Break All Your Rules

I twirled around in front of the mirror, surveying my new outfit. I was wearing faded blue bootcut jeans, a black and gray striped tank top, a white Fox hoodie Mason had found, and a pair of men’s DCs in white and gray. Mason had insisted I wear my hair down while I modeled for him. As I stepped out of the dressing room so he could see the outfit, a blue, purple, and white printed bag was thrust into my hands, along with a black beanie similar to his. I slipped it on, adjusted my glasses, and looked at him. “What do you think?”

“Sexy as hell.” He smiled. “You can pull it off, especially with the hair, the eyes, the glasses. Yeah, you look like a total skater chick right now.”

I blushed. “Thanks.” I looked in the mirror and smiled. The clothes were so different from what I normally wore, and I actually liked how I looked. I pushed my hair back and pulled on the bottom of the hoodie, making it fit a little tighter. “So is this it?”

“Well, yeah. While you were trying those on, I got…” I turned around in his pause and looked at the floor next to his chair – a huge mound of messed-up cloth in multiple colors was lying there. “A whole new wardrobe for you,” he said sheepishly. “I mean… with your parents, I figured you got a big allowance?”

I started laughing. “Allowance?” I snorted, pulling out my wallet from my bag on the floor. I pulled out a little piece of plastic and flashed it at him, holding it between my fingers. “Credit card, paid for by the parents. They’re gonna help me rebel.”

He smiled. “Sweet.” He picked up the pile of clothing off the floor. “You go change outta that. I’ll start having them ring this up at the register.”

I slipped back into the stall and changed back into my normal clothes, folding the ones I was buying neatly. I brought them out to the register, where the girl working was wide-eyed at all the clothes. “You buying all this?” she asked as I placed my neatly folded items on top of Mason’s mess.

“Yep.”

She scanned everything in, just throwing it into bags. She handed three to Mason and two to me, reading off the four-digit total. I just flashed my plastic and slid it through the machine, paying for it in an instant. Mason smiled at me as I signed the receipt and led him out of the store.

“Food court?”

“You buyin’?”

“Sure thing.”

“Sweet.”

He shifted all his bags to his other hand and took mine as we walked to the food court. I got a little closer to him, slowly warming up to the PDA we were now engaging in. As we approached the tables, I noticed Scotty sitting along.

“Let’s go keep Lago company,” I suggested.

“Good idea.”

“Hey, kids,” Scotty greeted as we pulled up chairs and dropped our bags. “What’s with all the shit?”

“I,” Mason announced proudly, “just gave our little Fiona Rachel a makeover. Take a look.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Fiona Rachel Eriksson? F.R.E?” Scotty started laughing. “Free. So calling you that now.”

“Dude, not the point. Shut up and look.” He pushed a bag over towards Scotty with his foot, which Scotty peered into.

“Skater shit?”

“Yeah. She’s gonna be a skater chick now. And tonight?” Mason paused.

“What’s tonight?” Scotty leaned forward eagerly. “C’mon man, what’s tonight?”

“We’re telling her ‘rents that we’re dating.”

Scotty looked solemn for a moment. He reached across the table and patted Mason’s hand. “It’s been nice knowing you, kid.”

I cracked up.