Gifted

Chapter 14

Rita was in the rotunda, all of the noise was putting her on edge, but she wanted to get her uneasiness under control, so she waited. Rita scanned all of the faces, they were happily chatting with people of their own groups. Alphas with Alphas, Bravos with Bravos, Deltas with Deltas, already their group names were dictating who they hung out with. Rita looked for her friends, or any familiar face, for all she knew, she could be looking right at them and not know it. They could look like entirely different people, Rita scanned the faces of teenagers as they walked past, boasting about their new abilities. Rita stood in the center of it all, wearing a bulky jacket to hide the bumps that her wings made. There were footsteps behind her, approaching her, Rita tensed up and almost ran away by the time they were right behind her.

Why am I being so paranoid?

Rita sensed the touch before it made contact, she could feel it before it was there, Rita turned around to see Amber, or what resembled Amber at least. 

“Hiya Rita! Look! I’ve got ears, which look like wolf ears and a tail, and wolf teeth. And you look so different, older. The DNA must have made us all mature faster because everyone looks older. I wonder why? Maybe because animals have shorter lifespans? Either way, it’s still super cool, right? Rita, were you even listening?”

Rita jumped, she had zoned out.

“No, well yes, I mean, I was listening.”

 Rita chuckled nervously. Amber stared at her for a second before nodding with an unconvinced look on her face, the look quickly turned to disbelief as she noticed Rita’s wardrobe.

“That’s all like three sizes too small on you.”

 Rita looked down and noticed that Amber was right, her heels were visible because she had grown about an inch (Which was an all-time low for Rita who usually grew much quicker) and her shirt showed at the waist, her shirt was being stretched way too much in certain places. Her face went red, had she really been wearing this in front of everyone? Rita had never been one for shopping but she hurriedly begged to go to the mall without hesitation.

Amber laughed and pulled out her card with a smile.

“It’ll be on me.” She said happily.

The two of them walked to through the rotunda to the mall, I was almost empty; everyone seemed to already have upgraded their wardrobes. The only things in the clothing sections other than pajamas were their uniforms, well, they must have been uniforms because they were the only things there and they all looked exactly the same. Rita was inspecting the futuristic outfit when she was pulled away by Amber. She was dragged up to the counter, a man stood there, the countertop was bare except for an expensive looking credit card scanner.

“You said you were bird right?” Amber asked under her breath.

Rita nodded nervously. 

Amber raised her voice slightly so the man behind the counter could hear them.

“Bird, Rita Y.”

The man nodded and bent down, he came up with a heavy looking package.

“Here you go.” He grunted, Amber paid and they walked to the changing room. 

“Why did you buy them? What if they don’t fit?” Rita fretted, not wanting her friend to waste her money.

“Relax, they’re custom made.”

Rita felt a little more at ease as she heard this, because that meant that her friend hadn’t gone through too much trouble for her. She entered the changing room, closed the door behind her and undressed, she pulled one of the several outfits. They were all a metallic silver with an electric yellow stripe going down the right side, the bright silver faded to several shades darker at the ends of the arms and legs. On the left collarbone area there was a silhouette of a bird identical to Rita’s. Rita pulled it on after putting on her new undergarments, the hardest parts were the wings there were two slits in the back for them to fit through but they were so small. She fingered the hole and found that it stretched easily, she slipped if one and enjoyed the satisfying feeling she had over the fact that she had figured it out. She found a pair of socks in the bag right on top of some tissue paper. Then she pulled out a pair of dark brown boots at the bottom of the bag, they went up several inches and had a pair of laces ready to be tied. Rita put them on and tightened the laces, she felt the boot become tighter the more she pulled until she was positive that they wouldn’t slip off. She took her card and slipped into her bag and put her bracelet back on. She moved around a bit, if felt tight. She put her old clothes in the bag along with the rest of the new outfits and picked it up after putting on her charm bracelet and walked outside.