One of the Boys

Chapter 9 - The Last Challenge

"No. No. That's not good." Eliza snaps at me. "Try this." She flings something at me through the curtain of the changing room.

When I accepted to go shopping with Ashley and Eliza, I never expected it would be this... Rough. It seems like Eliza takes fashion very personally. She has literally insulted every brand we've been into.

I change into the dress she flung at me, and I have to say, it's beautiful. Hell, I look beautiful. I pull the curtains slightly aside and my eyes meet Ashley's, who's between calling Eliza and calling the police as the former shouts down a shopping assistant about some sizes or something.

We smile at each other, and I take a moment to realise how much my life has changed. It really, really has. The past week - it's been incredible. Sure, I'm still healing from my last... Erm, encounter with Luke, but yeah.

"Woah, people in this shop are so goddamn useless!" Eliza exclaims turning back to us. I feel a little sorry for the poor guy she was shouting at. Well, not exactly shouting, but pretty much. "Hey, you look really nice." She says.

I look at my wrist, pretending I have a watch. "Thirty minutes later." I say, leaning against the doorway of the changing room. "Why thank you, Eliza. Maybe you should try on something instead of screaming at workers who probably get paid like six dollars an hour."

"Nah, in this shop? They probably get paid like twenty." She says. Ashley decides to intervene before we start a very long and possibly boring (for listeners) conversation about shop wages. I was all ready for it, though.

"What do you think of this?" She asks, also stepping out of the changing room. Eliza shrieks and dives into my changing room.

"Are you okay?" I ask. She shakes her head. She's actually gone a bit pale. I open the curtain while Eliza cowers behind a pile of dresses in my changing room and look at Ashley. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad." I say.

"That!" Eliza exclaims. "Is an aberration."

"Is she always like this?" I ask Ashley.

"Pretty much." Ashley says. "But it's kind of funny."

"I'll tell you who's funny!" Eliza squeals. "You, in that dress! If I met the designer I would have a few things to say to him!"

We need to prevent that from happening. Eliza would kill the poor woman/man.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else." I say, while changing into my own clothes again. Ashley gives me a thankful look and I smile back, emerging from the changing room in my own clothes again.

"I have an idea." Ashley says, coming out too. "Let's go to Aeropostale."

It's rather incredible how Eliza's face changes. It really is. I've heard of the shop, but I don't think I've ever been in it. Her face lights up in a huge smile, and she grins crazily.

"Yeah, let's go there." I say hastily, though. Ashley comes over to me as I ditch the beautiful dress for Eliza's sake and I prepare to go into new, uncharted territory.

We walk a long way through the mall which gives me another moment to reflect on life in general. Eliza is so much more... Energetic than I'd ever imagined her as. It's incredible how people change when you get closer to them. I guess they're thinking the same kind of things about me. If they even think in this kind of way.

"Aeropostale is basically Eliza's favorite shop." Ashley comes closer to say.

"It is the best shop." Eliza says. "Okay, maybe not, but it's cool and really fashionable."

"It sounds good." I say meekly.

"Hey, you don't have to act all freaked out because I screamed at a shopping assistant. He was useless, anyway. I just get like that when faced with such incompetent people."