"I really don't think I need a fur coat, Alice," Sadie complained as she stood upon a slightly raised bit of floor before some mirrors.
Alice, who was busy talking with Esme about how lovely Sadie looked, pretended not to hear her.
Sadie, becoming slightly desperate, turned to look at her best friend.
Mark was currently standing in the corner, trying not to laugh as coat upon coat was forced upon Sadie, and as her face gradually became more and more desperate.
"Mark," Sadie mouthed, "help me!"
Mark read Sadie's lips, then looked at Alice, and shook his head forcefully. Even if Alice was tiny, when angry she was a force to be reckoned with, and Mark did not want her becoming upset.
Sadie's face became even more desperate than before. She hated fur coats, and she used to make several points about it back in Mexico. She participated in every anti-fur campaign there was, and even sometimes spray-painted the outsides of fur stores, of course, the latter she had done on a dare. But she still hated furs passionately, and used to tell her mother of all the cruel things skinners did to the animals before using them for coats. Her mother had grown so nauseous by Sadie's persistent descriptions that she had taken to going to fur stores only with her younger daughter in tow.
Mark chuckled inwardly, watching Sadie's growing discomfort. Not only was it hot inside the store, but he suspected that she had something against furs but was too shy to inform Alice.
"Alice!" Sadie called.
"Yes?" Alice answered sweetly.
"Um, I'd rather not have a fur coat?"
"Nonsense! Every woman loves to have one for special occasions! Besides, you'd have a lot of use for it. It's usually so chilly in the winter back home."
"I'd rather wear a jacket. Please, Alice, I don't-"
Sadie was interrupted by Mark crossing the room and whispering into Alice's ear.
"I think that Sadie is against furs, Alice."
Alice's mouth opened into an "O" of surprise before she turned back to Sadie.
"Oh, all right then. You may take the coat off; we're going to another store."
Sadie complied gratefully, mouthing a "Thank you" to Mark as she did so.
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About four hours and twenty-nine stores later, Mark and Sadie were reclining in armchairs in Sadie's suite, watching TV.
Sadie was wearing some clothes she had thrown together from the many shopping bags she'd gained. She kept refusing to let Alice buy her so many things, yet Alice always chose to ignore her. Now, Sadie was wearing some Michael Kors ivory pants, a Gucci long sleeved blue turtleneck sweater, some Prada black boots, and was carrying a Louis Vuitton black denim shoulder bag, all of which cost a grand total of over $5,000. Mark was wearing his usual sort of clothes, he had completely refused Alice's imploring of letting her buy him something nicer, and had threatened to return to Forks if she kept pushing him.
Mark kept flicking through the channels distractedly; there really was nothing on the TV at that moment. Sadie quietly watched the few seconds she got of every show while she waited patiently for Mark to find something interesting.
After going through all the channels twice, Sadie held out her hand.
"Here, I'll do it."
"Why?"
"Because you still haven't found anything."
"So? What makes you think you're going to find something?"
"Because I'm rather smart."
Mark reluctantly handed Sadie the remote. He watched as Sadie pressed a few apparently random buttons on it, then turned back to the TV. He realized Sadie had just rented them a movie: "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".
"Hey! How'd you do that?" Mark asked confusedly. He'd tried a hundred things to rent movies, yet he'd never really managed it.
"Well, I just read the instructions," Sadie said, throwing them over at Mark. It didn't really work, however, and the instructions simply floated to the floor.
After a while of watching Logan single-handedly battle against multiple villains, Sadie turned back to Mark. Something had been weighing on her mind ever since the beginning of the three-week shopping spree.
"Mark?" she said.
Mark hummed distractedly while he wondered what would happen if he learned to fight like that with his supernatural strength.
"How am I going to pay them back?"
"Huh? Pay who back?"
"The Cullens, of course."
Mark turned to look as Sadie.
"For what?"
"Well, they've been so nice to me, and now Alice is buying me everything she can, and I don't have a job or anything, and how am I even supposed to get them Christmas presents?"
"Whoa, whoa, Sadie, slow down. I don't think they want to be paid back."
"But I feel so wrong, taking their money."
"But you're not taking their money."
"No, but they're using a lot of money on me. Yeah, I know that a lot of it is paid by the government and everything, but for stuff this expensive?"
"Wait, the governme-" Mark began to ask, confused, then stopped as soon as he remembered that Sadie had been told she was part of a sort of witness-protection-program.
Sadie looked at Mark strangely, wondering why he'd seemed to forget who he worked for all of a sudden. Her suspicions grew once more.
"Mark, why are we here?"
"To shop and stuff, of course."
"No, seriously."
Mark turned to look at Sadie when he heard how solemn her voice had become.
"I can take it, Mark," Sadie softly pleaded.
Mark sighed, knowing that he would pay for this later.
"We think a person who's looking for you might be in Forks."
"So, you brought me here to get me away?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Why? I thought I had about a hundred bodyguards."
"You do, but just in case-"
"What sort of person can take out a hundred highly trained bodyguards?"
Mark remained silent as his gaze turned back to the screen.
Sadie realized her friend wouldn't talk anymore, so she quieted and watched the end of the movie.
(A/N) Yeah, I know that this chapter isn't so good, but it was the best I could come up with for their little shopping trip. Don't worry though, a lot of action will be coming in the future chapters, you can definitely count on that. And, yes, I actually personally researched every article of clothing that Sadie was wearing at the time. Of course, I had a friend's help on that, since clothing really isn't one of my best subjects. She even had to correct me twice on the spelling of some designer (who knew Kors was spelled with a K, and that Gucci had no h?), but, anyway, I hope I've gotten you slightly excited about the future chapters, I know they'll be great.
Catty: Stop blabbing already and type the disclaimer!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Michael Kors, Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, or "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".
By the way, did anybody see that movie? Personally, I thought it was great.