The Last Emerald

Chapter One:

The crisp fall air bit at my nose and cheeks as I stood outside the mall. I could see my breath puffing out in little clouds as I shifted from foot to foot to stay warm. The grand opening of the new mall added in with Black Friday, made the lines long and miserable to get inside. Even though it was located in New York, many people came from all around because they wanted to see the new stores that would be opening.

My twin sister, Clara, dragged me here for the festivities. Even though our parents were loaded, she still loved a good excuse for going shopping. So while our nanny, Carrie, was back at the house making hot chocolate and pumpkin pie, I was stuck freezing my butt off in the wee hours of the morning.

My phone buzzed in my hand. I pulled it out and saw it was a text from my best friend, Odessa.

                Odessa: Are you having fun yet?                     

                Me: If by having fun you mean torture, then you’re right on the spot.

                Odessa: My parents are leaving this morning for Mexico. I’m coming over later, K?

                Me: Sure, my parents left yesterday for Russia; they’re not coming back for a week or so.

With that I shoved my phone back into my pocket and turned to an overly excited Clara.

“Guess what Callista!? It’s 11:59!” She squealed, as basically the whole crowd tensed for the doors to open.

“I’m not staying here anymore than three hours, got it?” I said sternly. She nodded slightly and kept her eyes trained on the doors. I glanced up at the building. It looked quite nice on the outside, the grey brick walls modernizing it a bit and making it clash with the sliver doors.

Light was shining from inside the doorway, and it was the most of the source light, besides the few lampposts in the parking lot. The last few seconds ticked by rather slowly before I saw tons of people piling their way into the mall.

Clara pulled me forward and soon we were at the entrance, staring up at the grand opening banner that was strung from the ceiling. As soon as we got out of the doorway we were struck with two hallways to choose from. The one on the right led to the food court, and the other led all of the stores.

Clara, of course, led me straight forward behind a mass of people. The bright yellow lights were making everything seem almost disoriented, and I stumbled a bit. We rounded the corner and Clara proceeded to drag me through many pointless clothing stores.

We had a lot of bags, which wasn’t hard to believe. My sister got everything she wanted for the price she wanted with just a flip of her thick black hair or a flutter of her angel wings.

We might be twins, but we sure aren’t identical. Clara has her wonderfully thick and wavy black hair and I on the other hand, have thin brown hair and grey-blue eyes. Even though Clara is absolutely gorgeous, she doesn’t really have any close friends.

We are home schooled by Carrie so neither of us got out much. I bet if our parents were home more often, and if they actually cared about us, they would push Clara to go to a private school.

Clara was actually really smart, and Carrie was having trouble keeping up with her. “Ok Callista, just one more store, then I’ll be done.” Clara said loudly, over the commotion of everyone. She then proceeded to thrust her bags into my hands and walk into a jewelry store. I stood outside of the store, idly checking my phone.

We had almost been here two hours, and I was pretty tired. Thankfully, our nanny always gave us the week after Thanksgiving off, so I had plenty of time to catch up on my sleep.