~Chapter 4~

I woke up to the phone ringing on the stand next to my bed. It was 9:30 on Saturday morning. Who would call this early on one of the few days that I got to sleep in?

I reached over to the phone and yanked it off of the charging base.

"Hello?" I asked sleepily.

"Are you still in bed? It's time to wake up sleepy head. I am having breakfast so I will be there in 20 minutes. Be ready to walk out the door."

I stared at the phone in my hand, hearing the dial tone. She hung up before I had a chance to think of what was going on.

Slowly the talk of going shopping in Twin Peaks for dresses for the Valentine's Day Dance crept back into my head.

I rolled out of bed and walked slowly to the bathroom to start getting ready.

After a quick look into the mirror, I knew I wouldn't get away with just washing my face and doing my hair.

The hot shower water felt good and I stayed in there a few minutes too long. When I finally shut the water off, I realized that I really only had about five minutes to get ready.

I grabbed my favorite pair of hip hugger blue jeans and a soft brown cotton three quarter shirt and threw them on. As I was pulling my shoes on I heard her pull up in her 2002 Alero and honk the horn.

I wished my car looked as nice as hers. It was a shiny red with a blue interior. I think the inside might have been redone to add the black look. But overall, it was a slick looking car.

I ran down the stairs and to the kitchen to grab a Nutrigrain bar and a juice box. Mom still bought those little kid things because she actually liked the taste of them.

"Hey, why are you in such a rush?" Mom was sitting at the table reading the newspaper from Twin Peaks. They didn't have a local paper because the town was so small.

And since Twin Peaks was the closest town, the town of Ridgeway had the paper delivered three times a week.

"Amanda and I are going to the city to go dress shopping."

Mom gave me this bewildered look.

"What would you need a dress for? And who is Amanda?"

"Mom, Amanda is the girl that I told you about. Remember I went to her house Tuesday after school and we went to the movies last night."

"Oh, that's right. Ok so we got the who part, now what about the what part?"

"The Valentine's Day Dance. I did tell you about that didn't I?"

"No, actually you didn't. I really haven't seen much from you in the last few days."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Well, Amanda wanted me to go so she set me up on a blind date to double with her and her date. So, we were going to look for dresses."

"Well that sounds like a wonderful idea. Would you like a third eye? I could help you decide."

Oh, NO! Mom hanging out with a couple of teenage girls, acting like one of us. I didn't think I could handle that.

She put her paper on the table and was getting ready to stand up-

"I honestly wouldn't mind but I was thinking that it would be nice to just be able to hang out and get to know someone from the area. Not like I wouldn't want you there, it's just a girl's day out thing. But I promise we will be safe and be back at a decent time."

She looked like her feelings might have been hurt by my comment but before I had the chance to make her feel better, the horn honked again outside the window.

I walked over to the window and pulled back the curtain. I motioned for one more minute to Amanda who just rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Mom, I really have to go but maybe I'll find something for you at the mall."

"Well, that's fine. I wouldn't really want to intrude on your afternoon. But promise me you will be safe."

"Of course, mom."

I turned and walked out of the kitchen to the entryway to grab a light jacket and my purse. I pulled my small stash of money out of my pocket and put it into my wallet and then back into the purse.

I opened the door and...

"Just one more thing."

"Yes mom?" I had to be patient with her.

"Here is some more money. Not much but I'm not sure if you have enough to get what you need. It's only about a hundred, but should be able to get you some shoes or something to go with it. Have a nice day sweety."

"Thank you mom."

I gave her a hug and shut the door behind me and jogged my way to Amanda's idling car.

"Your mom is really pretty. You look just like her you know."

I almost laughed when I saw the small complex that they called a mall. Back in Phoenix our mall was almost the size of like two or three football fields. This was just a large cluster of stores, maybe twenty or so with only one major department store.

"So, where shall we start?" Amanda was already in a good mood. Gotta love teenage girls when they think of shopping.

"Umm, I'm not really sure. Where would you like to start?"

"Let's try one of the smaller shops to see if we can find a dress cheaper there. I really don't want to spend all of my money on a dress."

We walked past of couple of small shops until we found what she was looking for: a small store focusing solely on women's fashions called Fashionista Express.

"You will love this place. They have all of the best clothes and fashions in like a hundred mile radius. And they are pretty cheap. Only thing is a lot of girls like to shop here and from the small towns like ours too. So sometimes you can't find anything close to a dance like this."

Amanda was a talker and I really didn't ever have much to contribute to the conversation anyway. She was my kind of friend. My complete opposite.

"Oooh. This has to be the most gorgeous dress that I have ever seen."

She walked over to the last rack on the left side of the store and picked up a silk royal blue floor-length dress with silver quarter inch trim on the bottom and around the neckline. It had a v-shaped neckline that came up to the shoulders to a smaller piece, and then plunged down the back in a much deeper v-shape than the front.

"Wow." was the only word that my befuddled mind could come up with. It was an amazing dress.

"I'm going to try it on. But first, let's see if we can find you something. Let's see, you have a soft olive complexion with long auburn hair. Hmmm."

It only took her a minute of looking around the store to find something that caught her eye.

She practically ran across the room in her excitement to grab the dress from the rack.

"This is so perfect for you. I think that the colors will help bring out the natural beauty of your face."

I rolled my eyes at her, although she didn't see because she was too fascinated in the dress.

It was floor-length red dress with a black sheer overlay to give it a toned looked. From the midline up to the top of the bust line was black with red dime sized sequences that were splattered in complete disarray yet looked planned at the same time.

It had halter-top black straps that completed the dress with an almost square bust. It really was startling.

She handed me the dress as we took our spoils to the dressing room to try them on. I quickly got dressed and looked at the mirror in the dressing room. I never did like the show and tell.

"It looks good Amanda. I think I'll get it."

"Well, come out here and let me see it. Do not think for one moment that I will let you get away without letting me see it. Now come on."

Amazing, not even a week and she already knew me too well. I guess it was fate.

I came out of the dressing room and stopped dead in my tracks. Standing there looking into the mirror herself was Amanda, who looked like a Greek Goddess come to life.

There was no way that I was going to go now.

The blue and silver of the dress just brought out the beautiful blonde hair and her amazing looks. I could only imagine how she would look come Saturday when she was all done up.

"Oh my God Amanda. You are just..." I didn't know what to say.

"What, you don't like it?" She gave me a disappointed look that said she didn't know how gorgeous she looked.

"Are you kidding me. You look amazing."
For the first time she turned around to see me.

"You look great. I think that it is the perfect dress."

"Wow. You two look great." We both turned in the direction of the voice to see Stephanie standing there with Melissa, her younger sister. "I didn't know you guys were going shopping. I would have asked you if you wanted to go with us."

"It's ok. I didn't know if I was even going to go to the dance until late Thursday night and I didn't want to ask you last minute if you wanted to join me. And I didn't find Marie here someone to go with until yesterday after school. So..." Amanda replied.

"No, it's fine. Who are you two going with?" Melissa asked.

"Well, I am going with Rick Strider and Marie here is going on a blind date with an unknown person."

"You mean, you don't even know this person?" Of course Stephanie had an 'I can't believe you' look.

"Actually, I am getting her up on the blind date and she doesn't know who it is because I haven't told her yet. It is going to be a surprise." Amanda said matter-of-factly.

"Oh well I guess that's ok. So, would you tell me who it is?" Stephanie queried.

"Nope, because I don't want it getting out whom she is going with. Like I said, it's a surprise."

"Oh, ok. So, speaking of who is going with whom, I tried asking your brother to go with me and he said he wasn't going. I wonder why he wouldn't want to go with me, of all people."

I could see instantly what Amanda meant about Stephanie's flippant attitude.

"Sorry Stephanie, I am not my brother's keeper so I wouldn't know what he thinks or why he does what he does."

"Well, I am going alone just in case he decides he wants to go anyway. And that way I won't have to dump some guy while I'm there. Maybe I'll take someone to escort me anyway that way I don't look like a dork by myself."

It looked like she was going to go on and on about the dance and herself so I interjected.

"Who are you going with Melissa?" She had been quiet and it looked like Amanda was getting agitated.

"Oh, well, I was asked by Chase." She replied timidly.

"What? You are going with that loser?" Stephanie just about yelled at her.

"Well, I think he is actually kind of nice." I said on behalf of Melissa.

"Whatever." Stephanie said and walked away to look at dresses.

"Thank you. I was really afraid of telling her because I knew what she thought of him. I think he is a really sweet guy too. He asked me almost two weeks ago but I was trying to hide it from her."

Melissa was so sweet.

"It's ok. I completely understand. I think I would be a bit scared to tell her things too. She seems a bit picky."

"Just a little bit." We both laughed for a second before she said. "By the way, you two look great. I think I am going to have a run for my money come Saturday."

"You think?"

"I told you that you look great Marie. Why didn't you believe me?" complained Amanda.

"I didn't believe you because you have a personal stake in this, whatever it may be." I chastised her.

She smiled sweetly and we both went back to change into our regular clothes and get our dresses.

"Would you mind if I hung out with you two today? I have a feeling that Stephanie is going to be in a bad mood for the rest of the afternoon." Melissa smiled hesitantly as if she was trying to hide her discomfort.

"Sure, we could always use a second eye." Amanda stated without thinking twice.

"Ok, well, I'll be right back. I'm going to go and break the news to Stephanie."

Melissa walked away as we headed to the counter to pay for our dresses.

"So, I think we will find some grub and then go find our shoes and stuff. Maybe even a cute handbag or something."

While Amanda paid for her dress I started looking around the small shop to see if there was anything else that I might like to buy. I walked out of the shop back into the mall and saw Stephanie and Melissa standing in the corner looking like they were having an argument.

I didn't want it to look like I was spying on them so I turned my head and looked down the way at the other shops and the people going in and out of them.

As I was looking down the hall, I saw a store that had almost blacked out windows and a very weird name that I couldn't read from this angle.

Looking into the windows of the store was none other than the weird girl.

She turned around and stared right at me and looked like she was about to come over in my direction when Amanda came out of the store talking to me.

The weird girl stopped and then turned around.

I didn't even have time to wonder what that was about because...

"-I was thinking maybe Chinese or even Italian. What do you think? Hey Marie, are you listening to me?"

I turned around to see Amanda staring at me with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I was just in my own little world there for a minute."

"Yeah, I would say so. So what sounds good?" Amanda pressed.

"I'm not sure. Why don't we ask Melissa if she is hungry, maybe she might be in the mood for something in particular."

Just as I got done talking, Melissa came back over to us and said "I'm hungry. How does pizza sound?"

She looked really cheering, or maybe it was just an act.

"Sounds good. Let's go this way." And Amanda started off into the direction of the nearest pizza place in the mall.

After lunch the rest of the day went off without a hitch and all three of us had fun trying on shoes and finding other accessories to match our dresses.

The ride home was short and filled with laughter. Our entire mood for the day was upbeat and euphoric.

Amanda pulled into my driveway and dropped me off first since Melissa lived closer to her house.

"Thank you Amanda. It was great getting out and doing something. We should make it a weekly habit to hang out." I offered as I was grabbing my bags.

"Sounds like a plan, how about tomorrow after school? I have something to do with my mom but after that I'm free. Just come on over and I will be home in like an hour or so."

"Sounds great. It was nice getting to know you Melissa. Bye."

I shut the car door and walked up the front steps to the house and waved bye as Amanda's car pulled out of the driveway.

I walked into the house where mom was waiting and gave her a basic rundown of the entire day while she hung on my every word. That was one thing I loved about mom, nothing was too trivial for her to listen to.

She always made time for me.

I went to bed early that night because I was so tired from my early start and fun-filled day. Maybe I would actually like it here.