Genesis

Mix and Match

     "Come on out!" I heard Lucius say, as I made my dashing entrance, pulling back the curtain of the dressing closet and revealing the new ridiculous outfit they had picked for me. A luminescent green crop-top and a plaid pencil skirt.

     When the boys first saw me they had to contain their laughter.

     "You look--, um... great?" Dorian said, holding back a chuckle with a nervous smile.

     "What? Plaid and luminescent green don't go together after all?" I giggled.

     "I think maybe Quinn should start choosing her own clothes. I mean, all we've had to wear since forever are these... uniforms," Lucius said, referring to the grey tracksuits that he, Dorian, and every other person at the camp were wearing.

     "You're right, you guys have NO fashion sense!" I said perhaps a little louder than I had intended.

     Dorian clutched his hand to his chest in a dramatic fashion, "I'm hurt that you would say that about us. Especially since good fashion is pertinent to our apocalyptic survival."

     "What the hell is a pertinent?" Lucius slurred.

     Dorian and I looked at each other knowingly before we burst out laughing.

     "What? Come on, guys. Where the hell do you even learn all these fancy words?"

     "In English class," Dorian chuckled as I was slightly surprised to realize the fact that they probably had some form of school in juvie too, "And you would have learned these 'fancy words' if you'd actually been paying attention. Or even just read the books."

     "Who even reads anymore?" Lucius questioned, and looked surprised when both Dorian and I raised our hands, "Bunch of nerds, you are."

     I shrugged, "Fine. But this nerd has the most decent fashion sense out of anyone here, so I'm going to find my own clothes. But after that," I smiled deviously, "I get to pick your outfits."

     They smiled nervously at me before I left to find an outfit for myself.

     I was more than happy to finally switch my red-stained sneakers for some grey hiking boots, and for the rest of my clothes I ended up picking a simple light green tee, blue jeans, and a grey, lined jacket. I moved to the men's section and guessed Dorian's size, picking a casual black tee, khaki cargo pants, and a lined black jacket, also picking up a pair of green-brown hiking shoes in what I hoped was the right size. Lucius was only a little bit shorter than Dorian, so I picked a similarly-sized khaki tee, army green cargo pants, a similar lined black jacket, and some black sneakers, before going back to the changing rooms and handing them their outfits. They put them on, and I was amazed at how different they looked without their monotonous uniforms. They looked more vibrant, and the smiles on their faces told me that they felt that way too.

     After that, Lucius took us back to where he found the vodka. The rest was kind of a blur, but the next thing I remember was that we were sitting in a circle near the gardening area, passing around a bottle of whiskey, playing an old game that my aunt had taught me; truth or dare.

     In the beginning, we were just playing dares, and they were kind of fun to do. Lucius had the worst luck of us. On his first go, Dorian dared him to get one of his ears pierced. I don't know what compelled Dorian to actually open up a sewing kit, or for Lucius to actually let him pierce his earlobe with a needle, but I thought it was hilarious at the time. Lucius soon got his revenge when his next spin landed on Dorian, and Lucius dared him to get his ear pierced the same way, and true to his word, he let him. Other dares consisted of things like screaming crazy catch-phrases or stripping down to just boxers to spend five minutes in a freezer while singing country songs. When the bottle eventually landed on me, I chose truth.