Guardian (A TBP Fanfic)

A Girl's Gotta Shop!

Grace POV

I hunted the mall with Kimberly, who was wearing a ballcap and sunglasses. It cracked me up. No matter how hard she tried, she could not hide her mess of hair!! And the ballcap and sunglasses inside didn't exactly keep attention away.

"Hey, cappee!" I smiled at her. "Really?" She rolled her eyes at me. "Well, someone's not very good at playing incognito are they?" She just looked at me and started laughing. "Some one does not need coffee. Ever! Hey, look at that dress!"

I looked over and saw a beautiful red dress. It was a mermaid type! I stared at it for a few minutes. "You know, some award shows are coming up..." Kimberly said in my ear. I jumped.

"That was payback for earlier! But really, you should try it!" I finally gave in and walked into the store.

I was approached by a redheaded woman. She had bright green eyes and glasses to match. She seemed to be around 30. "Hello, miss! How can I help?" She smiled, flashing her perfectly white teeth.

"I was looking at the dress in the window. Could I try it on?" She looked me up and down, then said, "sure! I think it'll fit pretty well!" I thanked her and waited.

When she returned, it was even more beautiful up close! It had oranges, reds, and pinks woven all down the dress and thousands of rhinestones on the straps and chest line, also with a flash of white! She lead me to a dressing room and hung it on the hook.

I thanked her and closed the door. I slid it on and gasped. It fit perfectly! The red color really brought out my natural strawberry highlights! I smiled, my penetrating blue eyes taking in every inch of the dress.

"You take forever!" I heard Kimberly huff. "Just a second. Gosh. You're just like my cranky grandfather!" "Come on! I know girls are supposed to take a long time, you're taking.." I opened the door.

"Really? How's this! I bet it was faster than you!" I laughed. She tried to look serious and in the end, we were both laughing. "I'm in love with the dress! I love it! You are so buying it!" I looked at the tag. $345!? What? Was I made of money? Wow.

I guess I made a face because next thing I knew, "what's wrong? Don't you like it?" She looked concerned. "Yeah, it's just..." "Let me guess... Does the price have anything to do with it?" "Money doesn't grow on trees." I sighed.

"So, I'm in the ballpark. Well, money is paper... So... It does grow on trees.. So it sounds like you need another excuse to me!" She winked at me. "I'll buy it for you!"

"No way! It's pretty but not that pretty! You're too nice already!" I play pouted, trying to prove my point.

"Nope. Go take it off. Now, we gotta meet the boys in an hour!" I stripped and pulled on my normal clothes. I gathered my small amount of packages and followed Kimberly.

We paid for the dress, and as we walked out, Kimberly's phone rang. I could hear the conversation. She keeps her phone too dang loud. I wonder how she's not deaf!

"Kimberly? Where are you? Do you have Grace with you?" "Yes, dad, I do." "Alright, just make sure she's ok and doesn't do too much.""Does riding a motorcycle through a ring of fire count?" I laughed at Kimberly's response!

"Well, as long as she doesn't go too fast. Love ya KP! Bye!" She hung up and we both started laughing. "Alright, well, let's hit some stores and go meet them!"

I followed her around the mall. Someone really needs to invent a shopping cart to follow you around to carry all your crap. Being a girl is tough!

*************************************

"What did y'all do? Rob the whole mall? Jeeze. We need a forklift to be able to bring all that stuff home!" Reid laughed at us. "What? I only got a few things!" Kimberly shot back.

"Sure. Sure. Whatever. I'll take your word for it! How do you feel, Grace?" Neil asked. "Eh, I'm alright. Except I think I have a serious condition known as ShoppedToDeathByKimberlyPerry. And it's very serious, and maybe contagious!" I poked Kimberly and she laughed.

We all laughed and grabbed a snack from the cupcake place. We all had a great time.

I was about to throw my things out when Kimberly froze. "What's wrong?" I whispered. The boys were playing on Neil's iPad. "I think he's here!" "He who?" She just gave me a look.

"Well, there's a lot of people that could qualify as "he" here." "He. He. That's who!" Oh. Right. Mr. Let me show you the front of my car by ramming it into the side of you, guy. Yeah, he seems like a nice guy. His car wasn't!

"Reid and Neil. I'm really tired and my head's starting to hurt. Can we go back?" I lied They looked up. Reid's eyes flashed concern. Neil just looked worried.

"Of course, Little Red." I stared at him. "When did you start calling that?" Neil turned a "little red" himself. "Well, you have a bit of red in your hair." Reid piped up.

"I love it!" I smiled at them. I finally had a nickname and three best friends! Couldn't wait till tomorrow to be able to spend time and sing with them!!

Kimberly and I practically ran out of the mall and hopped in the car. We drove away.