Somewhere In My Memory

Chapter One

Most kids like Christmas. Most. I happen not to.

All of my friends think I'm insane, but Christmas irritates me. There's too many happy people and bright lights. When shopping, you risk getting smushed, especially if you're small like I am.

"Please?" my best friend, Isobelle, begs me. She's trying to get me to go Christmas shopping with her. 

I roll my eyes. Why is she even trying? "No! I hate Christmas shoppers." 

Bells considers this for a moment. "We can go shopping for Christmas formals." 

I perk up. I love formal dances. "Really?" 

Bella laughs. "Yes! We both need dresses, anyway." 

I think this over. "I guess..." 

Bells jumps off my bed and gives me a bear hug. "I knew you would come!" 

I roll my eyes again. "Whateves." I say, trying to sound bored, but I'm laughing too hard.

The next morning, Bells calls me and tells me to start getting ready to go, because she'll be at my house in 5 minutes. 5 minutes! Doesn't that girl pay attention to how long it takes me to get ready in the mornings? Apparently not...

I get ready in record time, 4 minutes and 48 seconds. I didn't know that was even humanly possible! When I run downstairs, Bella's car is parked in the street in front of my house. Liar. She's 12 seconds early. Not like it matters.

When I get in the passenger seat of Bella's car she looks surprised. "You're actually on time! And looking presentable." she says.  

I laugh. "Why so surprised?" 

"You're never on time!" Bella exclaims. 

"Lies." I say, rolling my eyes. But Bells knows I'm joking.

When we get to our favorite department store, we head right to the dresses in the Juniors' section. Right away, I see a cute red dress, covered in sequins. Bells spots a formfitting black dress with purple and hot pink stripes. After trying on the dresses, we don't even return to the racks. These dresses are perfect.

When we get to the shoe sections, Bells points out that I can wear heels, since even with heels, I'll still be a couple inches then most boys in our school. I head over to where the heels usually are, and see the cutest shoes ever! They're a deep blue, and velvety. The heels are about 4 inches tall, and when I walk on tile, they make that awesome clicky noise. I select the right size, a 6 1/2, and then go back over to Bells. She's trying on hot pink flats. 

"I like those." I tell her.  

She smiles. "Me too." she says as she puts the shoes back in the box and then stands up. I guess those are the ones she's getting.

After paying for our dresses and shoes, we head to the food court. I buy a Diet Coke and Bella gets Sprite. We sit down at a quiet table near the windows. While we sip our pop, I look around the food court. Something seems different than usual. 

"Hey, didn't the awning over Pizza Paradise used to be green, not blue?" I ask. 

Bells looks over to where I'm pointing. "Um, I don't know. It looks the same to me..." 

I stare at the awning. "No, I'm pretty sure...." my voice trails off as a man in a suit approaches us. 

"Um, hello." Bells greets him. 

"Hi, I'm Carter Swanson. I work for the FBI." the man in the suit says, showing us his badge. 

I have a slight panic attack. I don't think I did anything wrong, and I'm pretty sure Bella hasn't either. "How can we help you?" I ask.