Cherry (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 3

I fidgeted in front of the dirty mirror of the girl's bathroom at school, my reflection standing against a backdrop of graffiti-covered stalls. I know it was just Cherie I was hanging out with, but that was also what was making me nervous. There was no such thing as just Cherie. It felt strange to be me and look like me when you are with someone who is...Well, Cherie. Gosh, why did she have to be so god-damn intimidating?

My reflection was speckled with the markings of unidentified substances clinging to the mirror. I was the opposite of Cherie. Her face was soft and features sharp. Her skin pale and flawless. Dark eyelashes and brows and lips, striking brightly-colored eyes. But my face was more angular, features plain. The shape of my eyes, lips, nose, eyebrows were soft and ordinary. My expression was always uncertain. My mouth rested in a dull pout intstead of her expressive smirk. My skin was tanner than hers, the italian blood in me giving me my dark brown hair that was one wave away from straight. My matching brown eyes were pretty, yes, but they were still plain brown. My lips were flushed reddish instead of the pale pink I was certain Cherie's was under her striking lipstick. My skin was freckled and slightly tanned. She was a lot more interesting to look at than me, that's for sure.

But that wasn't it. I felt inclined to look less crappy than normal when I was going to see her. It's not that I felt the need to impress her, because I know she probably won't care how I look anyway. Not that I should be worrying about that. She's just Cherie. Cherie, Cherie, Cherie. She is rather dreamlike. Less so than before yesterday, now that I knew her better and understood that she was just a person like me and everyone else, with interests like reading and photography. But dreamlike all the same.

Shaking my head at my reflection, I turned around, walking past the graffiti-covered stalls and pushing out the door.

Cherie herself was waiting for me, leaning on my locker. She smiled as I approached. 

"You ready for some incredibly boring dress shopping?" She said, tilting her head playfully to the side while continuing to give me her sideways smirk with her cherry red lips. 

"Aw, be optimistic. It can't be that bad. I get to meet your family."

"Precisely. My oh-so-interesting Aunt Jean who always smells like rotting pumpkin and my dear grandmother who will probably be pestering me on why I'm not engaged and force me into a  million pink dresses."

I laughed at her description of her aunt and grandmother. "Whose wedding is it, anyway?"

"Some cousin I've met, like, twice. The more recent time being years ago. She and I obviously aren't close, hence why I'm not a bridesmaid, hence why I don't have a dress assigned to me, hence why I actually have to shop for one."

"I see." I finished getting my stuff from my locker and we both started walking through the hallways towards the exit to the school parking lot. "Where's the store?"

"Right on the border of Treading and Nelsonport." Treading was the town we lived in, and Nelsonport was the neighboring town. 

We crossed the parking lot to her car, and we both hopped in, tossing our stuff in the back. Cherie turned on the radio, which played some old-sounding rock as we sped out of the parking lot and into the street.

"It's only like fifteen minutes from here. You know that strip that no one from here shops at because it's for rich people?"

"Yeah?"

"It's there. Next to the Coach store. Luckily my grandmother is paying for it, but still."

"Whose side of the family is she from?"

"My father's. Why?"

"Did she know your grandmother Maria at all? We could ask her some questions for our project."