You Aren't Who I Thought You Were

Shopping, Screaming, and Unexpected Faces

Before anyone reads this story, I would like you to know this will not be a regular thing. I’ll post every now and then but I have a lot of schoolwork and a play going on. Also, Brianna if you ever end up reading this, it has nothing to do with you. I just happened to use your name because I ran out of ideas for character names and had to make up one on the spot. This has NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU IN ANY WAY. Thanks!

 “Taxi!”

 Ick. I hated the idea of sitting behind some smelly old guy who was probably a creep for 30 minutes. I could just have a limo pick me up but Daddy said to keep discreet today. I didn’t need to have my face all over the tabloids when he was running for president. Bad publicity.

 “HEY TAXI!” I yelled louder this time. Immediately the yellow car stopped in front of me. “Thanks. Manhattan Mall please.”

 Adjusting my sunglasses and scarf so I wouldn’t be recognized, I looked out the window and thought about what I should wear to the party tonight. It was my boyfriend Andy’s birthday and I needed to wear something cute. Maybe a nice skirt and a blouse. Something I can be photographed in. You see, Andy and I are mostly together for the publicity.  Well, at least it started that way. His family is wealthy, my family is wealthy, both are powerful, you get the picture. We’ve spent so much time together though and I’ve really started to like him. I think he feels the same way. I'm not sure though so I really need to impress him tonight. I felt the car jerk to a stop and gave the guy a fifty.

 “Keep the change,” I said and hopped out to stare at the beauty of the huge mall in front of me. Manhattan mall, home to just about every store I could ever need. I walked up and opened the door, getting a whiff of that clean store smell, or as I liked to call it, the fragrance of shopping.

 “What store to first?” I quietly murmured to myself, getting into the elevator. Maybe Strawberry, they always had cute clothes.  Lifting my gaze from the floor, I caught the eyes of a small clique of what looked like popular high school girls over by the entrance. I quickly looked away trying not to think of what had happened in the 7th grade.

 I was sitting in the corner of the library, writing a poem in my journal about my day when I heard a small giggling right over my shoulder. There stood Amanda Steeps and her posse, Ashley Marano and Brianna West.

 “Whatcha writing? Some crappy poem about how crappy we made your day? How pathetic,” She sneered, chuckling to herself like she was the main act of a comedy show.

 I could hear snickers in the background from Ashley and Brianna. If she laughed, they laughed, if she pouted, they pouted, if she coughed, they coughed. They were basically zombified versions of her and all she did.

 “Just leave me alone Amanda. What did I ever do to you?” I said quietly, desperately covering my journal, attempting to hide my writing. This only called attention to it though, and she snatched it from my clutches smirking at me as she did so. I couldn’t do anything about it so I sat there defeated as she read from it word for word.

 “Today was just a horrible day. The sun wasn’t shining, the clouds were gray. Amanda and the Pups were yapping nonstop, any more air and that head might pop. Today was just a horrible day. The sun wasn’t shining, the clouds were gray,” She read dramatically, in a voice 3 octaves higher than her own.

 I winced when she came to Amanda and the Pups. That was their infamous nickname among us all. They followed her around like puppies and in my opinion; they looked like dogs with all that make up caked onto their faces. Hence the nickname “pups”.