Till We Pretend

Chapter One

"We'll pay by cash." She nudged me slightly and I took my wallet out of my bag and there went all of my tips from the past three days. I knew that I'd be wearing this stupid dress for Easter,Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and any other government declared holidays in the near future.

I didn't miss the stink eye I got from the saleswoman and quickly grabbed my shopping bag before making a run for it. Given that I'd been waitressing at the same diner for the past two years, I knew that jobs were hard to come by in Arlington. But it was especially hard right now,during the summer with all the college students on break. Surely whenever I'd make the terrible decision to return to this mall and to this particular store, I would run into this cranky saleswoman who'd witnessed my embarrassment.

So, looks like I'll be shopping online only for a while.

"What was that about?" Ree asked as we left the store. My face had started to cool off a little, cheeks no longer on fire and palms no long sweaty. I hated that just a little setback like that could trigger a reaction like this in me but deep down I knew the reason why. I was a creature of habit, I liked things to work a certain way and I always, always wanted to be prepared. So when I was out shopping to my heart's content, I didn't obviously expect to have my card declined.

"I don't know. I guess I'll have Mom call the bank." I shrugged it off in front of her but I think I knew even then that something wasn't right.

***

Ree tossed her flame red hair over one shoulder and settled her shopping bags down on the floor. We took a seat at our favourite cafe and ordered some food, clearly starving after all that shopping. Well, Ree shopped and I just had an anxiety attack when I tried to buy the one thing I cam here to get. My best friend told me that lunch was on her because she'd dragged me here in the first place, causing me to miss a shift at work but I knew what she was doing. I'd run out of cash and couldn't really even pay for a bottle of water right now.

"So here's what I'm thinking, remember how my mom said I couldn't have any boys staying over past midnight?"

I slurped my chocolate milkshake, "You're obviously not going to listen to her are you?"

"Obviously." She took a dainty bite of her salad and that pretty much explained why people thought Ree McPherson and Ella Nichols becoming best friends was the perhaps the weirdest thing to have happened this side of town.

"Do I even want to know what you're planning?"

"I can't reveal my master plan but you need to know the basics since you'll be helping me with Operation Sneak Carter In and everything." She grinned deviously, forcing me to roll my eyes. If I had a penny for every time Ree roped me into helping her with one of her many escapades, which usually involved pissing off her parents then I would've been able to afford those shoes I didn't buy earlier.

I raised my palms, "Oh no, I'm not getting involved this time. Your mom already thinks I'm the bad influence in this relationship."

She pouted,"But you have to help me Elle, do you know how long it's taken me to get Carter to notice that I existed? I've just spent the entire summer golfing at the country club and I don't even know the first thing about golf. If I have to tolerate one more sixty year old leering at my butt, I think I might attack the sleaze ball with his own club."

My friend was in an age old dilemma and I really did feel for her. Towards the end of our junior year in high school, she'd developed a crush on Carter Watson from our American History class. To her utter disappointment however, he was perhaps the only guy in school who didn't acknowledge Valerie 'Ree' McPherson's existence. Trust Ree to fall for that one guy who had his head buried in books and didn't notice that a redheaded bombshell was crushing hard on him.