The Wallflower [ON HOLD INDEFINITELY: WRITERS BLOCK]

[Chapter Eleven] Social Physics

*Hi there, please vote and comment! It means so much if you could! Also thank you to everyone who's added this to their libraries, that really means a lot! Also, this chapter is back in Adrianna's POV*

Social Physics

I groaned for the thousandth time as I was dragged off to another aisle of clothing racks, the clean metal hangers shining slightly under the fluorescently lit shop. The soft hum of pop music was playing, it sounded like some country voiced artist. 

“My god Ad, you’re such a sook, get over it, I’m not leaving this mall until we get you a decent new set of clothes” June said as she dragged me along the racks of clothes, her hand gripping mine and pulling me forward. Her other arm was full of clothes; dresses, shirts, jeans and skirts, along with two pairs of shoes looped around her fingers. 

Now, I wasn’t one for worldly possessions, or really just material possessions in general. I understood that retail therapy, was exactly what the name suggested to people and that it really did help them, but to me, it was kind of like buying happiness. I looked around the store around me, my surroundings and found it quite depressing to find already four women around my age as well, who looked absolutely lonely and miserable. 

There was a blonde haired girl off in the distance, sitting in one of the chairs, her body bent over and trying on a pair of hot pink four inch heels; just looking at those heels made my stomach clench with nervousness. I couldn’t help but look at the girl’s face though. She was really quite beautiful, perfect cheekbones, tanned skin, an assymetrical face; and yet, I couldn’t help but see that faint hint of sadness on her face. There seemed to be no one with her, she was alone, completely alone, and it was then that I noticed, that a few other people in the store had that same air, that same look about them.

“Hello, June to Adrianna, get your head out of the clouds girl, we’re here for some much needed retail therapy, so I suggest you start participating before Pete arrives and ruins our girl time, you never told me what was up, so spill” June said as she dropped half of the clothes on her arm in front of the cashier, only turning away to look at the guy behind the cash register and smiling before looking back at me.

“G’day, is this all for today?” the guy said, interrupting me before I could even reply. I turned to look at him and smiled. He had a kind vibe to him, he seemed friendly, and he looked as if he was only young, younger than June and I. His cheeks were slightly chubby and there were obvious dimples on his face. I simply nodded at the boy and turned my attention back to June, her face looking down at her phone, a bright smile lighting up her features.

“Pete?” I asked, a small smile creeping its way onto my face. She looked up and nodded, a slight blush appearing on her face.

“That’ll be $150 ma’am” the boy said as he looked expectantly between June and I. She smiled back and handed over a blue credit card. It took him about forty seconds to hand the card back and gives us the shopping bags; telling us to have a wonderful day and thanks for shopping at the store. 

We walked together, June tapping away at her phone as we neared the food court. There was a small fountain in the middle of the mall, and we took a seat on a bench not too far away from it. June took her heels off and sat down comfortably on the bench, l followed suit. She continued tapping away at her phone and giggling occasionally. This is why I never really went out as much with June, she was too busy tapping away on her phone or giggling to some male buffoon.

I sighed to myself and leaned back on the bench, looking over towards the fountain. It was like that scene in Mean Girls, where all the teenagers were acting like complete jungle animals around the ‘water hole’, truth be told, the producers and director of that movie weren’t too far off the real thing. You could easily section off the social cliques and hierarchy of high school students from where I was sitting.