Charlotte texted Carmen at exactly nine a.m. the next morning.
Charlotte: Hey change of plans. Can you go today?
Carmen replied about two minutes later. Not that Charlotte was counting.
Carmen: Yeah. I can meet you in about thirty minutes.
Charlotte scratched her head. Meet her? Could she not just swing by her house?
Charlotte: I can just swing by your house. What's your address?
Carmen replied again:
Well, uh, I'm at my dad's store right now.
Charlotte contemplated this. She could swing by her dads store and pick her up.
Charlotte: If you give me the address, I'll come meet you there. Are you working?
No. Gooch and my dad can handle it, I think. I'll ask.
Charlotte: Alright.
It was a few good minutes later before her phone was buzzing, signaling a call from her new friend.
"Hello?" Charlotte answered after hitting the green button.
"Hey," Carmen's voice sounded at the other end of the line.
"So, I can swing by your dads shop and meet you or we can just meet at our first stop-"
Charlotte was stopped abruptly at the end of her sentence as a loud crashing noise sounded through the phone.
"Hang on a sec," Carmen's voice said. Her voice was muffled, now, but Charlotte could clearly tell what she was saying.
"Guys, stop! I'm on the phone!"
Charlotte could hear the static as Carmen pulled her hand away from the speaker on her own phone. "Sorry," she said abruptly. "It gets kind of crazy here."
"How crazy can it get?" Charlotte laughed, and she heard the blonde do the same on the other end of the line.
"Well, we sell fake and decorative swords here, and everyone here is a guy. It also doesn't help that my dad is basically a man child."
Charlotte laughed. "So you want me to head there or what?"
"Yeah, I'll be standing outside. It's on 24 Market Street, a store called Junk 'N' Stuff."
"I live near there!" Charlotte exclaimed. "I live on fifth street."
"Neat-O," Carmen said. The phone's sound quality muffled again as Charlotte heard Carmen shout at someone.
"Dad, I'm leaving now!"
Charlotte could hear a man's voice in the background but the phone was muffled and he must've been too far away for Charlotte to eavesdrop on him, too.
Carmen's voice came back to the phone and Charlotte got excited.
"Alright, see you in thirty minutes,"
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye."
Charlotte hung up the phone and changed into a red and white long sleeve shirt, black jeans, and white converse and headed down the stairs.
"Bye, mom!"
"Bye, sweetie!"
Charlotte grabbed her coat off the hook by the door and headed out. She told her phone to take her to 24 Market Street.
Charlotte got there a little after thirty minutes and had gone into three different stores before remembering the actual name of the store Carmen was at and mentally facepalmed. The reactions she got when she went in looking for Carmen Manchester who was apparently nonexistent in any other store except Junk 'N' Stuff were hysterical.
Charlotte let the sound of jingling bells flow through her ears as she opened the door to Junk 'N' Stuff, the actual store this time. There were no glass bottles around the walls, like at Glass from the Past, or buckets that would be Jasper's heaven at Bucket Hut, and clothes didn't line the wall like at Linen Lining. Now that store was new, but Charlotte knew that the store wouldn't last long. She'd made a mental note to head there later, though, because there were some cute rompers, heels, long sleeved tees and jeans there.
"May I help you?"
Charlotte jumped back a step or two. She didn't notice when she came in that there was a mysterious foreign man at the front desk who Charlotte assumed worked the cash register.
"Uh, hi, uh, yes sir, uh, sorry," she stopped rambling and took a deep breath. "Hi, I'm Charlotte Page. Sorry about the rambling, you kind of caught me off guard. I'm here looking for a Carmen-"
"Do not worry about the rambling. I am Gooch, and I work the cash register here at Junk 'N' Stuff."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Gooch," Charlotte proceeded to stretch out her hand towards the foreign man named Gooch and shook his as he shook hers.
"So, uh, do you happen to know a Carmen-"
"Yes, I know who you're talking about. I'll just call her on my phone and tell her you're here."
"Well, I mean, I can call her, it's not too much trouble-"
Just then, said girl walked out of a doorway Charlotte assumed led to the back.
"Hey!" Charlotte said upon seeing the girl she'd met a couple nights ago. "I'm here after three stores. Where'd you run off to?"
"Oh, I had to, uh. . ." Charlotte pretended not to notice, but she could've sworn she saw a panicked glare cross Carmen's face at Gooch, if only for a split second. ". . . use the bathroom."
"Okayyy. . . that was awkward. Okay, let's go! Day doesn't last forever!"
"Bye, Gooch!" Carmen waved.
"Nice to meet you!" Charlotte said as she went out the door.
There was an awkward silence, because Charlotte knew both girls were thinking about something similar, if not the same thing. She considered bringing up the help me glare she saw Carmen shoot Gooch in the store but decided against it because it was the first time they'd hung out, ever, and Charlotte did not want to ruin the friendship she'd been getting with the girl who she bumped into outside of an old run-down grocery store.
Of course, Charlotte was the one to break the silence.
"So," she clapped her hands together once. "where to first? Nacho Ball, Glass from the Past-" a shudder went down Charlotte's spine. "- Swellview Mall?"
"I think we should go to the new thrift store down the street," Carmen suggested. "Afterwards, we can head over to Swellview Mall and eat at the food court. They've got enough stores to keep us there for hours."
"Yeah, that's probably our best bet," Charlotte agreed, remembering the mental note she'd made earlier about wanting to go back in that store later on. She just didn't think it'd go by so soon. "Have you enrolled in school yet? You said you were new here."
"Yeah, before I moved back in with my dad I went to Sunset Valley High School. Everyone called it Sunny Valley or Sun Valley High for short, though."
"Oh, yeah, that's really cool! I've heard of that place and I heard it's a really good school."
"Yeah, my sister got a scholarship already from there. They gave it to her before we left."
"Oh, nice! What's the scholarship for?"
"She got one for cosmetology and fashion. I design sometimes, too, but I didn't take any classes in it. I have a scholarship in karate and technology."
"Wow, I didn't know you could get scholarships for karate."
"Me either. We both got one in basketball. Anyways, we enrolled at Swellview High School, the one that does Junior High and High School students."
"That's where I go to school!" Charlotte exclaimed. Then, she felt something nag at her. Did she. . .
Did she say she moved back in with her dad?
"Uh, I know we just met and all and I don't wanna be too nosy, but. . ." she took a deep breath. ". . . did you say you moved back in with your dad?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm sixteen- I'll be seventeen in a few weeks. March 3rd. When I was thirteen or fourteen, my dad and I got into this huge fight. It was bad."
"Like a physical fight of an argument?"
"It was an argument," Carmen said quickly. "but I definitely could've thrown punches that night."
"So, what happened?"
"Well, before you can really understand this story, you gotta know. . . I'm adopted."
"Ah, okay."
"Me and my sister both. Anyways, me and my adoptive dad, Ray, we got into this huge argument that resulted in me leaving. When he adopted me he wanted to adopt my sister, too, but he didn't have enough money that day and he was going to have to wait. He thought he'd have the money by the next day or the week after that, but the adoption center told him they could only legally hold his papers on her until the next day. The next day he couldn't go because he didn't have the money, so someone else adopted her. When I left I went to the same adoption center but they wouldn't tell me who had adopted my sister. So, I did what any tech genius would do. I hacked into their system and got the records. I went to the address and the couple that had my sister legally adopted me. It's a weird story, really."
"So, why'd you come back?"
"I told Ray- my dad- I wouldn't come back unless he took both of us. Cadence wasn't originally supposed to go but my other adoptive parents paid for Cadence to come and sent her money along with Ray some money so he could take care of both of us. Now we both live with him."
"You're right, that is a weird story," she said as she heard the bell above the door chime as she opened it.
"You again?" the woman at the front desk said. It was an older lady, and Charlotte could read that her name tag said Karen something. She had short gray hair and wore a hot pink dress with a lime green apron over the skirt of the dress. "Who're you looking for this time?"
"Thank you, ma'am, but I found her." Charlotte said as she and Carmen turned to the blue jean stuff that was on the front right wall of the store.
"So, have you ever designed anything?" Carmen asked Charlotte.
Charlotte thought about it for a minute. She helped Patina design Piper's dress for Cactus Con a few months ago, and about a year ago, she designed an outfit for her famous cousin's photoshoot and red carpet walk. She attended that red carpet and there were a lot of paparazzi in her face that day. Oh, and she couldn't forget the time she designed an outfit for one of Jasper's buckets because Jasper wanted to use it for his candy basket that year on Halloween, and designing a jumpsuit for his mom's best friend's sister's cousin's niece was real fun (hint the sarcasm).
"I guess you could say I've designed a few things," Charlotte replied. "You?"
"I've. . . definitely had my fair share in it," she laughed.
"You know, I came in this store earlier because I forgot you texted me the name of the store I was supposed to come to in the first place," Charlotte nodded her head towards Carmen. "and I thought I saw a lot of stuff in here, but now that I've looked in here. . ." Charlotte lowered her voice. ". . . there's not really anything here,"
"Yeah," Carmen whispered back. "Let's just thank her and head out."
|*~*|
The girls made it to Swellview Mall an hour later. Normally it would only take thirty minutes but it took them about twenty to get the woman to leave them alone and about ten to run around the block to lose some random kid who felt like chasing them. By the time they got there, they were really tired. And really hungry.
"What do you wanna eat?" Carmen asked Charlotte.
"I like everything here," said Charlotte. "You pick."
"Nope." Carmen insisted. "I'm not playing that game. You pick."
"How about-" Charlotte said, determined to find a happy medium. She is Charlotte, after all. "-we both order what we want and then go sit in the food court and eat. Then we can get dessert. Then, whatever from there."
Carmen shrugged. "Good with me,"
"Me too," said Charlotte as the girls went their separate ways.
As Charlotte cruised through Swellview Mall's food court, passing the Sushi Dushi stand, the Taco King stand, and a couple of others, she thought about how. . . odd Carmen had acted whenever she mentioned anything to do with where she lived or anything to do with her dad's store.
She got to the end of the line of food stands and had to turn back around because she had gotten so lost in thought. She didn't want to look dumb in front of a good bit of people (not that she cared what they thought, but . . . still) so she did the second thing she could think of. The first thing was to go to Sushi Dushi and order there, but that was before she decided she wasn't in the mood for sushi, and, plus, the Nacho Ball stand was closer to where the two girls agreed to meet back up, So, naturally, she went with her second choice.
"Nacho Ball, how may I help you?" the woman behind the counter said as if she was answering the phone.
"Hi, yes, may I get the-" Charlotte pointed towards the item she was ordering on the menu. "nacho platter?"
The woman typed her order onto the screen so she could add up her total.
"Nacho platter," the woman repeated. "Would you like the side with it?"
"Please," Charlotte said without thinking twice. She wasn't sure why a nacho platter needed something to compliment it, but, whatever. "I'll have the small chili cheese fry."
"And to drink?"
Charlotte pondered the menu. "Sweet tea, please."
The woman typed the rest of Charlotte's order onto the screen. "Is that all?"
"Yes, ma'am," Charlotte said, pulling out her wallet. It was small enough to fit into the back pocket of her jeans.
"Your total is eighteen dollars and fifty-three cents."
"Thank you so much," Charlotte said as she paid the woman money for her food.
"Can I get a name for an order? It'll be out in ten."
"Charlotte." she smiled. "Thanks so much."
"You're welcome." the woman smiled. Charlotte went to sit at one of the tables located in the food court as she heard the woman take the next order. "Nacho Ball, how may I help you?"
After twelve minutes of scrolling through TwitFlash with her legs crossed, Charlotte heard her name boom over the loudspeakers all over the food court, telling her that her food was ready. She stood up and walked over to the stand and collected her food.
"Sorry it took a couple of extra minutes," the cashier apologized. "Someone spilled something all over the floor."
"Don't worry about it." Charlotte waved her off. "Thanks again!" Charlotte said.
The girl on the other side of the counter shrugged. "I'm just doing my job."
Charlotte laughed as she walked off. Well, she was nice.
A few minutes later, Charlotte walked in and slid into a booth about four seats (that's two booths) away from the entrance. Carmen slid in about two minutes later. There was a window at their booth, so they could see everyone that walked into Swellview Mall. Not that they paid any attention to them.
A couple of minutes went by in silence, and Charlotte noticed just how similar the two girls' styles were. Carmen was wearing a matching jacket and joggers, grey with a line going down the middle. The line was made up of black and red on either side, and the middle was filled in white. The line was on both sleeves of the unzipped jacket and her joggers. Her shirt was a black halter top that came just barely above the waistline of the pants.
Charlotte's own outfit consisted of ripped up skinny jeans with designs all over them, and a yellow baby tee-shirt that had a split in the sleeve. It was like a tank top on her shoulders and a tee-shirt on her arms.
"I like your outfit," Charlotte blurted suddenly before she could stop it. She didn't even know she was thinking it until she said it out loud. She felt her face get hot as Carmen looked up with noodles from the Chinese restaurant she'd ordered her food from hanging out of her mouth.
Carmen ate the food quickly and now her face was red.
"Sorry," she apologized. "You caught me off guard. Mid-bite, to be exact." she laughed.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it," she said. "I honestly didn't even know I was going to say it." It was Charlotte's turn to laugh.
"Oh, yeah," Carmen facepalmed. "I guess I should say thank you. I like your outfit, too."
"Oh, thanks," Charlotte replied. "I've had these jeans for years if you can't tell."
"If you want the truth," Carmen said. "Those pants look like they've been through the wringer."
The girls finished their food a few minutes later.
"Woah, talk about a similar style," Carmen said, standing up. "We even have the same shoes."
"Oh, yeah," Charlotte exclaimed. "Except yours are high-tops and mine are, well, not."
Both girls laughed as they made their way (in their white Converse) to the trash can to throw their plates away.
After shopping in a few stores (and maxing out their debit cards at a hundred dollars which, mind you, their parents would kill them for later), the girls decided to go get smoothies with the extra change they found in their wallets.
"Steakout Smoothie, how may I help you?" the guy at the cash register asked as the girls made their way to the front. Turns out, the only smoothie store in Swellview Mall was one where they sold steak and smoothies. Go figure, since they did in Swellview, which is sort of known for its weird stores, and rivalry with Bordertown. Oh, and Captain Man and Captain Lightning.
After the girls reached the front desk, they ordered.
"Can I get a strawberry lemonade smoothie?" Carmen nodded as the guy typed her order. "Strawberry lemonade," he repeated. He looked at Charlotte. "And for you?"
"A raspberry lemonade smoothie, please," Charlotte nodded as the guy typed her order.
"A raspberry lemonade smoothie and a strawberry lemonade smoothie, correct?"
"Yes, sir," Charlotte and Carmen nodded.
"Is that all?"
"Yes, sir," the girls nodded again.
"Alrighty then," the cashier smiled. "That'll be eighteen dollars and sixty-five cents,"
Charlotte and Carmen pulled out their last ten dollar bills they found in their wallets. They had agreed to split the payment and not pay each other back, because both girls had insisted. That left two dollars to their name which they proceeded to put in the tip jar.
Charlotte and Carmen sat at the table and told stories about their lives and got to know each other a little better when the same guy from the cash register came out and brought them their smoothies.
"Is he carrying a large order of cinnamon sticks?" Charlotte noticed.
"Maybe they're someone else's order," Carmen whispered as the guy arrived at their table-
-and he brought both smoothies and the not-ordered cinnamon sticks to their table.
"We didn't order any cinnamon sticks," Charlotte pointed out awkwardly. She didn't want to be rude, but at the same time, she didn't remember ordering or paying for any cinnamon sticks.
"They're on the house," the guy smiled and nodded as he walked away.
"That was weird," Charlotte admitted. "Maybe everyone gets free cinnamon sticks? Maybe for an appetizer, or maybe it's complimentary."
Just then, another (different) waiter walked out to deliver someone else's food. Charlotte looked forward and Carmen turned around to see behind her where the waiter walked out.
She turned back around with a smirk. "I don't see any complimentary cinnamon sticks on their table."
"Whatever," Charlotte rolled her eyes. "I don't want them."
Carmen laughed. "Honestly, after that, me either."
It was Charlotte's turn to laugh. "We can just split them and take them home."
"Yeah," Carmen replied. "I can take some to my dad."
"I'll take some to Jasper." she stopped a waiter walking by. "Can I get two small to-go boxes, please?"
"Of course," the third waiter said as he walked off.
"Wait. Jasper?" Carmen said, confused. "Who's Jasper?"
"Jasper Dunlop, I've known him since we were babies," Charlotte said. "Wait, did I not tell you about Jasper?"
"Mm-mm." Carmen shook her head.
"You're not mad, are you?"
"No! You've got the wrong idea. I was just confused." she apologized quickly.
"Oh, okay," Charlotte laughed. "Sorry, I just thought I told you about Jasper."
"Are you two a thing?" Carmen asked as the waiter brought them their boxes.
"No," Charlotte said quickly, packing her half of the cinnamon sticks in her box. "He's like my brother. That's it. You got a pen?"
"Yeah," Carmen said, finishing up packing her half of cinnamon sticks in her box. She pulled a pen out of her back pocket. Charlotte took it and wrote her name on the box. Carmen did the same after Charlotte finished.
"So now that that's out of the way, I-" Carmen cut herself off by gasping. Apparently, someone had knocked into her. Charlotte quickly walked over to help, after her mouth hanging open for a good thirty seconds, and helped her friend up. The person who knocked into her did the same and so did the little girl that was with them- after looking up from her phone.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," a boy's voice said. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Carmen answered. "You can't cry over spilled milk. . .or smoothies, I guess."
The boy laughed. "I'm Henry." he extended his arm to both Charlotte and Carmen. "I've been hanging out with my little sister, Piper, all day. We were coming to get smoothies when I bumped into you."
"I'm Carmen," she extended her arm to reach his hand. "This is my friend, Charlotte. We've been hanging out all day and were just about to leave when you bumped into me."
Henry laughed.
"I'm Charlotte." she extended her arm to Henry. "Nice to meet you."
"Wait!" Piper jumped in between her and Henry. "Charlotte? As in, the Charlotte Page?"
"I didn't realize I was famous, but, yeah!" she extended her arm towards the girl.
"I'm Piper Hart!" she exclaimed, taking Charlotte's hand and shaking it. "Can I get a selfie with you? My friends will be so jealous!"
"Wait, Piper, how do you two know each other?" Henry asked. "Please tell me you don't run around asking random people for selfies."
"I don't. I follow Charlotte's design page on TwitFlash. 'Designsbychar'?" she said after taking the picture.
"Wait, what's your last name?" Charlotte said suddenly.
"Hart," Piper answered carefully. "Why?"
"I follow you on TwitFlash."
"Really?" Piper said.
"Yeah!"
"You know," Henry butt in before the conversation could go anywhere else. "I can buy you another smoothie, Carmen. What kind was it?"
"No, no, seriously, it's fine-"
"Strawberry lemonade smoothie." Charlotte smirked.
"Alright, be right back." he smiled.
After he walked off, Carmen turned to Charlotte. "DUDE! What was that about?!"
"You know," Piper said, mimicking her brother's gesture from earlier. "My brother flirts with everyone, but, when he buys you something, it means he really likes you. Like, a lot."
Carmen's face turned red. "I hate you, Charlotte. So much."
"I know!" Charlotte shrugged.
"Hey, I'm back-"
"I bet I know who you hate more." someone said, tapping on Carmen's shoulder from behind.
"What the-" Carmen turned around, and her voice darkened. "You."
The girl in front of her smirked. "You."
"Who?" Charlotte, Piper, and Henry pointed at the girl in unison.
"I'm Sophie Summers," the girl kept smirking. "Anyone who's not Carmen Manchester can call me Opie."
"Are you Carmen Manchester?" Henry whispered quickly in her ear from behind.
"Yeah," Carmen answered quickly and sort of sassily.
"Okay," Henry answered awkwardly before returning to where he was before.
"Listen, Opie," Carmen stuck her finger out in front of you. "I don't have time for you right now, so you can just leave me alone-"
To her luck, her phone rang from the floor. She hadn't even realized it was there until now. Bending over to pick it up, she answered it."
"Hey, dad. Is there an emergency?"
"A simple what's up every now and then would be nice. Yeah, you gotta get here quick! Dr. Minyak and Nurse Cohort are robbing Swellview Bank with a bunch of ninjas!"
"I'm on my way!" she hung up the phone. She noticed Opie and her gang were gone and silently thanked her (though she would never admit it) for it.
"Here's your drink," Henry said. "What was that all about?"
"I gotta go. There was an emergency-"
"What? An emergency?" Charlotte exclaimed."What is it? Where?"
"Uhhh. . ." Carmen started to move away. "My. . . house. . . is on fire!" she said before she could process it. She then proceeded to run off. Fast.
"Should we follow her?" Henry pointed his finger in the direction Carmen had ran.
"We should all follow her," Charlotte said. After taking one step, Henry reached out and grabbed Charlotte's arm. She turned around.
"You don't happen to have her number, do you?"
"I'll give it to you later, now, let's go!"