A.N. Due to Shareena's mom's fashion sense I always wondered where Shareena got her clothing. This chapter will reveal my view on the subject.
Emmitt arrived at the mall first and, starving, went to get the burger. Since he didn't know what Shareena liked on her burgers, he ordered a plain burger with the usual items like tomato and cheese on the side. After finding an empty table he sat down, split the burger in half, and started eating. A few minutes after one Shareena arrived, looking irritated.
"What happened?" Emmitt asked after swallowing the fry he was eating.
"Mom finished the dress early so she made me try it on for a final fitting." Shareena frowned. "Man I'm glad we're getting our outfits now, I could use some time with Goth items."
"Ouch." Emmitt winced as he pushed the tray with the other half of the burger and the rest of the fires towards her. "Have you figured out what to do with that dress?"
"Well, normally I would feed those dresses to my pet pig Pig but this dress has a zipper so I'd better not risk it. Besides, he hated the Disco one so I doubt he would eat this one." Shareena sighed. "I'll be right back, I really need a taco."
"Okay." Emmitt nodded.
While Shareena went to get the taco - extra stuff on the side of course - Emmitt though about her dress problem. By the time she got back, he thought of an idea.
"Hey Shareena, maybe you can secretly alter your mom's dress so that it will cover your dress, and then you can just slip it off and put it in a trash can on the way to the dance." Emmitt suggested as he took his half of the taco and started piling on the toppings.
"That'll work, luckily my parents get tired easily so they'll be asleep when I come home." Shareena nodded as she prepared her burger.
They talked a little longer as they ate, and then once they were done they cleared the table and headed for the store.
When they reached the entrance Emmitt dropped his mouth open in amazement. The store, called Gothic Central, was larger than he expected, and along with having Halloween creatures also had sci-fi creatures decorating the walls and displays.
"Wow, this is cool!" Emmitt smiled excitedly.
"Told you you'd love it." Shareena smiled back in amusement.
"I've got to explore this mall better, usually I just head for the book store to grab the latest sci-fi book or comic." Emmitt admitted.
"Well, after we get our outfits how about we explore the mall together?" Shareena suggested.
"Sure." Emmitt grinned.
They went in and were suddenly greeted by a vampire who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Actually it was one of the salesclerks who had quickly moved from behind a display of Goth purses and bags, but it did startle Emmitt.
"Shareena my lovely, velcome." The vampire salesclerk said in a Transylvanian accent, bowing and spreading his cape.
"Hey Vic, still 'flying around' huh?" Shareena grinned.
"But of course, vhat else vould a vampire be doing?" Vic grinned, showing off his fake fangs.
Emmitt relaxed, obviously Vic was an old friend of Shareena's. Looking around, Emmitt realized that the vampire costume was actually the store's uniform. All the other salesclerks were also dressed up as monsters or other supernatural creatures, and a few, to his happiness, were even dressed up as aliens. Apparently, the store had a 'pretend to be a supernatural creature' theme to it.
"Shareena I vant to sell you an outfit, vhat vould you like?" Vic asked.
"A dress and a tuxedo, our school is putting on a pre-graduation dance." Shareena explained.
"Ah, you two are going together?" Vic noted.
"Yeah, Shareena's saving me from having to go with one of those over-perky Ladybug Scouts." Emmitt explained.
"*Blah!* I never liked them, ladybugs always leave a bad taste in the mouth." Vic winced.
Shareena and Emmitt laughed.
"My name is Emmitt, I'm Shareena's best friend." Emmitt said after he recovered from laughing.
"A pleasure, Shareena does have good taste." Vic bowed slightly.
"Speaking of which careful, I think that taco we had earlier had garlic in the beef." Emmitt winked.
Vic chuckled and Shareena giggled.
"Don't vorry, I gave up on human blood a long time ago." Vic winked back before turning to Shareena. "Shareena, come with me, I vill find you a dress fit for a vampire queen. You can get your tuxedo from Allen, Emmitt." Vic added, pointing to one of the aliens.
"Okay, thanks." Emmitt smiled. "See you later outside the store Shareena."
"Okay." Shareena nodded as she followed Vic.
Emmitt went over to Allen.
"Hello young earthling, what would you like." Allen asked.
"A tuxedo fit for an alien fan, my good extraterrestrial." Emmitt grinned.
"Ah, always a pleasure to help an earthling with good taste." Allen smiled.
As Allen helped Emmitt with his tuxedo, Shareena had a tricky time finding the right dress.
"How about this vone?" Vic suggested, holding up an attractive black sleeveless number with a bat made out of gold sequins in the middle. "You vill look stunning in this vone."
"Thanks, but it's a little too fancy." Shareena shook her head. "I think I'll save that one for my high school's prom...if I go."
Shareena continued looking, and found a dress with a black sleeveless top and a lavender skirt. The cool thing was, the skirt had tiny black skulls decorating it. Deciding on that one, Shareena left to try it on. At that moment Emmitt finished trying on his tuxedo. It was a simple tuxedo with a red tie, except the tie had tiny green alien heads decorating it. After paying for it, Emmitt started to go outside the store, but Vic stopped him.
"Ah Emmitt, I vas vondering if you vanted to talk vhile ve vait." Vic smiled.
"Sure." Emmitt smiled.
Vic and Emmitt talked about how they became friends of Shareena, and soon became friends themselves.
"Ve're both lucky to have Shareena for a friend." Vic said.
"Yeah, most others consider her weird, but she's really a kind, generous, and fun person." Emmitt smiled.
Vic smiled too, but for a different reason.
"She's lucky to know you, you both seemed to have a lot in common." Vic noticed.
"Yeah, we're both good people who are misunderstood by most of the world." Emmitt nodded, obviously looking unhappy about that. "It's great that I'm friends with Shareena now, I don't know what I'd do without her. Especially in the case of keeping that Ladybug Scout off my back."
"You two are going to stay friends through high school, I'm guessing?" Vic smiled as if knowing something.
"More like forever." Emmitt chuckled.
"Yes vell, be careful during high school." Vic kneeled down so that he was closer to Emmitt's height. "Shareena is growing into a beautiful young lady and soon will be bevitching all the boys and stealing their hearts. Try to stay in control."
"Hey, don't worry, Shareena can date whoever she wants." Emmitt shrugged. "As long as they allow her to stay friends with me anyway."
"Of course, of course." Vic smirked as he straightened up; obviously Emmitt didn't get what he was really saying.
"Hey guys." Shareena smiled as she approached them. "Sorry I took so long Emmitt, there was a line."
"It's okay, Vic and I had a nice chat." Emmitt grinned.
"That ve did." Vic grinned back.
They said goodbye to Vic, and then Shareena and Emmitt started walking around the mall. They talked about the store and Vic, and Emmitt told Shareena about Allen. They then talked about what stores to visit. The last store they visited was the bookstore, where Emmitt studied the comics trying to decide which one to get. Shareena meanwhile absorbed herself into the books on supernatural. She found one on voodoo and studied it, hoping she could find something good to use on Miss Kisskillya or Shelley. She couldn't find one for Miss Kisskillya, since none of the voodoo spells seemed strong enough, but she did find a few for Shelley. Wanting to try at least one of them, and loving the book, she decided to buy it.
"What you got there?" Emmitt asked as they stood in the checkout.
"Voodoo for Beginners, I want to try one on Shelley." Shareena grinned.
"Cool, count me in." Emmitt grinned back.
"What about you?" Shareena asked.
"I go the latest issue of Invaders." Emmitt held up the comic. "This one is cool, evil aliens invade earth and with humans defenseless Dracula and the other creatures of the night decide to defend the planet."
"Whoa, cool!" Shareena smiled excitedly. "Can I read it when you're done?"
"Better yet, how about we read it together during lunch on Monday? I promise not to read it until then." Emmitt said, holding up his right hand and placing his left - with the comic - on his heart.
"Sounds great, I'm looking forward to it." Shareena smiled as they reached the counter.
After paying for their books Emmitt and Shareena left the store and walked into an unpleasant surprise.
"Shareena, Emmitt, hi!" Shelley smiled. "Where are you going?"
"Home." Shareena said. "We're already done shopping."
"Oh." Shelley's face fell. "That's too bad I'm still shopping. I have to find a craft book that will help me perk up my dress for the dance."
"'Dress'? But you always wear your uniform." Emmitt frowned, confused.
"Yes but I want to look extra pretty for this dance." Shelley smiled.
"Oh, well, got to go." Shareena said quickly, gently grabbing Emmitt by the arm and leading him away.
"Thanks, I almost got a bad vision of her dress." Emmitt chuckled quietly.
"Yeah. 'Perk up my dress', why would she need to do that she's already too perky." Shareena agreed quietly.
"Tell me about it." Emmitt sniggered.
Meanwhile, Shelley was watching Shareena and Emmitt walk away, but fortunately couldn't understand what they were saying.
"Take my boyfriend away huh?" Shelley frowned, no longer perky. "Well two can play at this game. I'll put together a dress so outstanding that not only will I get my Fashion Merit Badge but Emmitt back as well."