"Sweetums, I don't think any of your friends like me," noted Lizzie.
"What?" said DeMarcus. "Of course my friends like you. They just-- They-- Uh... They're just not used to you. Yeah, that's the right word for it."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive. But maybe if you didn't try so hard while you're talking to them, they would probably like you better."
"I'm trying to make them feel comfortable."
"Well, you're making them feel uncomfortable, baby."
"So I should just talk like myself?"
"Exactly. If you be yourself, my friends will accept you and maybe they'll let you sit with me again."
"You have such good friends. I'm envious but I'm happy for you."
"Thanks, babe. And since you're with me, they'll become your friends one day. And hey, we can all see Tay-Tay someday together."
"Really?"
DeMarcus chuckled. "No. They're not into that."
"I'll try to act more like myself around your friends."
"Good. Just be you. You can have some slickety-slang in your speech since everybody got some slang. But keep it subtle. And whatever you do, do not say the N word."
"What's the N word?"
"Good girl. I'm gonna go buy a pretzel. Do you want one?"
"Sure, sweetie."
"Alright. I'll be back before you can say, 'Football'."
"Football."
"Not for real."
"Sorry." Lizzie awkwardly grinned.
"It's okay."
DeMarcus grabbed Lizzie by the cheeks and pecked her nose. They smiled at each other before DeMarcus walked off to find the pretzel stand.
When he left, Lizzie looked around and loitered a bit. Then she laid eyes on the window of a store called, "Forever 21". She walked closer to it, getting a better view of the clothing on the mannequin inside the window. The mannequin had on a short dress which was white on the top and black on the bottom. This is so my style, Lizzie thought. After being mesmerized by the dress for a few seconds, Lizzie realized that there was another person, who was inside the store, eyeing the dress from behind the mannequin. Lizzie locked eyes with Skye and the two immediately jumped. They looked closely into the window to make sure they were actually seeing each other. Lizzie waved to get rid of the awkwardness. But Skye awkwardly waved back. Relaxing her shoulders, Lizzie zipped inside the store and faced Skye who didn't try to move.
"Hi," Lizzie politely smiled.
"Hi," Skye responded.
"Oh, boy. This is the first time we talked in months."
Skye chuckled. "Yeah, I know."
"So h-how are you?"
"Good. You?"
"Good."
"That's cool."
"How's the band?"
"Great. We learned these three new songs and filmed ourselves performing them. We're gonna upload them to YouTube."
"That's great. I can't wait to watch them."
Skye nodded her head, rolling her closed lips inside her mouth. Lizzie nodded a bit with a slowly fading smile.
"Lizzie?" a girl said aloud.
Lizzie turned her head to the voice which came from the entrance. Skye turned her head, too, and the two girls looked Debra. She was almost frozen then she approached the two.
"Skye? I didn't know you two still talked."
"Oh, we don't," said Lizzie. "We just started... talking to each other."
"Yeah," Skye nodded.
"Oh, that's good," said Debra. "How are you two?"
"Skye's gonna upload some videos to YouTube," responded Lizzie, answering Debra's question for Skye.
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, I recorded my band playing a few new songs," said Skye.
"That's good. How bout you, Lizzie?"
"Oh, I'm good," Lizzie smiled. "T-Thanks for asking."
"No problem."
Andrea was about to enter the store but when she looked up, she saw her old friends right inside, out in the open. Since she hadn't spoken to them in a while, she thought the best reaction would be to avoid them. As she turned around, Lizzie just randomly looked at the store just to look. She caught Andrea almost walking away and called her name.
Andrea stopped and balled her hands into fists. "Aw, frick!" she muttered, banging the air one time.
She turned around with a calm look on her face. She quickly walked into the store and got near the girls.
"Hey, guys," she said with a bit of awkwardness in her tone.
The girls quietly greeted her back.
"How's life?" asked Lizzie.
"Life is pretty good," answered Andrea. "It's been treating me very well."
"Is your grandfather okay?"
"Yes."
"That's good as well."
"Why did you ask about my grandfather?"
"Because I know you love him and I just wanted to make sure he was okay."
"Oh. Thank you."
"What have you been up to?" asked Debra.
"Oh, I joined the hip hop club. I learned that I really like to dance so I figured, 'Might as well join a club'. So I've been enjoying it, learning new moves." She flipped one side of her long, curly hair behind her shoulder by flicking her head. "Watch me whip."
"That's awesome that you're in a club," commented Skye. "It's perfect for you."
"I know. Thanks anyway."
"I've noticed that your style changed a bit, Lizzie," noted Debra.
Lizzie looked down at her body. Her style did change a bit. She replaced her high heels for white sneakers and covered her chest with a pink hooded jacket.
"Oh, yeah," said Lizzie, looking up. "I don't know. I just wanted to dress in something a bit more... comfortable, I guess. And I got this shirt..." She began to unzip her jacket. "... after Andrea called me a virgin who can't drive and I found it so I bought it." Lizzie stretched the flaps of her jacket outwards to expose her T-shirt which said, "You're a Virgn Who Can't Drive" in bold, black, capital letters.
The sight of the shirt made Skye laugh.
"Oh, funny," Andrea giggled awkwardly.
"Where's the 'I'?" asked Skye.
"What?" said Lizzie.
"There's no 'I' in 'Virgin'."
Lizzie looked down at her shirt and noticed the missing "I" in the word "Virgin" which is supposed to be in front of the "N".
"Oh, my gosh," laughed Debra.
Andrea's giggles became less awkward.
"That is so-- Oh, my God!" Skye cracked up.
Lizzie began to laugh, joining in with the girls who were laughing like nothing has changed.
"How did you not notice that?" questioned Skye.
"I have no idea," responded Lizzie. "I recognized the phrase so I bought the shirt."
"Well, until you can find the definition of 'virg-in'," started Andrea, "you cannot wear that shirt anymore."
"Maybe people will think it's Latin," said Skye.
"I know Latin," mentioned Debra.
"Okay, people other than Debra will think it's Latin."
Andrea cackled.
"Hey, it could be worst. Your shirt could've been missing the 'You're' and dropped the 'W' for 'who'."
"Really, Skye?"
"I'm sorry; I was thinking it so I had to say it. No offense, Lizzie."
"I'm not offended," Lizzie smiled. "So... are we friends again?"
The girls calmed down to process what Lizzie asked seriously. They took glances at each other, waiting for someone to say something first.
"Yes," Debra smiled at Lizzie. Her smile made Lizzie smile.
"I said this once and I'll never forget it," started Andrea. "We're girls, forever and always."
"I guess," responded Skye. "I've been pretty bored lately."
Debra scrunched her forehead at Skye.
"I'm kidding! Of course we're friends again."
"Yay!" Lizzie cheered. "We're back together again."
"Not quite," said Debra. "We didn't talk to Madeline."
"I haven't seen her since the fight," noted Andrea. "Does anyone know what happened to her?"
"Oh, I know what happened to her," Skye replied. "Let's just say Madeline... not too long ago joined the Dark Side."
"Skye, I don't understand science friction talk," admitted Lizzie.
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