Chapter Twenty-One
“Jules!” I heard my name being called. I looked up from my phone, and grinned.
“Hi Izzy!” I said, running up to her.
“Hey!” she said.
“What about me?” Kim asked, pouting.
“Oh… hey Kim!” I said. Mia snorted. I really wanted to kill that bitch… or at least punch her…
“So you guys ready to shop?” Izzy asked.
“Is that even a question?” Mia said. We were at the mall, and the plan was to shop for a few hours, and then go back over to Izzy’s house to chill. Owen and Logan weren’t coming with, because shopping wasn’t on their list of priorities.
“Where to first?” Kim asked, twirling her hair. I hate when girls do that- twirling their hair to appear.... I don’t know… attractive, I guess? I think it makes them look dumb and unintelligent.
“Pink!” Mia suggested excitedly. I shook my head. I don’t shop there anymore. It’s an okay store and all, but some of the stuff is just… trashy. Also, it just reminds me of the person I was, and how I was wrongly influenced by the people around me.
“That’s what I was going to say!” Izzy said, linking arms with Mia. Those two…
“OMG! Jules do you like totally want to go into like Pink too?” Kim asked, in a mocking voice.
“Yeah! Totally!” I said, mimicking her sound. We both looked at each other, and started cracking up.
“We do not sound like that!” Mia said, as we started out in the direction of the frightful store named after a color.
“Who said anything about the two of you?” I questioned. “For all you know, we could’ve been taking our inspiration from these two… lovely girls I know, who go by the names of Emily and Taylor.”
“Okay, let’s just go,” Izzy said, trying to avoid conflict at all costs. I had noticed that a lot about her; whenever something emerged that could lead into a heated “debate,” she would tend to step in and extinguish it, before the flame turned into a full on fire. I guess she just liked keeping the peace, and arguing wasn’t part of that.
“Okay,” Kim said agreeably. The four of us walked down the glistening tiled mall floor, stopping occasionally to peer into a window that caught someone’s attention. I stopped twice to stare in awe at two of the captivating shoe store displays we passed, and was hauled away by Kim for zoning out. I can’t help it! Shoes are just so amazing!
“Ready?” Izzy asked, as we stood in front of the brightly colored, dimly lit retailer.
“Yup,” I gulped. We stepped into the store, as a wave of nostalgia hit me. I had been in the same situation many times before; the only difference was, I didn’t have real friends by my side… and Mia. Returning to this store two short years later, without the people I thought to be my best friends, felt weird.
“Hi! Welcome to Pink!” a salesgirl greeted cheerfully. “I’m Allie, just tell me if you need any help!”
“Thanks,” Kim regarded the blonde politely.
“Why are we here again?” I groaned.
“Because I wanted a pair of yoga pants, and Mia wants a Raglan shirt,” Izzy answered, as a near table drew her in, capturing her sole with its black, stretchy pants. I watched as Mia carried herself over to a rack of blouses ranging from vibrant pink to dismal black. Yup, they were gone.
“Oh,” I said, looking over to Kim who hadn’t fallen under the trance yet. “And Kim, do you also intend on becoming a zombie like the two of them?”
“Who says I’m not?” she asked, stretching her arms out and moaning in a zombie-like fashion.
“Of course. For all you know, I could be a vampire!” I said, branching out even farther on the ridiculousness that we were talking.
“That you could,” she said, straightening back up. I noticed her eyes were racing about the store, and I could tell she was resisting the urge to also pounce on a sweatshirt in the distance.
“Go,” I told her, pushing her in the direction of a shelf lined with outerwear, clearly displaying the store’s name across the front.
“Okay! I’ll be right back!” she said, rushing away. I sighed, as I saw boy about my age standing the corner of the store, texting. I think that may be worse than animal cruelty- when a girlfriend drags her boyfriend into a store like Pink, and tells him, “I’ll just be a few!” and takes the next hour of his life away from him. It’s awful.
I left the spot in the middle of the store where I had been standing, and wandered over to the corner where the boy was. I stopped walking, and slouched against the polka-dotted wall. The boy looked up, and gave me a head nod. I didn’t laugh, and returned the action, by nodding my head in his direction. I felt so stupid doing it. Do boys honestly think that they’re cool when they do that?
I pulled out my phone, unlocked it, and flipped through the endless pages of apps I had somehow obtained over time. I got to the last page, the most recent ones, and clicked on the small gold square. The application opened, exposing the menu, and I tapped the “Play” icon. I heard the odd sound of a monkeys, and turned my phone to silent. A digital stonewall appeared, and I got my game face on.
After two hours of constant nagging, and Temple Running later, I asked, “Are we done yet?”
“Almost!” Izzy called from a dressing room. I had moved locations, so I was nearer to Izzy and Kim.
“How about you Kim?” I questioned, looking down at my sad phone, and it’s depressing 14% of battery remaining.
“Just a sec!” she answered from another spot.
“Hey Jules, I think Mia might be about ready to go!” Izzy said, as I heard movement come from the other side of her thin curtain.
“Yeah, that’s great for her!” I said, thumping my foot on the dark, wood flooring, and receiving a snobby look from one of the salespeople. Bitch.
“Jules, just wait a few more minutes and we promise we’ll be done!” Kim said.
“Fine,” I groaned.
“Okay, I’m seriously leaving! Let’s go!” I declared, after another thirty minutes of boringness. I was about ready to walk out of the store unaccompanied.
“Wait!” Izzy cried, running out of the dressing room, fully clothed.
“Are you ready or what?” I asked.
“I’m ready! Let’s go, Kim! Where’d Mia go?” she asked, gripping a collection of hangers, with pieces of sewn together cloth attached to them.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” I replied, anxiously waiting for Kim to pop out of a dressing room, so we could leave.
“Hey Iz!” Mia said. She had paper bag with the word “Pink” on the front, causing me to come to the conclusion that she had already purchased her items.
“Hey Mia!” Izzy said. “You got your stuff?”
“Yup,” she nodded, holding up the bag victoriously.
“Okay, cool. I need Kim, so the two of us can go buy our things, and then, Jules, we can leave.”
“Okay, good!” I said. “Should I call my brother to come pick us up?”
“Yeah, totally,” she said, smiling. I flipped out my phone, and found that it was down to a tragic 12%. I unlocked it, and texted Adam, “come get us. plz<3.” Thirty seconds later I received his response, “b rite thr.”
“Okay! I’m done!” Kim said, pivoting out of the small room she had taken forever in.
“Finally!” I said. “So can we go?”
“I have to actually buy this stuff first,” she said, shoving a pile of pinks, blacks, whites, yellows, and greens in my direction.
“Uh huh,” I responded.
“Well Jules, you could go wait outside for us with Mia,” Izzy suggested.
“That’s right, I could!” I said, not trying to add too much sarcasm to my voice. I like Izzy, and sometimes my sarcasm, and individualistic wit can come across a little bit… intimidating at times.
“Okay, so the two of you go, and I promise we’ll be out in no later than five minutes!” Izzy said, pushing Mia towards me. Mia gave me a cold look that displayed utter and complete aversion. Don’t worry Mia, I’m not the biggest fan of yours either!
“Do we have to?” I asked.
“Yes! Now go!” Izzy said, shooing the two of us away. Mia glared at me, as we walked through the store, all the neon and yoga pants becoming a blur behind us. We exited the store, and I leaned against the frame of the entrance, not wanting to reenter it. Mia stood in the middle of the mall floor, opposite me. We stood there, not daring to talk, or look at each other. Then, a question arose from the depths of my mind.
“Why do you hate me?” I asked suddenly.
She was caught off guard by my question and in a flustered response, fired back a question to counter my own, “Why do you hate me?”
“I don’t,” I answered simply. I’m not hater… for most things and people. I don’t hate Mia- strong dislike, yes; but never hate. Hatred is a strong word, and there’s already so much of it in the world, why add more? Hatred is just ignorance and a lack of understanding the other person’s viewpoint… or a deep seeded loathing that can be explained and justified.
“Yeah, you do,” she said, squinting at me.
“No, I really don’t.”
“Then why did you terrorize me in 7th grade?” she trembled. I groaned. Why did she have to bring up 7th grade? I’m a different person! I don’t want people to think I’m the same girl! I am physically the same person, but I’ve changed! I grew up! I realized the life I had lived was a lie, and that I didn’t like it!
“I’m not going to blame Emily and Taylor for forcing me to, because in the end it was my decision, and I take full responsibility for it; but what I can tell you is that it was because I was… I was jealous,” I found myself saying, not fully believing the words coming out of my mouth.
“Yeah right,” she scoffed, also not accepting my answer as the truth. “What would you have to be jealous of? You had everything. You had the boyfriend, the friends, the popularity, everyone knew your name; you were living the dream. Hell, with your rep you could’ve gotten away with murder!”
I laughed lightly at the last comparison. I’m not smart enough to get away with murder. Even if I tried, which I’m not planning on doing, I would probably screw something up. I placed that amusing thought aside, and looked up at her.
“You don’t know what happened. No one does. I wasn’t happy with who I was. You at least had friends, real friends. Real considerate friends. Real considerate friends who you could be yourself around. I didn’t have that,” I sighed. “So I ask again, why do you hate me?”
“On the first day, that one that you came over to Izzy’s house unannounced, I knew who you were. It wasn’t hard to figure out. Your appearance hadn’t changed that much. Sure you looked more natural, and less like a seal had painted your face, but I knew it was you,” she paused. “What was hard to figure out was why you didn’t just come out and tell us you were Julia Tylers. You told me my shoes were sick. I thought you were making fun of my style.” I opened my mouth to object, but she continued, “Then, there was Logan. I had been crushing on him for months, and then you just came around and ruined all the progress I had made. I hated you for that. I knew Logan. I knew his story, his history, his life- and you didn’t. Also, once you kept hanging around us, I feared you were taking away the people closest to me; the people I could trust. I guess I was… jealous.”
“So this was all because of a pair of shoes, which by the way I did genuinely think were epic, friends, and some dumb boy?” I asked.
“I guess…” she said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
“Well, I think you should know that I’m not interested in screwing up your life, or Logan.”
“You’re not?” A bewildered expression surfaced on her face. Right, because I really have enough interest in Mia to plan and wreck her entire world… again. Shit. I really sucked back then!
“No,” I said, laughing.
“Oh.”
“So are we,” I dreaded the word I was about to speak, “cool?”
“I think so. I’m sorry Jules,” she said, adding a weak smile as sort of a peace offering.
“I’m sorry too, for everything.”
“Thanks. So… you don’t hate me?”
“Never have. At one point I did dislike you, but never hate. And what about you, do you hate me?”
“No,” she shook her head.
“Okay good! Because as fun as people hating me is, there comes a point when it’s not the most pleasant thing.”
“Yeah. Envy just brings out the bitch inside me.”
“As does it for every teenage girl,” I muttered. She smiled. Mia actually SMILED at me. That is what I would call making headway.
“Are you two ready to go?” Izzy said, startling me.
“Finally!” I said, looking at their shopping bag filled arms. “What took you guys so long?”
“Well the cashier was an idiot,” Kim said.
“Kim! What she means is that the cashier person was a little… slow.”
“Right, an idiot. She didn’t know what to do.”
“She was a new employee!” Izzy defended.
“Doesn’t matter. We got our stuff, so now, Jules, we can leave,” Kim ended it. Ah yes! That glorious word: leave. No more Pink, no more bad memories, and no more boring shopping! I think that the best thing I got out of this little expedition was probably that nice “heartfelt” talk with Mia. I think she understands me a little bit better, and I for one know that I have a much better understanding of her.