Once Bitten, Twice Shy

9

The next day was a shock to them all. They had been sat around the table in the kitchen, Jane rummaging though the fridge looking for something for breakfast.

"Looks like we're gonna have to go the shop again, whose turn is it?"

"I'll go" Anne piped up from the end of the table. The rest of their heads shot towards her in shock. They had taken her name off the router shortly after the first four's trips. Their descriptions of the crowds of people and the queuing system had made her terrified to ever set foot in the place. The last straw being Anna's very scary story about an incident including a bag of crisps, a little old man, and a trolley. It sounded like hell, and she was adamant that she would not be joining any of them in their outings for the rest of her life. So it came as quite the surprise when those words left the girl's mouth and she went upstairs to get ready.

"I guess I could go too?" Cathy suggested. "I'm interested to see what the rest of this place is like."

So it was decided. After a quick rundown of what to expect from Aragon, Cathy joined Anne at the door and they set off on the short walk to the supermarket. They found themselves falling into easy conversation, Cathy doing most of the work and Anne replying with short answers, but it was comfortable, natural. They ran into their first problem when they came to a stop outside the large building.

"Hang on" Cathy stopped outside the doors "Didn't the others say you'd never done this before?" The realization suddenly hit them that the both of them were unexperienced when it came to the nature of supermarkets. Boleyn facepalmed, letting out a chuckle. "We could call Jane." She suggested.

"No, we are independent Women, we can figure this out." Cathy reached for the door handle on the panel of glass, only to find it didn't exist. "Ok first things first, how do we get in?"

"Wait, Kit told me about this." Anne performed a little jump on the censor and the door immediately slid smoothly open. "Didn't Aragon literally just teach you about this stuff?"

Cathy grabbed a trolley from the side before strolling in. "Yeah, but she taught me what foods to recognise and how to pay. I don't think she expected us to get stuck at the door."

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"What in God's name is this?" Anne held up a suspicious looking fruit, a look of disgust upon her face.

"Hun, that's an avocado." Cathy answered, looking up from the list Jane had given her. Boleyn gave it a sniff, before shrugging and chucking into the ever-growing pile on the trolley.

"Okay, Aragon showed me some recipes to get me used to all this stuff" she motioned to the array of exotic fruit and vegetables before them, picking up a selection and carefully balancing them on top of a frozen pizza and a bag of Pombears, both of which weren't there when she last looked. She peered over at the isle to her side. Anne had wandered off and was busying herself with the pick-and-mix shelf, every so often gasping in delight when she spotted something colourful.

"Anne" She sighed "Will you get back here and give me a hand?" She couldn't help but laugh at the disgruntled face she pulled as she marched back over.

"Right. Remember that were gonna have to carry this stuff back home, since we don't have the car, so I suggest you say goodbye to some of this junk." Anne gasped in offence at the comment.

"This is not junk!"

"tell that to your arms when their carrying five full bags each."

"Ok fair point." She gathered an armful of vegetables and dumped them back into their original baskets. Parr just shook her head with a sigh, recollecting the essentials and sending Anne off to dispose of the seven boxes of pop tarts.

They walked over to pay, Anne convincing her to use the self checkouts rather than having to engage in conversation, and started to unload their items.

"So I have to say, I rather enjoyed your little concert yesterday." Cathy said cheekily, while throwing a carton of milk into the bag. Boleyn glared at her.

"Not a word to anyone." She pointed a banana at her threateningly which only made Cathy giggle.

"I've never seen this side to you before" She hummed "What happens to silly Anne when we're back at home?"

"Silly Anne?" She laughed

"Yeah, the Anne that gets excited at kid's food and uses fruit as potential weapons, and rides around the isles on the trolley." Anne smiled sheepishly at the mention of that one. "Don't think I didn't notice." Parr grinned.

"How come Kitty's the only one that gets a glimpse of silly Anne?"

"Well you have, haven't you?" That stuck with Cathy. Her only thought being: Why?

She pushed it to the back of her head and finished scanning the last few items, swiping her card and picking up two of the bags.

"Wtf, how did you do that?" Anne questioned, gesturing to credit card now in her back pocket. Cathy took it back out and handed it to her.

"What? have you never seen one before?"

"No, I didn't get past lesson one of Aragon school. I fell asleep after she tried teaching me about banks." Cathy laughed at the goofy, outspoken girl in front of her and the question came back to her. It felt like Anne was comfortable around her, like she enjoyed her company, but why her?