Shifters

Chapter One

"Ooh, how about that one?" Eve squealed, pointing at a window.

"Nuh-uh," I said, shaking my head. "Too flashy." Eve gave a long sigh through her nose. "Fine," she groaned.

The two of us were walking aimlessly around the Crescent Moon Outlet Mall, sipping coffee and wasting our last day of summer vacation window shopping at a popular lingerie store. Through the window, pink walls and more pink walls stared back at me, giving me and everyone else a lovely view of a half-naked woman on a poster.

My combat boots clicked against the polished white tile as we stopped at the entrance, staring inside. A particularly nice black-lace bra caught my eye as I scanned the shelves.

"What about that one?" I asked Eve, gesturing to a pair of hot pink lacy underwear that she seemed to be staring at. Her eyes lit up when I suggested it and she sauntered inside the store, stopping at the shelf it was hanging from.

"Dammit, it's too pricey," she told me sadly. "That's a shame - they were really cute too," she pouted.

I chucked and put my arm around her shoulders playfully. "Don't worry, Eve. Pink isn't really your color anyway."

I cackled with laugher, barely dodging her swinging hand that she aimed at me when I said that.

"Oh hush," she grumbled at me. I trailed after her as she continued down the building, passing stores with nothing more than a glance.

I hurried to catch up. "If we're done, can we go now?" I asked her. The people crowding every corner were making me nervous. Such a populated place - I didn't want to be here any longer than I had to.

"Not yet. We should get lunch here before we head back to my place," she told me, marching into the food court. I held back a groan. The last place I wanted to be was that stinky, overcrowded pit.

As I drifted behind, I looked at Eve, stifling the pang of envy I got for the millionth time ever since I knew her. At five-foot-nine with slender legs and a figure to die for, Eve was always turning heads with her shiny, dark brown curls and strange molten brown eyes that were almost gold. With my white-blonde hair, pale skin and silver-green and blue eyes, I practically looked like a ghost next to her. We were polar opposites, and yet I still loved her like a sister.

I stared at the Subway menu, looking at it but not really reading it. Instead, I was busy staring at a man out of the corner of my eye who was behind me in the line, my body slightly turned so I could see him. The dude was like fifty-something, with a giant belly and a disturbingly visible sheen of sweat coating his forehead. His pudgy arms were protruding out of a striped collared shirt, and his stomach was stretching the jeans he was wearing to a bursting point. I was glaring at him because he was occupying his time by shamelessly staring at Eve's ass. Or was it my ass he was staring at? I couldn't really tell because his eyes were so out of focus, as if he was drunk. I had to physically suppress a shiver as I felt the heat of his stare move up from my ass - I had figured out that it was my ass he was staring at, sadly - to the back of my head. The corner of my lips curled into a sneer as I turned my body all the way forward, no longer being able to stomach the task of looking at him.

Finally, the person in front of us walked away to a nearby table. Eve stepped up to the cashier, who just so happened to be a rather attractive boy, around our age. Strike that - the guy was gorgeous. His chiseled face was complemented by a pair of lovely mocha-colored eyes and a mop of curly black hair, making him quite drool- worthy. What on earth was he doing here working at Subway? He looked like he should be running his own company for Christ's sake.