The Magician's Assistant

[8] Mall Adventures

          “Nope,” I smiled. “And you still owe me from this morning.”

          The thought alone brought a scowl to my face.

          “I was just trying to help!” he defended himself, crossing his arms over his chest. Thought the mischievous glint in his eyes gave his terrible lie away.

          “Don’t talk to me,” I glared at him, however a smile was threatening to spill onto my lips.

          “You thought it was funny!” James pointed at me and my near-smiling face.

          I tried to put on a serious face, but miserably failed.

          “You know what?”

          “What?” he asked, grinning.

          “Be quiet.”

~* *~

          “So. Many. Clothes,” James wailed dramatically.

          “Stop complaining!” I threw my hands up in the air, ignoring peoples’ concerned glances at me. “Don’t mind me,” I said to them, though my voice was very quiet and mumbled, “Just talking to myself!”

          I was a little over-emotional that day, I suppose.

          After I’d buy something, James would insist on holding the bags. Lately, he’d been very adamant about trying to touch objects and pick them up. When I had first met him, he couldn’t even turn a doorknob. He’d been practicing diligently. There was a downside and an upside to James’s experimentation, though. He liked to use the bags to hit people with.

          It was funny at first, and I even laughed a little. I knew it was mean, but James became so happy when he realized he could actually touch people. Then he began doing it so that it would look like my fault, so I’d apologized at least eighteen times to people in two hours. Try explaining why your shopping bag accidentally flings four feet in front of you and onto someone’s back.

‘That boy has gotten some nerve lately,’ I thought dryly.

          James and I walked through store after store, searching the racks for anything that screamed ‘Rachel Cooper!’. Turquoise is my favorite color, so I’d gotten plenty of shoes with blue beads, sequins, and stitching. I’d only gotten one or two tank tops, considering summer was practically over. I wasn’t a big fan of graphic tees, but I’d gotten a couple. Jessica would definitely appreciate them, I decided.

          I sighed, pursing my lips as I inspected a v-neck long-sleeved shirt. It was black, but was button up. The buttons were white, decorated with lime green stitching. I added it to my pile of clothes to try on, which was growing at an alarming rate. Even James was piling on articles of clothing.

          A couple of hours later, I had gotten enough jeans, tees, long sleeves, sweat shirts, and shoes to last the rest of my life. I’d been able to spend the money Ruth had given me from the last performance, plus some cash that I had saved up. I really had to start putting money together for college.

          The last stop was a cheap jewelry store, one that I could get a few necklaces, earrings, and bracelets from. As I was checking out some simple rings, someone lightly tapped me on the shoulder twice.

          I turned around and raised my eyebrows. It was a guy around my age, who radiated so much confidence I felt like chopped liver next to him. I hesitantly looked up at him, and then asked, “Yeah?”