Rising Secrets

Chapter 8- A Day To Let Go

The stores they entered first, upon arriving at the mall, were like some sort of torturous prank to Aidan. Everywhere, as far as the eye could see, was pink, frilly, and above all, girly.

He felt red in the face, and couldn't stop checking the area for any of his fellow students. To be seen in such a store meant death, to almost any type of boy, even one who abandoned his social life. Until they entered a slightly better looking area, where the main theme did not resemble a flamingo's feather shedding celebration, he had felt sick to his stomach.

"Aidan! Come over here!" Rosette beckoned from before a changing room. He quickly made his way to the girls, noting that Rosette held a large stack of clothes in her arms.

After a moment of silent waiting, Mara shuffled around inside the changing stall and slowly pulled back the curtains.

To say he was shocked out of his mind, would be rude, so Aidan settled for acting appreciative. Mara wore a long, silver tunic, adorned generously with a spatter of rosy red glitter in the center that made up the shape of a cute, winged heart. Below the fringe of the tunic, which ended about three inches above her knees, she had on what looked like shimmery black leggings. The gray-black look emphasized the color on her person, making her mousy hair look less like animal fluff and more like a shade of milk chocolate. The whole ensemble slighted her figure and even he, who had never paid much attention to girl's clothes, was shocked at the transformation. Also, without her glasses, her facial features seemed more defined, showing off long lashes and big, hazel eyes. He almost couldn't look away. She had completely transformed.

But as Aidan finally looked down past the leggings, he saw that on her feet were... some type of lethal high heeled contraption.

He never understood how girls wore those things, they looked to be even more like a death trap than a weapon sometimes. He got that from Emma's endless moans of pain the night she came home from prom, crying about the stilettos that killed her feet. And before then, all he had known was that those things should never be aimed anywhere but at the ground.

"You should get her something like boots, maybe. I mean, I don't know much about shoes, but those look dangerous." He felt that he had a responsibility to tell Mara something about how his sister almost died, not the night she came home from prom, but the next morning, when she tried testing out her overused feet. His ears kept ringing for the next three days from the horrifying scream that was his wake up call. With a tinge of sadness, he also recalled that his father had been the one to calm her down, too. But let's not think about that now, he resolved.

Mara nodded then, wobbling like a newborn deer on her feet. Rosette sighed, and decided that they would have to go elsewhere to find shoes.

Of course, they hadn't forgotten about his offhand comment in the cafeteria. Aidan, as promised, paid for the garments they chose to keep, and realized with a shock that girls clothing were expensive. How could a tunic and pair of leggings take such a chunk out of his allowance?

It was a mystery of the world, that's all he knew.

***

Two hours later, they had purchased a pair of sandals from a shoe store, out of Rosette's purse this time, another outfit that the girls wouldn't part with, and some sorts of hair accessories that would take her frizzy curls. Mara and Rosette had been unspeakably happy, and had opened up to each other completely.

Yet after visiting all kinds of modern clothing stores that, thankfully, weren't pink, Aidan had learned all too much about the sport called "shopping" than he cared for. He'd walked the woman's section of Hollister, American Eagle, and almost got dragged into a sea-side themed bathing suit shop, which had "it's a trap" written all over it. That's where he drew the line and refused to be seen browsing bikinis.

Rosette had had the nerve to laugh. He wondered if he'd missed something the first day at school... She was looking to be much more than he could handle. Forget asking about her mother, or even crushing on her. Between Emma, Ana, Marilyn, and Rosette, he was beginning to suspect that girls weren't humans. With a wry, sarcastic thought, he worried he should begin to fear for the world's male population's safety.

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A/N: Hello! I wanted to say that I realized I should probably start adding in more of the mystery part of the Mystery novel. Sorry for the delay! Thanks for reading up to this point :).

-ocean3399