Birth, Life, Death.
All of them were supposed to work in harmony. It was part of the cycle, and all living things were supposed to follow the cycle. Except one fate felt betrayed by the other two, and turned against them, abandoning her duty and sealing herself in the oceans for millennia, poisoning them with her anger. The Queen of the Seas would not stand for this, and she carried four fae children into the mortal realm, assuring that when the third fate returned for revenge, four children would be born with the power to fight her. Balance was to be maintained, and the third fate threatened to destroy that balance.
Friday was always the best day of the week, especially when you have traditions with your best friends.
For me and my group, it was after-school mall trips and a full weekend of sleepovers. It was my turn to be host and I knew everyone would be excited to have dinner made by my mom. For now, we, or should I say Delia was looking at nail polish.
Delia Cameron was the oldest of our group, turning sixteen in a month and super excited to get her license. We all had permits for the moment, and none us us were allowed to drive without supervision, Delia most of all. She inspected the rainbow organized polish colors with a trained eye, handing me a soft baby pink and a deeper glittery magenta. Delia was always trying to get me to maintain the status of my nails, and at least I didn't have a nail-biting habit. It was just annoying to wait for the polish to dry, and I didn't have a credit card courtesy of my parents to get manicures like she did.
Annabelle glanced at the two bottles I'd been given, and gave a small smile. She and I were mostly on the same page when it came to fashion, it was best to let Delia handle it. Annabelle wore what she wanted, but was open to letting Delia dress her so long as it wasn't midriff baring or super short. Occasionally I'd show the tiniest bit of midriff, but nothing compared to Delia, who was never afraid to flaunt her assets. She oozed confidence, while I was okay with being okay-looking. The most interesting thing about me was my strange not-blonde, not-brown hair. It wasn't streaked, more like two colors at once. Like-my hair itself was several shades of brown but always shined blonde in the light.
"Aha!" Delia cried out, and I turned my head to her.
"Didja find something Delia?" I asked, noticing her carefully pulling out a shimmery orange color.
"Did I ever! Mango Mermaid, huh? Mmm, this is it. This is the perfect polish color, great for all seasons."
I didn't understand fashion like Delia did, but I could at least understand her elation at the discovery of an all-year polish color.
"Mango Mermaid. Totally not dorky at all." Zoe snarked from behind us. Zoe Porter was Annabelle's rough-around-the-edges cousin, the least girly of us all and an up-and-coming track star. Somehow, she managed to pull of sweatsuits and gym clothes with the same confidence that Delia did with her wardrobe.
"The name isn't what makes the polish, Zoe." Delia said simply, heading to the register.
Zoe picked up another bottle of Mango Mermaid and tossed it underhand at Delia, who caught it with perfect accuracy. "They're BOGO." Zoe explained.
Delia smiled appreciatively, and made her purchases with her usual Delia flair, imparting fashion knowledge on the shy but very pretty cashier checking her out.
"Just remember sweetie, you can turn shy into mysterious with your chin held high and your back out straight. Have a good one!"
We trailed after Delia who now had even more pep in her step as she lead us down to Escape, her favorite store and the trendiest store in the mall.
"The mall is so full of opportunity. If it wasn't my destiny to inspire the fashion world, I'd open up a booth here to do makeovers." She sighed happily.
"Your destiny is to make everyone super glossed up and covered in designer crap?" Zoe snarked.
Delia whipped around to look at her with a serious face. "No, Zoe-Claire" Zoe winced at the use of her full first name, "my destiny is to help people show the world the best version of themselves. Hence why I never tried to make you stop wearing your-tracksuits and whatnot- and I simply pointed you towards more flattering versions. Just because you're a tomboy doesn't mean you shouldn't maintain your appearance."
Zoe rolled her eyes, but said nothing else. Deep down, I knew she could see Delia's point. Delia had never once tried a wardrobe overhaul with any of us ever. She knew how to keep us comfortable and cute, and I appreciated her for that. I may not have gotten the same amount of attention as she did, but she absolutely helped me bring out a more confident version of myself.
I was about to ask Delia about outfit plans for the upcoming school dance, but found myself crashing into someone and falling flat on my butt.
"Christ, watch it will you! This shirt's brand-new, now I'm covered in punch!"
"I'm so sorry! I didn't see y-" I had just begun to stand up, taking Delia's offered hand, when I looked into the pale green eyes of the poor soul I'd just knocked juice all over.
Kane Lawson. Most popular boy in school and my crush since second grade. Oh no.
"I-I-I-"
"Hi Kane! You'll have to excuse Bailey, she and I are just so excited about the dance on Monday!"
I still questioned why on Earth a school dance was being held on a Monday.
"Oh, you're going Delia?" Kane asked, focusing all his attention on her.
Delia quickly fixed my hair back into place and hooked her arm around mine. "Bailey and I are gonna be the stars of the night, just you wait."
"You're always a star, Delia." Kane smirked at her, and my heart sank. Delia wasn't flirting, she's always been friends with Kane, I knew that. It still hurt to be ignored right to your face.
"Everyone is a star, Kane, and Bailey is one of the brightest of them all. That's why she's one of my best friends."
Kane gave me a once-over, then chuckled a bit. What kind of reaction was that?
"See you at the dance." He walked away, chucking out his spent drink cup. I'd hardly ever spoken to Kane before, and that whole interaction had begun to sour my mood.
"I wonder what's up with him, it seemed like something was bothering him."
"I ruined his new shirt." I droned.
"Oh, don't worry about that Bailey, Kane is almost as much of a drama queen about clothes as I am. Hey, he doesn't hate you. You didn't do anything wrong, it was an accident."
"And a happy accident indeed." A musical voice called out from behind us. I found myself staring into the bluest eyes I'd ever seen, so bright and clear that it almost hurt.
"Oooh, accessories!" I took a look at the kiosk that very much had not been here before and found myself staring at all sorts of gems and metals.
"I see we have a woman of knowledge in our midst." The woman smiled at us. "So my dears, have a look. Let the items choose you as much as you choose them."
I very much thought this woman had been watching too many chosen-one movies lately, but nonetheless tried to look over the kiosk to let something 'choose' me. Delia was already looking at herself in a mirror a black choker with a white bow in the middle resting around her neck. Annabelle was inspecting a shiny circular barrette, pinning her hair up different ways. Zoe was having a silent standoff with a deep purple crystal on a thin gold chain, and I had yet to even pick something up. With shaky hands, I trailed over towards Zoe, when my sleeve got caught on a drawer handle and everything came tumbling out.
"I'm sorry! I'll get that." I began putting the items away when I saw out of the corner of my eye something glinting in the light. A ring with three bright red stones in it. A piece of paper? I reached out to both items. The ring was surprisingly warm, and when I flipped the paper over, I realized that it was a pack of temporary tattoos.
"OOOH! We used to wear these all the time as kids! I have dibs on the butterfly!"
I looked up at Delia, who had a receipt in hand and was still wearing the choker. I finished putting the rest of the drawer back together, and handed the ring and tattoos to the woman.
"I'll take these." I told her, and she smiled at me.
"A wise choice, dear."
I paid for my items, and almost immediately, Delia swiped the tattoos away from me.
"This is gonna be so great! We'll all have matching fake tattoos for the dance! This is so great! Also, that ring is totes cute, Bay."
I smiled down at the ring, which still pulsated a constant warmth. Strangely enough, it didn't weird me out, it made me feel-safe.
Zoe snatched the tattoos away from Delia and handed them back to me, and I noticed the crystal she'd been staring at hanging around her neck. "Manners, Dee-Dee. Ask with your mouth, remember?"
"I'm going to ignore the insult you just called me. Baileeeeeyyyy, are you going to share the tattoos with us?"
I chuckled. "Obvi, I'd never leave you guys out."
We all crashed into a sloppy hug, and continued on our way to Escape. It was a normal Friday afternoon.
It should have been a normal Friday afternoon.