BOOK EXCERPT
ISBN: 978-0-9777573-0-5
ISBN: 0-9777573-0-7
All three girls picked out clothes to try on from the junior's department.
"How do y'all like this?" Brittany asked dressed in a tan jean skirt that fell just above the knee with a matching top.
Shaniqua peeked her head out of the dressing room, "Uh, no. You need to show more skin, you ain't gonna catch nobody like that."
Brittany faced Natasha. "Does it make me look fat?"
"No," Natasha said, still annoyed.
Brittany stood in the mirror toying with her hair to take the focus off her body. She knew Natasha was just trying to be nice. At 5'5" and 150 pounds, Brittany knew she probably resembled a bulky, brown sack of potatoes.
A few moments later Shaniqua appeared, dressed in a white spandex mini dress. "Oh yeah, Jordan will like this," she said twirling around in front of the mirror. "Y'all like- ?"
"Not!" Brittany shouted.
Shaniqua looked at Brittany as though she needed to be admitted to an asylum. "What?"
"Number one, it looks slutty, and two, the color is out of season. My mom said you're not supposed to wear white after Labor Day."
Shaniqua rolled her eyes. "It's not after Labor Day."
"It will be in a few days," Brittany said.
"Whatever, you're just jealous because you can't fit it," Shaniqua said.
"I wouldn't be caught dead in it," Brittany said, walking to Natasha's dressing room. "Tasha, how's your outfit?"
Natasha looked down at her bare wrists and then her bare ankles that should have been covered by the clothes she had on. "Short. Everything's too freakin' short."
"Well, I'm getting my outfit," Brittany said with confidence. She continued to study herself in the mirror. If I could just lose ten pounds.
"I'm getting mine, too," Shaniqua said.
"I thought you didn't have any money?" Brittany asked sarcastically.
"It's called the five-finger discount," Shaniqua whispered. "Nee Nee told me what to do. She said 'as long as it didn't have that alarm thing on it, it was fair game.' She said 'if you try to pull the alarm thing off, ink would splatter on the clothes.' I'm gonna to try it."
"Are you serious?" Natasha asked.
"Yeah, this dress doesn't have the alarm thing on it."
Natasha's eyebrow curled up and the other, down, creating a deep furrow across her forehead. "Shaniqua, have you lost your mind? You can't do that-- that's stealing."
"No duh," Shaniqua said indignantly.
"I swear, you had better not, Shaniqua. I'm not kidding," Brittany pleaded, on the brink of tears. "I'll get grounded for life if you get caught stealing. I'll never be able to come to the mall again."
"It's not you doing anything, Brittany , it's me."
"Shaniqua, if you do that, you will not get a ride home with us and your grandmother doesn't have a car," Natasha said, returning to her dressing room.
"So! I'll just call my cousin, Renee."
Natasha and Brittany hurriedly undressed.
Shaniqua watched her friends gather the clothes they had tried on. "Y'all are so chicken. I swear," she said, and then slammed the fitting room door shut.
Moments later, Shaniqua emerged from the dressing room, while her friends stood at the cash register. Brittany and Natasha exchanged worried looks. Then their eyes crept over the counter to the cashier, a bubbly blond teen, who was completely unaware of the catastrophe that loomed in the air with the loud, hip music. Brittany dug around in her purse searching for money. Her hands were shaking. She glanced around the area for the police. There was none. She finally found her money in the side pocket of her Coach bag crammed underneath her many lipsticks. She paid the clerk, then nervously slid her hair behind her ear, waiting. Watching.
"I'll be out in the mall," Shaniqua said, walking past them with a smirk on her face.
Brittany and Natasha remained silent, pretending not to know Shaniqua. Tears welled up in Brittany 's eyes while she waited for the cashier to give her change. The thought of what her dad would do to her when he found out made her cry. He always threatened her and her older brother that he had better not ever have to bail them out of jail. Her dad made it very clear that he had left that lifestyle a long time ago, and nothing was going to cast a shadow over his prominent career.
Natasha and Brittany steadily scanned the area for security while the clerked finished bagging the clothes.
"Thank you, come again," the cashier said cheerily.
Brittany grabbed her bag so quickly, she forgot to say 'Thank you'. Being polite was the last thing on her mind. "My dad's going to kill me."
"We'll explain to him that it wasn't our fault," Natasha said, storming pass Shaniqua in the mall as though she had never known her. "We'll tell him that she took it without our knowledge."
"Dang, how y'all just gone walk past me like that?" Shaniqua said, hurrying to catch up.
Natasha spun around, "Look, Shaniqua, I told you, you're not riding with us. We don't know you!"
"How you gone play me? You and I have been friends since the third grade, and now you don't know me?"
"I told you, if you stole that dress, that was it," Natasha said furiously.
"Dang girl, you ain't got to get your panties in a wad." Then Shaniqua let out a loud, obnoxious cackle.
Angrily, Brittany and Natasha started walking again.
"I didn't take it! Dang!"
Natasha and Brittany looked at each other with relief and let out nervous laughs while they waited for Shaniqua to catch up to them.
"I should kick your butt!" Natasha said, playfully swatting at Shaniqua.
Four o'clock couldn't come soon enough, Natasha thought. She had lost all desire to try on anything. Tall teenage girls had a hard enough time trying to find stylish clothes that fit, without having the added pressure of keeping a shopping companion from stealing. She swore if she ever made it out of Lenox without incident, Shaniqua would never be invited back to go shopping.
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