Chapter Twelve

For Ivy, it felt like the end of the world. Don't get me wrong, she loved to look for some new clothes - just not when she was shopping for dresses. Ivy didn't like discos as it were and now she had to go in dress? She really wanted to curl into a ball and cry, right there and then. She, Cinder, Hazel, Dana, Heather, Blossom, Isla, Poppy and Honey were stood in front of the clothes shop.

Ivy groaned quietly and then raised her voice. "Do we have to do this? I could wait out here."

"No." Dana crossed her arms. "We are getting you a dress, whether or not we have to drag you in by your hair or not. Your choice."

She sighed and followed the group into the shop. Dana jumped at the first dress she saw and before long, she and Hazel had disappeared to the changing rooms. Ivy stared distastefully at the dresses which came in all shapes, sizes, colours and styles. Most seemed bright and happy-looking... and far too short.

Isla held up a pale blue dress with one shoulder, and smiled. "Do you think this will look alright?"

"You know that this is a Halloween disco, right?" Ivy replied and forced a weak smile. "But I don't mind the colour. It'll look nice, I think."

The other girl ran an eye up and down the dress. "I know that it's for Halloween, yeah. I was thinking a doll? Or maybe I won't dress up at all. You?"

Ivy shrugged. "No idea. Maybe a corpse?"

Isla's mouth dropped open and she blinked rapidly. "That's gross. I'm going to go try this dress on."

She watched Isla hurry away and plopped herself on a seat. Ivy really hated this. No dress looked even remotely nice. A moment later, Dana was prancing around the store in a short white dress, beaming happily. Ivy rolled her eyes and Dana placed her hands on her hips. "What do you think?" She flashed that annoyingly shiny grin. "I'm going as an angel."

Sounds about right, Ivy thought to herself.

Hazel appeared soon after with a longer white dress. She stood next to Dana and wore a similarly excited expression. "We're both going as angels. You know, so that we match for a group photo?"

"Honestly?" Ivy slammed her mouth shut. "I mean, that's a nice idea."

A few minutes later and most of the group had dresses - all except for Ivy and Blossom. Heather had chosen a dark pink dress and Isla had decided to go for the light blue, whilst Poppy had chosen a dark green dress and Honey had picked out a red dress.

"Our turn." Blossom frowned. "Seen anything you like?"

Ivy shook her head. "I'm not very fond of dresses."

"I'm not obsessed." Blossom paused. "But my mum likes to dress us up for formal gatherings and all. And we need to be smart for Legacy Day, so..."

"Great." Ivy gritted her teeth. "Might as well get this over with."

The boys didn't really have any idea of what to get, so they shopped around at numerous Halloween-themed stores and went to a few home stores for reasons Finn would not tell them about. Finn had disappeared and so Lionel and the others awkwardly toured the store. Lionel grabbed a scented candle, inhaled the smell and started to make retching sounds.

"What is wrong with you?" Ben asked.

"I don't understand!" Lionel gasped. "Heather and Cinder are always going on about scented candles... I don't get it!"

Tyler rolled his eyes. "They make good birthday gifts for the girls, though."

"Fair point," Lionel glowered at the candles as they carried on.

Eventually, they found Finn with three bags full of wrapped up items. The others raised their eyebrows but didn't question him. They'd find out on Friday. So the boys hurried out of the home store and decided to chill out on a few benches. Tyler glanced at his phone.

Dana: Just finished up dress shopping.

Dana: Meeting you at the coffee shop.

Dana: Don't be late.

Dana: See you there xox

Tyler grinned and checked the time, before jumping to his feet. "We'd better get to that shop we're meeting the girls up. Dana doesn't want us to be late."

The others nodded and started walking in the general direction of the store. And then Ben came to a halt. "Wait, how do you know that Dana doesn't want us to be late?"

Ivy pressed her hands to the warm mug of coffee she had picked. Blossom had gone silent beside her, listening carefully to the boy's discussion. Some of them had immediately leapt into conversation with the boys, others were more concerned about their coffee and Ivy just didn't want to be there. Finn kept trying to multi-task, by talking to Hazel and trying to catch Ivy's attention.

Blossom eventually nudged Ivy and jerked her head towards Finn. "I thought you two were friends. Did you have an argument?"

"Something like that." Ivy shrugged. "It's teaching him a lesson."

"What did he say?" Blossom asked curiously.

With a sigh, she chewed her lip and focused her attention on Blossom. "He wants me to go out with Brent so that he can prank him."

A gasp of surprise came from Blossom. It was so unusual that everyone at the table went quiet. Even Dana, who had been enthusiastically talking to Ben and Tyler. Everyone was silent. Blossom cleared her throat and glanced at Ivy. "Um, yes, carry on?"

"And I told him that I wasn't going to be miserable just for his benefit." Ivy concluded.

"I think that's admirable." Blossom nodded. "Just shows that you're strong."