Tooth arrived at the Overland Lake a bit worried. She was nervous for two reasons: the revelation, and the fact that she had never done this before. But she was also excited; it was her last day as a human hanging around with her new human friends. Why not?
"Hey Tooth" Amanda said waving at her.
"Hi… um, where is Rosi?" Tooth said, noticing that the brunette was absent.
"Don't worry. She'll show up" Amanda said with an assuring smile. And as predicted, Rosi showed up five minutes later, panting.
"Can you believe that I forgot that we agreed to meet here? I was making my way to the mall until I remembered, so I ran all the way up here" Rosi said, putting her hands in her knees while she caught her breath.
"Somehow I'm not surprised" Amanda said.
"So… what's the plan?" Tooth asked as the three of them started walking towards the mall.
"I'm glad you asked! First we will go shopping for some dresses. We want to impress the boys-" Rosi started to say until she was cut by Amanda.
"Wait, what?" she asked confused.
"I may have invited some of our school friends…" Rosi said sheepishly.
"Exactly how many is 'some of our school friends'?" Amanda asked crossing her arms.
"Oh you know, like… 19 of them" Rosi said.
"Is it bad?" Tooth asked.
"No, Tooth it's just that some of them are special in their own way" Rosi said, while Amanda just rolled her eyes.
"So we go get the dresses and then we go to the beauty salon?" Tooth guessed, thinking about what Jack has said yesterday.
"I like the way you think. Oh, and I forgot to tell you: we are only going to one store" Rosi said with a smile.
"Again, what?" Amanda said. But Rosi just giggled and continued to walk. Both Tooth and Amanda just looked at each other before following her.
The girls arrived at the mall soon after. As Rosi led the way to the mystery store, Amanda had to drag Tooth along the way, since she wanted to look at all the stores around the place. She had never seen a place like this before and although she had heard about it from Jack sometimes, she never thought it would be this amazing: shops selling a great amount of clothes, toys and snacks; music playing as they walked…
"Tooth, please don't take this the wrong way, but… is this your first time in a shopping center?" Amanda asked as they continued to follow Rosi. Tooth went pale.
"What? I- uh- no?" She tried to say as she tried to come up with an excuse. Amanda wasn't fooled, though.
"Hey, Rosi and I are not going to judge, all right?" she said. Tooth looked at her and decided to be sincere.
"Yes" she answered. Before Amanda could say something, she clashed with Rosi, who had stopped walking.
"We are here!" Rosi said, while completely ignoring the fact that her friend just bumped into her. As Tooth help Amanda out, she read the stores name: 'L´eau de Coco'. However the store seemed… empty. Frowning, she also noticed that the store had a sign which read 'OPENING ON SEPTEMBER'.
"Um, Rosi. I hate to break it to you, but this store doesn't open until next month" she said. Rosi, however, ignored her and continued to walk to the door. She knocked three times.
Just when Amanda and Tooth were about to complain, a girl opened the door. She was tall, had fair skin and, just like Rosi, she had her hair brown with blond streaks. She saw Rosi and squealed.
"ROSI! Finally!" she said. She then noticed the other two girls and squealed again.
"AMANDA! It's been a long time!" she said. Amanda recognized the girl and she smiled.
"Mary Paramo. I haven't seen you since school ended" she said as she approached Mary and gave her a hug. Tooth just stood in her place feeling a bit awkward.
"Come in!" Mary said. Rosi smiled and motioned Tooth to come too.
"Um, not to be rude, but who exactly are you?" Tooth asked as she entered the store. It was more like a boutique. Fancy dresses were scattered all over the place, along with some jewelry.
"Oh, sorry. As you may have all ready know, my name is Mary. I go to the same school as Amanda and Rosi. And I also own this store" Mary said as she spread her arms around the place.
"Oh, well, nice to meet you. I'm Tooth… and aren't you a bit too young to own a store?" Tooth said. Mary laughed.
"Yeah, I get that all the time. My parents basically own it, but they never pay attention to it. So one day I just said 'Hey, mind if I take over the boutique?' and they went 'Sure sweetie'. But anyway, Rosi said that you girls need some fancy dresses and I am happy to provide" Mary said with a smile.
"Yeah, Tooth here is going to impress a boy" Rosi said. Tooth blushed hard.
"No I don't" she said, getting redder by the second.
"Oh, so this has a romantic take on it? Hang on a minute, I think I have what you need" Mary said as she disappeared behind a door.
"Why did you tell her that?" Tooth asked Rosi.
"Because we know you like Jack. As in like, like" Rosi said smiling.
"Maybe I do" Tooth whispered.
"Maybe? Of course you do! I have seen the way you look at each other" Rosi continued to say.
"Okay, I like Jack. Are you happy now?" Tooth said, wishing Mary to appear soon. Maybe she was doing it on purpose.
"But? I'm pretty sure there's a 'but' in that sentence" Amanda said. Tooth sighed.
"But… what if he doesn't like me back?" she asked. To her surprise, Rosi and Amanda burst out laughing.
"Doesn't like you back? Oh Tooth, if you could see the way he looks at you…" Rosi said. Thankfully, Mary came back with three dresses draped on her arm.
"Try this on. I think it may be your size" she said as she handled Tooth a dress. She then gave Amanda and Rosi the other two dresses and told them where the dressing rooms where located. She then went through the same door, telling them to call her when they were done. But before they could go, Tooth reminded herself what she promised to do in the morning.
"Wait" the girls turned around.
"There's something I need to tell you guys" Tooth said.
"What is it?" Rosi asked curiously. Tooth took a deep breath.
"I'm not who you think I am. Neither are Nicolas, Aster, Sanderson and Jack"