𝙇 𝙄 𝘽 𝙀 𝙍 𝘼𝙏 𝙀 𝘿

15 L I B E R A T E D 15

15 L 15

"Sofia the First headass," I cackled.

"Listen. That's the dress I'm wearing to the big event, alright? I think it'll look cute on me, so I'll make it work," A'livia rolled her eyes.

"But all the purple? And the poofiness?"

"Yes. I like it," A'livia stated firmly.

"You're gonna look back on this in twenty or fourty years and realize I was right. How much you wanna bet?" I slapped my hand down on the table with a grin.

"Fifty dollars. You're on."

"You have to pay me back with weed if I'm right."

"You still gonna be smoking at that old ass age? Girl, yo lungs already gonna be giving out. You probably gonna be on life support or hobbling along on one toe and no legs," A'livia cracked up.

"You got jokes now, but when I bust out my Meghan knees at my grandbabies' graduation, then who really gonna be talking?"

"Liberty?"

I looked up to find Jeredine at the little edge of a table me and A'livia occupied. "Yeah?"

A'livia quickly engrossed herself in her phone, I guess her attempt at giving us our space.

"Can I talk to you? Out in the hall?" she added.

I got up from the table, pulling my jeans up over my boxers and following behind Jeredine. She was wearing a black romper today that left little to the imagination. It was something new and different from her. She was beginning to stray away from the shy girl I once knew her to be.

High school changes everybody in different ways.

"I can see your thong through your outfit. I didn't know if you knew or not," I told her, blushing in embarrassment.

"I know," Jeredine told me. She pulled out a tube of lip gloss. "Every now and then, I like to show off what I have. There's two sides to a coin, and I'm tired of everyone always assuming my value."

I watched as she rubbed the clear goo onto her lips.

"I never assumed anything bad about you, Jeredine."

"True. You never pay much attention to me anyways," she sighed. I tilted my head, "What is that supposed to mean?" The bell for the end of lunch rang, signaling the start of the few minutes we had to get to class.

"Amy. Onella. Me. We're just tryna look out for you. You have a serious problem, and we don't want things to escalate. We all steal because why not, but you're actually in love with this shit. Not to mention, you're a liability at times. Remember when you couldn't leave behind one thing you dropped trying to run from the cops? What if they had caught up with you...or worse, identified you because you decided you couldn't let that one thing go?"

"So this is really about me being a liability then," I nodded to myself. I chuckled, "You know. I don't know why you're still bothering. I already said I'll be moving on my own from now," I told her.

"Well. Regardless of what you decide to," she looked around the hallway, "borrow from people in your spare time. Just know your friends are always ready to welcome you back to the table." Jeredine walked off, not losing her stride for a moment.

Out of nowhere, A'livia came through the cafeteria doors with Onella. I pretended not to notice, pulling out my phone, but I could still feel my former friend's gaze heavy on me. "See you later, A'livia," she seemed to say in an overly loud tone.

"Bye, Onella," A'livia waved goodbye to her. My best friend then turned to me. "Sorry," she apologized, "she had a new cart, and I have a battery. Those two can make two different people fit like a puzzle in times of desperation."

"I understand," I shrugged, but inside I really didn't.

"I get you and them are arguing right now. The group, I mean. But...whatever it is that has y'all in pieces, I hope you realize that your friends are actually good people, Liberty."

"I'm tryna see that for myself too, A'livia," I told her honestly.

After school, I decided that I was gonna ditch work yet again, but this time I was traveling to Lower Aster Waters solo. I was gonna hit up some of my usual spots to see how I good I can work alone, then I was gonna slowly move up the ranks until I felt I was ready to go and target my goal.

I still hadn't figured out what store or what shop I'd steal from in Upper Aster Waters, but I knew it had to be something big. Something juicy. Something that would show everybody that had an opinion about me.

Nobody knew the real me.

I walked along Main Street with my head down, my black hoodie pulled over my head. It was an old hoodie that I had dug out deep within the depths of my closest with a faded silver face on it. I had on old boots that I had to super glue at the sole, and some black plastic shades that I used to adore from fifth grade. They never fit me then, but I made them fit now.

My first store was Marty's Clothes-A-Ranza. It was a seedy department store with much more illegal things going on inside of it than in all of Aster Waters. I walked inside, sliding my way towards the purses. Steal something with value, huh?

I grabbed a wallet, stuffing it into the inside pocket of my hoodie. Then I grabbed another, and it was like my hands were magnets and everything I touched was attracted to them. Instead of the golden touch, I had the magnet touch.

Maybe they'd call me Queen Lidas.

After I felt like my pockets were positively filled, I slowly made my way to the dressing rooms. No one was waiting to go inside, and as soon as I closed the raggedy stall door behind myself, I understood why.

The stall reeked of piss, and the carpet was black with mysterious stains of different colors. The mirror was cracked and had crayon scribblings. There weren't any hooks on the inside, and the A/C above me rattled like it was going to fall down on me at any moment.

I quickly pulled off the security tags with a little trick that Amy taught me when I first started out. Once I had all the tags off, I shoved them back where I had them and stared at myself in the mirror.

I adjusted my glasses and didn't bother wasting my time with assurances. If I got caught...then I'd get caught.

I left the dressing room and pretended to shop for a little while longer before leaving the store. Just like that, I had left out of Marty's with 50 dollars worth of merchandise.

I was feeling bold, but I also knew I couldn't hold anything else in my pockets. My stealing streak would have to wait, so I spent the rest of my evening walking back home to my apartment complex.

Aster Waters, Texas just won't know what hit it. Wait until everybody sees me soar. Then they'll wish they never tried to clip my wings.