was waiting.

"Have fun on Sunday, girls," Phillip smiled as they were leaving, then added to Aurora and Snow, "Don't party too hard."

"We won't," Snow laughed and waved goodbye.

As they were leaving the shop, two sour-faced girls, one a brunette and one a red-head, came shuffling in the shop. When they saw Ella and her friends on their way out, they sneered at her and began to make unpleasant noises.

"What do you have there, Cinderella?" the dark-haired girl sneered, snatching Ella's little bag out.

"Hey, that's—" Ella tried to interrupt, but the girls just ignored her.

"Ooh," the girl who had snatched the bag said a she pulled out one dangly skeleton earring. "These would look lovely on me at the party on Sunday."

The red-headed girl grabbed the bag and took out the other earring, "Oh no, I think they'd look even better on me."

The first girl snatched the earring from the other, and stuffed both of them back in the bag, "I'm the oldest, so I should be the one who gets to wear them."

"Hey," Phillip said, stepping in. "Ella was the one who purchased those, so you ought to give them back to her."

The two girls gave Phillip a harsh appraising look, scoffed, and went back to their bickering.

"Hey!" Phillip said, not used to being ignored in such a way.

"What?" the dark-haired girl sneered.

"Give the earrings back."

"Cinderella would just ruin them," the girl said. "She's just a stupid, ugly—"

Phillip quickly interrupted, wanting to hear no more of this girl's insults, "If you want to stay in this shop, you need to give back to items you've stolen right now before I call the police."

The two sneering girls looked at each other, then quickly darted out of the shop, bag still in hand.

"Hey—!" Phillip shouted, stepping forward to go after them and retrieve the stolen item.

"Don't bother," Ella said, putting her arm forward to stop Phillip from going. "Even if I get them back, they'll just tell mother when they get home and then she'll make me give the earrings to Drizella."

"Those girls are—are you r sisters?" Phillip said, baffled as to how a girl as lovely as Ella could have come from the same woman as those two hideous hags.

"Step-sisters," Ella corrected. "And, technically it's my step-mother. But she still controls my life, and Drizella always gets what she wants."

"Well… hold on a moment," Phillip said, going to the back of the shop and coming back a moment later. "We don't have any more of those skeleton earrings, but… Take these. I know it's not as good, but I can't let you leave empty-handed."

"Oh, these are lovely!" Ella said, smiling at the tiny pumpkin earrings Phillip had put in her hand. "I didn't even see these ones—I like them even better. But I can't take them without paying, how much?"

"No, no, it's on me, don't worry," Phillip said. "My boss doesn't take inventory or anything, and it's not an expensive item."

"Thank you," Ella said, giving Phillip a hug. "I'll make sure they don't see these ones."

"You're the best, Phillip," Snow said, giving him a friendly kiss on the cheek as the trio left.

After they had left, Phillip stood at the door watching them head down the street to Snow's car. He looked at his watch and realized it was time to close up shop. He finished tidying up, closing out the register, and gathered his things together before heading out, locking the front door behind him. Tomorrow would surely be hell, but at least today hadn't been half bad.