The Unsolvable Equation

Chapter Fourteen

"It's like, a tad bit, like, conservative, don't you think so, like, dear?" she responded with an equally high pitched voice.

K.H pretended to pout and flung the dress back onto it's pile. "Ok, serious time," she said clasping her hands together. "Find Alexia a dress."

The looked through piles and racks of dresses and because Alexia was picky and they were both amateurs at this, ended up with only three dresses to try on. "So here's the deal," K.H said. "You try them on and come out to show me."

"Aren't you going to get anything?" Alexia asked her.

"Don't you remember? I'm on the planning committee, and I don't have a date, so I'm going to bring out the potato sack again," K.H reminded her smiling. She liked to refer to the awful dresses they had worn for the past few years as potato sacks, and Alexia couldn't exactly disagree.

Alexia shut the door of the dressing room and slipped into the first dress. It had a tight black bodice and a midnight blue skirt that flared out. It also had a huge bow around the waist. As soon as she caught sight of her reflection, Alexia wanted to rip the dress out. It was too short, too tight in all the wrong places and the flare caused her to look like she had tried to squeeze into a six year old's party dress.

Still, she showed it to K.H, who burst out laughing. They both agreed that it was a goner. The second dress wasn't as bad. It was a slinky number that ended just below her knees. However, it was also in this awful shade of yellow that made Alexia look like a walking banana. She had pictured herself to look like a model advertising a hot summer's day at the beach, not like this. "Show it to me!" K.H hollered.

Alexia glumly stepped out and K.H squinted her eyes, studying her appearance. "I know, I know," Alexia said, sighing. "Would you like chocolate or strawberry ice cream to go with your banana split?"

K.H snickered. "Aw it's not so bad," she tried to lie. "Ok, fine, it's horrible. Go change and never let me see that dress again."

Alexia shimmied out of the dress and prayed that the third one would fit so that she could end her contact with the fashion world as soon as possible. The put it around and when she saw her reflection in the mirror, she couldn't help but laugh herself. The dress had a bodice so tight Alexia actually had to struggle for breath, and its skirt was so sheer her underwear was on full display. It was gauzy and light and looked fit for a fairy venturing into the indecent side of the woods. "What's so funny? Let me see!" K.H demanded.

"It's so bloody revealing," Alexia protested, still laughing. She opened the door just a crack and K.H rolled her eyes and entered the dressing room. She took one look at Alexia and collapsed into a fit of giggles too.

"Gorgeous!" she gasped with mock delight. "You've nailed the high fashion trends! Shall I ring it up?"

"Okay, fun's over. Get out," Alexia told her and pushed K.H out of the changing room, then ripped off the dress. Once back in her own clothes, Alexia went out to meet K.H when she stopped right in her tracks. Right in front of her, like how all chick flicks played out, was Natalie, a pile of dresses huge enough to dress the whole school in her arms. Natalie had that perma-smile stuck to her face as she raised her hands in a wave. "Hey! K.H! Alexia!" she called out.

Alexia sighed. "I can hear you, Natalie, I'm right in front of you. No need to shout."

Natalie giggled. "Sorry. I didn't expect to see you here! What are you, like, doing here?"

"Um, buying a dress?"

Natalie gasped in shock, and because it was Natalie, Alexia believed it was genuine. "Ohmigod! Me too!"

"Wow, Natalie," K.H said, coming up behind Alexia. "You getting all of that?"

Natalie shook her head. "Nah, this is the reject pile. My buys are, like, over there with Clarice." She pointed to the cashier where Clarice was paying up for what looked like half the store.

Natalie said her goodbyes and then went to join her friend. Meanwhile, Alexia and K.H surveyed their failure of a shopping trip. "So," K.H said to her. "Potato sack?"

Alexia sighed. Clearly shopping was not her forte. "Potato sack indeed."