The Princess Sisters (The Princess Sisters Series) (8 page)

Chapter
Twelve

Saturday,
July 24th

“I’m
going to the mall,” Mary shouted.  “Who wants to come?”  The Princess sisters
froze and all looked at one another.  They were gathered around Belle’s small
TV again watching a musical
and enjoying a hearty breakfast of Oreos and
chocolate milk.  Not two minutes prior, they had been discussing how to spend
their afternoon and Aurora suggested a trip to the mall.

“Whoa! 
Your mom has ESP or something,” she said, wiping the stray milk from her chin.

“Yeah,
because my mom never goes to the mall on Saturdays,” said Belle, rolling her
eyes.  She got to her feet and pulled open the door, just as Mary got to the
top step.

“Can
you give us a few minutes?” Belle asked.  Mary took one look in the room and
shook her head.

“You
are all in your pajamas still?  It’s almost noon!”

“Mom. 
Are you really that surprised?”

“No,
not really,” Mary sighed.  “I’ll give you fifteen minutes.  Go!”  The girls all
scrambled to their feet and began rushing around.  Clothes, lipstick, and
hairspray swirled around the room like a tornado.  Most of their hair ended up
in pony tails to cover over the 80’s crimping from last night.

“You
girls ready?”

Ten
feet thundered down the stairs and rushed passed Mary, who stood holding open
the front door. 

“I
guess that answers that question,” she said, locking the door behind them. 
Belle sat comfortably in the front seat while the other four groaned as they
tried closing the back door.

“Ouch! 
That’s my leg!” Aurora screamed.

“Well,
tuck it in better,” said Snow White, trying desperately to suck in enough for
the back door to click.  Aurora had gotten in last, giving her the position of
laying across the laps of her other three cousins.  She was finding it
difficult to fold her long legs in a way that was actually comfortable.

“We
all used to fit in a backseat better,” she grumbled.

“I
used to have a bigger car,” Mary retorted.  “Maybe this wasn’t such a good
idea.  Maybe a couple of you should stay home.”

“No!”
The word came at Mary as if in surround sound.

“I’m
okay,” Aurora assured her.  She bent her neck against one of the doors, her
head resting on Cinderella’s knee, then twisted her right leg to fit on the
floor in a position that only a dancer could pull off.  Snow White took
advantage of the moment to finally close the door and push down the lock.

“See?”
she said.  “We fit.”  Mary laughed softly at one glance in the backseat.

“Alright”
she said, putting the car in reverse.  Belle reached a hand across her mom and
gently grabbed her arm.

“Can
I drive?” she asked eagerly.

“Yeah,
that’s just what I need.”  Mary shook her head as she laughed.  “A ticket for
having a passenger without a seatbelt and allowing an underage driver to
drive.”

“But
I’m gonna be sixteen soon,” Belle whined.  “I have to learn some time.”

“Yes,
but that sometime is not today.”

“Please
mom?”

“If
it helps your decision, I will jump from the vehicle if Belle is in the driver
seat!” Aurora said from the backseat.

“I
second that!” said Snow White.  They were all still laughing when Mary pulled
into a parking spot just outside the large department store.  But Belle didn’t
find it very funny.

“Alright,
I have to find a few new outfits for work.  I’ll meet you girls at the food
court in two hours.”  The Princess sisters waved good bye to Mary, and began
wandering among the racks of clothes.  They held up the ugliest tops they could
find and suggested them to each other.

“Cinderella,
try this on, it’s perfect for you!” said Aurora holding up a multi-colored tank
top that resembled a kindergartner’s artwork.

“Ooooh
Snow, this is so your style!” Belle added, tossing her a blindingly pink top
that clashed fiercely with Snow White’s hair.  Ariel was sorting through the
clearance rack and the others joined her when she burst out laughing.  She
emerged from behind the piles of clothes, with a fuzzy, orange sweater pulled
over her T-shirt.

“I
look like a giant, fuzzy pumpkin.”  She puffed her cheeks up with air and put
her arms out to appear more round, then she waddled toward the others.  They
all joined in her laughter but stopped suddenly when a clerk walked passed,
giving them a very dirty look.

“Check
it out,” said Aurora, who had wandered further down the aisle.  She was
standing in front of the sunglasses rack with a pair of bright red rims on her
face.  “Are these hot or what?”  The next ten minutes was spent trying to see
who could find the pair with the biggest rims.  Belle came out the winner, with
some brown sunglasses that extended almost two inches past her face.  They were
all laughing so hard, Cinderella started crying.

“You
look like a bug!” she squealed in between sobs.  Then Snow White snorted, which
got them laughing even harder.

“I’m
afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”  The girls turned around to see
the same sour puss who had scowled at them earlier.  They quickly stifled their
giggles and whispered ‘sorry’ as they walked as fast as they could into the rest
of the mall.

“What
a Grumpy, old witch!”

“Don’t
you think she’s a little old to be working in the junior department?”

They
continued down the walkway, wandering in and out of stores as they went.  They
stepped into another clothing store just as two girls were walking out, wearing
similar sunglasses to the pair they had just been mocking.  The cousins
exchanged glances and then had to cover their mouths to keep from bursting.

“I
really don’t get that style,” Cinderella said a minute later after they had all
regained composure.

“Me
neither!” Belle agreed.  “I only like to wear things that are flattering.  Why
would anyone wear those?”

“Beats
me,” said Aurora.  “Oh hey!  Can we go in there?”  She didn’t wait for a
response before entering a little jewelry boutique they were about to pass.  “I
really want to find some new earrings,” she added over her shoulder.  Aurora walked straight to the back of the store and began looking through the newest
selection of dangly earrings.  Ariel, Snow White and Cinderella followed close
behind, but Belle lingered by the register.  A sign had caught her eye and she
continued to stand there, staring at the words, an idea forming in her mind.

“Whatcha
lookin at?”  Belle jumped at the sound of Cinderella’s voice behind her. 
Cinderella smiled and Belle casually passed over the incident.

“What
do you think?” she asked.

“I
don’t know.  Are you seriously considering it?”

“Maybe.”

“Aren’t
you afraid it would hurt?”

“Beauty
is pain.”

Cinderella
looked from Belle to the sign and back again.  “What would your mom say?”

“It
doesn’t matter, it’s my decision.  I’m tired of being treated like a baby. 
It’s like the car thing earlier.  I should know when I’m ready to do something,
but my mom doesn’t get that.”  Belle was getting frustrated having to explain
herself to Cinderella.  “I’m doing it,” she said.

“Okay,”
said Cinderella, trying to smooth the situation, “I wasn’t trying to talk you
out of it, but do you want to wait?  Make sure it’s something you really want
to do?”

“No,”
Belle replied, and she motioned for the girl behind the counter.  The clerk
appeared to be in her early twenties, with a lower layer of magenta hair
showing through the black strands that rested on top.  She had several
piercings going all the way up one ear and a diamond stud in her nose.

“Okay,”
Cinderella hesitated.  “But are you sure you want
her
to do it?” she
whispered.

“Are
you kidding me?” Belle asked.  “Look at her!” she added, holding her hand out. 
“She looks like she has plenty of experience.”

Cinderella
hurried over to where Aurora was holding up two pairs of earrings for the
others, trying to pick the best ones.

“Belle’s
getting her belly button pierced.”

“Really?”

“What?”

“Why?” 
The three responses came out as one.  Almost immediately, Cinderella turned
around and the others followed.  She led them back toward the front of the
store where Belle was now lying on a bench, her shirt pulled up part way.

“You
sure?” Snow White asked.

“I
think it’s cool,” said Aurora.

“You
would,” retorted Ariel.

“Doesn’t
she have to have her mom’s permission or anything?” Cinderella asked the clerk. 
Belle shot her a menacing look.

“Oh
yeah,” the girl said, looking from one cousin to the next.  “Are you eighteen?”
she asked, her eyes finally landing back on Belle.  Belle looked at her
cousins, waiting to see who would rat her out first, but no one said a word. 
The girl rolled her eyes.  “Look, this is my last day so I really don’t care
just as long as your parents aren’t going to hunt me down and sue me or
anything.  I assume you’re not going to tell them?” she asked, raising her
eyebrows.

Belle
looked at Cinderella, her eyes narrowing into tiny slits.  Cinderella shook her
head.  “I’m sorry, I’m done,” she said, raising her hands in defeat.  Belle
looked back to the clerk and, without responding, pulled her shirt up again. 
Then, as the gun drew closer to her soft, tan naval, Belle shut her eyes tight
and sucked in a deep breath.

Chapter
Thirteen

Around
2:30 that afternoon the Princess sisters were running through the mall in a
race to see who could get to the food court first.  With their perfectly formed
legs, the twins arrived first, only a few seconds apart.  Cinderella was a
close third and Snow White, to her surprise and delight, was not last.  When
Belle tried running, she found she was suddenly very aware of the new addition
shaking in her skin as she ran.  Without thinking, she kept slowing down to
clutch her stomach.  Her running turned into a brisk walk from one end of the
mall to the other.

Mary
gave them a stern look when they arrived, but then she grinned and handed them
each some cash for lunch.  They all briefly separated to get food from the
large variety of restaurants while Mary saved a table in the middle of the
cafeteria-like setting.  Cinderella came back with her slice of pizza and a
coke to take over guard duty while Mary got some lunch for herself.  Then Snow
White appeared with her Chick-Fil-A sandwich and waffle fries, followed by Aurora with a taco salad and Belle with some fettuccini alfredo.  Mary came back to the
table next and they all looked curiously around them for Ariel.  A few minutes
later she came strolling up with a tray full of something that resembled
colorful balls of slime.

“What’s
that?” Snow White asked, crinkling her nose.

“Sushi.”

The
following “EW!” was so loud several people sitting nearby turned and stared.

“Oh
come on, it’s not gross.”

“Have
you actually tried it before?”

“Well
no, but I’ve always wanted to.  Come on, in all the movies we watch they always
go out for sushi.”

“Yes,”
said Mary, “But I don’t think they get it from a shopping mall.”

Ariel
looked around at all the eager faces watching her.  She picked up the nearest
roll between her thumb and index finger, dipped it in her paper container of
soy sauce and placed the entire thing in her mouth.  It was bigger than she had
expected so Ariel found herself with very puffy cheeks, rolling the rice,
seaweed, cucumber mix around on her tongue as she tried to chew.  When she was
finally able to swallow, she smiled at the others.

“That’s
not bad!”

“If
you liked that, honey, I should take you out for the real stuff sometime,” Mary
said with a wink.

“You
like sushi?” Belle asked her mom in surprise.

“Yeah! 
It’s really good!” she said, picking up a piece from Ariel’s tray and placing
it in her mouth.  Ariel thought Mary made it look much more graceful than she
had probably looked.  Then after swallowing, Mary added, “Yup.  I definitely
need to take you out for the real stuff.”

They
casually chatted as they finished eating their multi-cultural meal.  Belle, who
didn’t like being shown up by anyone, finally tried one of Ariel’s California rolls.  She was able to eat the whole thing without gagging once, although she
did make the amateur mistake of trying to eat her roll in a few small bites and
rice went everywhere.

As
they were dumping the wrappings from their food in the trash, Snow White spoke
up.

“So
are you going to tell your mom?”  Belle gave her youngest cousin a look of
death.  Then after thinking for a moment, she turned to Mary and relayed the
story of their earlier encounter with the angry lady from the department store.

“That’s
not so bad,” she said.  “I was kicked out of a restaurant once for being too
loud.”

Belle
was more shocked by the sushi story than this one, so she said nothing.  Then
Mary turned to the others and waved goodbye as she headed out the doors to her
car.  She had finished her shopping, but the girls insisted they weren’t done
yet.  So Mary had agreed, after a bribery of waffle fries, to come back and
pick them up in two hours.

“What
was that for?” Belle gave Snow White an angry push with her hand.

“Sorry!”
Snow White replied, shrugging.

“No
harm done,” Cinderella added, coming between them.  “You covered it up nicely,”
she added, looking at Belle.

The
Princess sisters made their way to the other side of the mall and entered a
store with beautiful Homecoming dresses on display in the front windows.

“Let’s
try them on!” Aurora said excitedly, rushing into the store.  The other four
looked around at each other and shrugged before following her in.  When they
caught up to her, Aurora was already holding up two dresses and looking at them
against her body in the 3-way mirror.

“Put
them on!” Ariel said.

“Which
one?”

“Why
choose?  Try them both!”

Aurora
looked again at her reflection and grinned.  “Okay!”  She hurried toward the
dressing rooms and then paused.  “You guys all have to try some on too!”

“We’ll
be right behind you,” said Cinderella.  She then began flipping through a rack
of lavender gowns to her left.  The other three, giddy with excitement, spread
out through the store.  Once they each had a decent armload, they too scampered
for the dressing rooms.

A
door on the far end opened just as they approached and out stepped Aurora in an emerald, floor-length dress.  She was stunning!  Everyone stopped and awed.

“Hurry
in!”  She waved them forward.

“Can
we all fit?” Snow White asked.

“Yes,
but hurry.”  Aurora glanced in either direction before pulling the fitting room
door closed behind them.

The
Princess sisters found themselves in the largest fitting room, with a wood
bench along one wall and a wide, full-length mirror just behind the door.  Aurora took charge, gathering up each girl’s dresses and hanging them from the three hooks
on the wall to the left of the door.  Her four cousins sat squished beside each
other on the thin bench, so only one pair of feet could be seen at a time
beneath the door.  Aurora slid out of the figure-hugging gown and returned it
to the hanger before slipping back into her khaki capris and tight, pink shirt.

“Who’s
next?” she asked, facing the others with her hands on her hips.

“I’ll
go!” Belle jumped to her feet.  She reached for a cerulean blue dress with a
silver beaded flower pattern along the breast and bottom trim.  Once the dress
was over her head and pulled down into place, Belle attempted a battle with the
zipper in which the zipper won.  No matter how she twisted and squirmed and
bent her arms in awkward positions, Belle was unable to get that silly thing up
the last two inches.  Cinderella finally got to her feet and, without a word,
easily pulled the zipper into place.  Just as she returned to the bench, Belle
turned around and the other girls all gasped.

“You
look incredible!”

“Wow!”

“That’s
it, the first dance you get asked to, we are coming back for that dress!”
exclaimed Aurora.

“You
really think so?” asked Belle, examining her reflection.  Her voice carried
doubt, but the way she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and continued
to smile at her own image from every angle suggested that she knew exactly how
stunning she looked.

The
girls continued to take turns trying on various dresses, in many cases all five
of them putting on the same dress to see who looked best in what color and
which style.  It took some coaxing from her cousins to get Snow White to
participate, but she eventually joined in too.

Cinderella
stood in front of the others, showing off a peach colored knee-length dress
with lots of ruffles, which resulted in a burst of loud laughter, quickly
followed by the cousins covering each others’ mouths so the workers wouldn’t
discover the five girls crammed into one dressing room.  The contrast between
the frilly dress and her combat boots was too much for the girls to handle. 
The Princess sisters were still fighting back laughter, when they overheard
some voices in the next fitting room.  The four girls sitting on the bench
lowered their camera phones and subconsciously leaned closer to the adjoining
wall.

“What
is it?” Cinderella asked.  Aurora, who was closest to the voices, silently
brought her index finger to her lips and waved Cinderella forward.  She quietly
obeyed and was soon listening to what sounded like three girls in the stall
next door.

“So
what was inside the balloons?”

“Hershey
kisses!  And then his name was on one of those little papers inside the kiss!”

“Awwwwwww! 
That’s the best way ever!”

“How
do you think he’ll ask you this year?”

“I
dunno.  It’ll be hard to beat.”

“I
just hope I get asked better this year.  Remember the pumpkin?”

“Oh
man, that was so gross!”

“I
don’t know what he was thinking.  Like I’d go to a dance with someone who
wanted me to stick my hand in pumpkin guts!”

“Ew! 
Who was it?”

“I
don’t remember.  Some nerdy guy who had a crush on me I think.”

“Hey,
you never told me how you answered Brad.”

“Oh
yeah!  Well first I got some of those glow-in-the-dark stars…”

The
Princess sisters never got to hear the end of her response because the three
girls had left the dressing rooms and were walking away.  They all looked
around at each other, some with raised eyebrows and others with confused,
furrowed brows.

“What
do you think they were talking about?” asked Belle, finally voicing their
silent question.

“It
had something to do with getting asked to a dance…” Snow White’s voice trailed
off.

“Let’s
ask Dave,” said Cinderella.  “He’s been to school dances, he might know.”

The
Princess sisters’ curiosity was piqued now.  They had no more desire to try on
dresses and take pictures of each other posing.  Instead, they hurriedly
scooped up the pile of gowns and dumped them just outside the dressing rooms. 
They then made their way back through the mall to be picked up by Mary so they
could go home and investigate.