The mall has always been the hangout for all the populars at my old middle school, East Ridge Middle. They were filthy rich so even though they couldn’t necessarily drive themselves to the mall, they had their drivers to do it for them. They spent hours here and probably tens of thousands of dollars. I’m not saying that I don’t come from an extremely wealthy family because if I did, I’d be lying, but in my family, we don’t just drops thousands of dollars for things we don’t really need. I’m pretty much given free reign with my access to my bank account but at an early age, I was taught the value of a dollar and that I don’t necessarily need an umpteenth pair of shoes when I already have so many at home. Anyways, the minute Elena and I walked in, the place was filled with all of my old classmates. They were all over the place. At the food court, in the shoe store, everywhere! And as cliché as it seems, the minute I walked in, every perfect head turned and trained its eyes right on me. Almost instantaneously after, the whispers started running their way around the mall. Walking with my head held high and a smile on my face, I walked into the Chanel store ignoring the whispers of “Who was that girl? She looks like a supermodel, but she’s so familiar,” “Was that Arianna Mareno?” “Oh my god, no way! It can’t be her! She was so dorky back in middle school. Do you remember what she wore? Those baggy clothes she always wore and God, those braces. There’s no way it can be her.” “Damn, that girl is fiiiine! Anybody have her number?” With perfect timing, my sister turns to me and says, “Arianna! Look at this dress. It would be perfect for your first day of school, don’t you think?” Suddenly, the whispers increased by tenfold. The secret was officially out and just like I wanted, every single one of their jaws was dropped right down to the floor.
Suddenly the mall was a cacophony of text message alerts and whispers. Nobody could believe that the dorky girl everybody loved to tease back in middle school had turned out to be so… hot! I gazed around the mall, loving the way all my old tormentors were in awe now. All of the sudden, evil bitch numero uno aka Britney Jenkins and her clones, evil bitch numero dos and evil bitch numero tres Samantha Parker and Hannah Jones had walked up to me. I wanted to laugh out loud as soon as the words “Arianna! Oh my gosh! It’s sooo great to see you! What’s your number? We so need to hang sometime. Totally loving your outfit!” came out as Britney Jenkins mouth followed by a chorus of “Ooh yeah! Love it!” by clone 1 and clone 2. I had to bite my cheek to stop myself from laughing before I said, “Britney! The last time I saw you, you had a different nose and you were laughing as I stood humiliated, soaked in punch at the gym.” The smile dropped from her face and she stood there, shamed. Then she said, “I’m soooo sorry for all the shit everybody put you through! Really, I am! I’m hoping that we can put all that behind us and be friends.” I smiled, “Oh no it’s nothing. I was just teased relentlessly all three years of middle school and then humiliated at the end of middle school. It’s totally something a mere apology will fix. NOT! If you want to be my friend so badly, you’re going to have to prove it. I’ll talk to you later. My sister and I have some serious shopping and bonding to do.” I spun around and immediately knocked into somebody, definitely a male considering how hard the chest is. Looking up, I scrunched my nose in distaste as I saw the face of my other main tormentor, Mason Sanchez. I was just waiting for him to say “Watch where you’re going, Loser!” but to my surprise he never did. He looked at me with a smile on his face and to my utter horror, gave me a big hug. “Arianna! You look smokin babe!” came from those wretched lips. I stopped myself from shuddering in horror, and said, “Would I still look ‘smokin’ if you threw another bowl of punch at me?” and he said, “Babe! About that, you see I was stupid. You know how when a guy likes a girl, they make fun of them. So it was really that I had a big huge crush on you.” I looked him straight in the eye and said, “Well hate to break it to ya, sweetheart, but you and me are never going to happen. So I suggest that you get over this silly little crush on me.” I walked away from all of them and headed towards the Free People store. As I was walking towards the dress rack, I heard loud footsteps behind me and thinking it was Mason again, I said “Didn’t I already crush your dreams of ever getting with me, Mason? Do you really want me to do it again?” and I heard a chuckle, and then the words, “The way you crushed that player’s pride was pretty awesome. I don’t know why everybody teased you back then. Not that you let them. You always stood up for yourself. I remember when Britney Jenkins tripped you and was all like, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you,” which was a load of crap and you just sarcastically replied with “Well, I am invisible.” I laughed and turned around to face Parker Daniels, and smiled, “I have a question. You were popular, but you never teased me like the rest of them. Why is that?” He looked at me and said, “I don’t know. I guess I just always thought you were pretty cute. Your braces were adorable. I always tried to make Mason lay off you, but he never listened. When we all started high school, I just stopped talking to him because he became this huge player. And I didn’t like how he was such a huge asshole. You look amazing, Arianna! Not that you didn’t look great before, you just look even better now.” I laughed and said, “Thanks! Do you want to grab a bite to eat with my sister Elena and I? I’m starving!” He nodded and said, “Sure! Want to go grab some In N Out? I don’t peg you the type of girl who just sits there, toying with a salad.” I laughed and said, “I love salad and healthy food, but I also eat a lot of junk food. I think the thing I missed most about Cali was In N Out. I just can never eat all the fries plus the burger.” He laughed and said, “We can split the fries.” We headed to the In N Out burger outside the mall and got a booth.
We talked for hours and hours about anything and everything. After about thirty minutes, my sister got tired of being a third wheel and took my car keys and drove home. Parker and I were just sitting there talking for three hours. By the time we stopped, we realized that it was 6 in the evening. He gave me a ride home.
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Sorry it's a bit late. I might edit the end of this chapter and add more detail to the last paragraph, but I was in a hurry to finish it and upload it since it was so late. Let me know if you want me to add more detail to the last paragraph!
