Down But Not Out

Chapter 1

"Okay how about this one?" Summer asked me, pointing out another dress that she liked. I walked over from looking at denim shorts to study the dress she was referring to. Summer held it up against her and I shook my head.

"Definitely not. The colour is all wrong for you" I sighed and my best friend frowned before looking down at herself and shrugging.

"I suppose but the detailing was pretty" she wandered off to look at more dresses and I rolled my eyes at her. I hated clothes shopping, unless I was looking for footwear or jeans. Dresses definitely weren't my thing since I was more of a jeans, t-shirt and solid footwear kind of girl. Summer on the other hand was more girly than me. Then again I'm sure my dog was more girlier than me what with having a red studded collar.

We were shopping in our home town of Birmingham, at our favourite clothes shop, which was one of those that had racks of clothes outside as well as having clothes inside of the shop. We were currently outside since Summer wanted to look at the dresses out here.

Summer and I were both eighteen and we shared an apartment on the edge of the city centre and had done so for about two months now. Our parents didn't mind because we kept in contact regularly, plus we hadn't moved too far away since we were only about fifteen minutes away from our families.

"Hey Lizzie what about this one?" Summer called from over on my right and I followed her voice. I never understood her fascination with clothes, although according to her I'm the best shopping partner because I know what suits her and what doesn't. It's the same with me though, since Summer knows what suits me and what doesn't but she's been trying for years to get me out of my normal clothes and into something more girly. At this point in time, my normal clothes consisted of band tees and either ripped jeans or skinny jeans with Converse or leather boots and my denim 'Down But Not Out' jacket. My band tee of the day- or should I say of the last year- was a You Me At Six top, which just consisted of the band's name. It was one of their old ones from the Hold Me Down cycle, but it was one of my favourites.

I approached Summer who was holding up a knee length strapless white dress, with lace at the hem and a flower with a jewel in the middle pinned to the top, just over the left breast. I nodded with a smile on my face.

"That's the one Sum" I replied and she let out a sigh of relief. Apparently she'd been searching for a dress to wear- along with the rest of her summer wardrobe- for a date with her boyfriend in just a few days. I wasn't too sure about her boyfriend, Theo. He was your typical 'I'm hot and I know it' kind of guy and even though he seemed to care about Summer he gave me the creeps. I never missed the way he would look at me when Summer's back was turned. But I never said anything because I knew nothing would ever happen- Theo wasn't my type, plus he was my best friend's boyfriend and I would never betray someone I love.

Summer went inside to pay for the dress and I smiled after her. What can I tell you about my best friend except that we've been friends since Reception- at the young age of 5 years old. We clicked instantly and since then we've been inseparable. Sure we've had other friends over the years but Summer has always been someone that I could rely on and she says the same about me.

Summer is your usual blonde haired blue eyed girl, and just like me she enjoys dying her hair. At the moment hers is platinum blonde, because I've been telling her for the past year that blonde is definitely the colour that suits her. Even though she's a natural blonde, Summer is actually a very smart girl, she just tends to hide that fact about her and play the 'dumb blonde' cliché. I must say she does it very well. Anyway along with her blonde hair she has light blue eyes and they have to be the one feature she is happy she inherited, because she hates the fact that she inherited her mum's slimness but I envy her for it.