An Unexpected Fate

The Shopping Trip

The girls all woke up the following morning, full of excitement. As this was Ellie's first shopping trip as a girl, she was also full of a mix of nerves. They all got out of bed, taking it in turns to get dressed. One by one, the girls changed out of their PJs and into various outfits. For Ellie, her outfit consisted of the skirt and top Freya had given her a few days prior. She came back into the room as the girls were sorting out their hair and makeup. Freya smiled at her as she put her PJs back into her bag.

"Do you want us to do your hair and makeup?" Freya asked, as she finished tying her hair up.

"Uh, it's fine, thanks." Ellie said, awkwardly.

"You should buy yourself some when we're out." Freya said.

"Yeah, it's on my list." Ellie said as she pulled a piece of paper out of her bag. The previous morning, her mum had given a list of things that she should get and should make a priority to get. Then she could do whatever she wanted with the rest.

"You have a list?" Gwen asked.

Ellie nodded. "A few things my mum wanted me to get. School stuff and, like, the essentials."

"Fair enough." Gwen said. She stood up, letting out a loud stretch. "We good to go? If we're quick, we can catch the next train."

The girls finished packing their stuff up and grabbed their bags. Ellie was still nervous, wondering if this was a good idea. Regardless, she followed the girls out and towards the train station.

***

After a decently short train ride, the girls found themselves in the middle of the city. They all stood around a sign, pointing them in the direction of a few different shopping centers and high streets.

"Where do we wanna start?" Annabeth asked.

Gwen looked at the signs. "Primark is always a good place. It has a little bit of everything."

The girls nodded. "Primark it is, then." Freya said. Gwen led them through a busy high street, filled with buskers and different street performers. They stopped briefly, as they listened to a singer perform a song with a beautiful voice. Then they stopped again when a street magician asked Maple to help him with a trick. The trick involved making Maple's phone disappear and reappear, but Maple panicked when it vanished, much to the amusement of the other girls. After that point, they decided no more distractions.

Entering into Primark, it was warm and stuffy and very crowded. Ellie immediately felt nervous. What if someone thinks I'm weird? If I'm just a boy looking at girls clothes?

"You okay?" Maple asked.

Ellie nodded. "Just nerves, I guess."

"Okay." Maple said, smiling at her. "Should we do the usual?"

Freya nodded. "Meet back here in an hour?

The other three nodded and split off in their own directions. Freya turned to face Ellie. "What's on your list?"

"Are you not gonna do your own thing too?" Ellie asked.

Freya laughed. "No. Buying more clothes is the last thing I need, but the girls wanted to come in, so I was just gonna tag along. But, since you're with us now, I thought maybe I could help you."

Ellie blushed a little. "Oh, okay. Uhm..." She pulled the list out of her pocket. "My mum put school stuff at the top."

Freya nodded. "Okay." She led Ellie around the shop. It was already a little bit into the school year, so their selection was limited. It took a little bit of looking around before they managed to find a size of blouse that fit. Finding some skirts wasn't as hard, though. She managed to get herself a black skater skirt, a black pencil skirt, and a black pinafore dress. She even managed to find herself a nice pink and black schoolbag to replace the one she currently had.

With that done, they walked around the shop for a bit more. They met up with Gwen by the fitness section, where Ellie got herself some new leggings, tops, and sports bras for PE class, plus a pair of cheap trainers to use. With the main school stuff checked off, Ellie and Freya went through the normal clothes.

Ellie picked up a few pairs of jeans, some nice tops, and a few jumpers. She spent much longer deciding on what skirts she wanted, though. She eventually picked out a handful of different styles of skirt, from skater and pencil, to one or two mini-skirts. As she was walking around, though, something caught her eye.

It was a black dress, with long belle sleeves. It had a low plunge neckline with a choker-like collar that was connected to the dress by a series of strands of fabric. Ellie walked over to it, rubbing her hand over it and feeling how soft it was.

"That's a pretty dress." Maple said from behind her.

"Yeah, it is. But it's like, a fancy dress. I don't know when I'd ever wear it." Ellie said, contemplating.

Maple laughed. "Every girl has a bunch of fancy clothes that they almost never wear. I have a dress that I bought years ago for parties and that, I've still never worn it."

Ellie stood looking at it for a few more minutes, before she eventually looked through the hanger for one of her size. She was starting to panic a little, struggling to find one. Thankfully, she managed to find one at the very end. She put it in her basket, which now weighed a ton, and met back up with Freya. Freya led her over towards the underwear section, explaining the different kinds of underwear to her. It was a little awkward, having your friends explain underwear, but Ellie still appreciated it. She grabbed some more boyshorts, some small, A-cup bras that she could stuff, some socks, and some tights. She was originally going just for plain black tights, but Freya talked her into different patterns of tights and even some fishnets.

With everything bought, the girls met back up again at the entrance. Ellie and Gwen had been the only people to buy anything. Gwen had only bought some new gym clothes, so she only had one bag. Ellie had about five. Luckily, the girls did help her out, taking some of the bags for her since they weren't carrying anything else.

After Primark, they went into the shoe shop next door so that Ellie could get some pairs of shoes. She ended up getting some Doc Martin boots for school and a pair of ankle heeled boots for any more fancy events. As she paid, she joined Freya and Maple, who were looking at ballet shoes.

"What are those for?" Ellie asked, stuffing some change into her pocket.

"They're for ballet. My shoes are starting to fall apart, I've just been too lazy to replace them." Freya shrugged.

"Like the dance? I didn't know you needed special shoes for it." Ellie said.

Maple laughed. "Yeah, some types of dance have their own shoes, like ballet or tap."

"Huh, cool. They're cute shoes, though."

"Have you ever thought about doing dance?" Freya asked as she picked up a pair of ballet slippers, inspecting them.

"I dunno, I hadn't really thought about it." Ellie shrugged.

"If you're not playing football anymore, maybe you should look at some of the other sports and stuff the school does." Maple said.

"I think my mum still has the list of sports and that, I'll ask her for it later." Ellie said. Maple had a good point. She wasn't playing football anymore, but all of the girls in the group were involved in some kind of activity. This meant that Ellie was often alone towards the end of lunch.

They spent the rest of the day going in and out of more shops. Ellie ended up buying a few more bits of clothes and Freya talked her into buying a really nice necklace with a little ruby gemstone on the end. They spent some time in a MAC store, helping Ellie pick out makeup and different makeup brushes. This was the part she was most nervous about, but with the help of the girls and the store assistant, it was extremely easy. The assistant even gave the names of some online resources she could use to learn.

Once they were done, they grabbed some lunch before deciding to head back home. Since Ellie had by far the most bags, the girls all helped her home first. They took the train back to Freya's and walked to Ellie's from there. Once they got to her home, they all gave her a hug before they all left to go to their own homes. Ellie watched as Freya walked away, who looked back and gave her a small smile before she turned a corner and was out of sight.