Battle of the Bands

-Julie's Point Of View-

We were walking around the local mall. Being it was so early and the mall had just barely opened there was hardly anyone milling around.

"What are we doing here?" I asked quietly.

"What's your favorite store?" Gerard questioned.

"Hot Topic, of course." I answered before I turned to Bill and Tom, "No really, what are we doing here?"

"Just lookin' around." Tom said in a very vague sort of way.

"Oh." I said quietly.

Bill smiled brightly before he took my hand and pulled me into the next store which just happened to be Hot Topic.

"Why are we here?" I heard Melissa ask Frank.

He smiled at her, "Pick out any outfit you want to try on and we'll find an outfit for you for today."

"Seriously?" Melissa questioned.

Frank smiled and nodded before he led Melissa to the back of the store where all the tee shirts were located.

I side glanced at Gerard and he smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

At first I raised an eyebrow at him, but then I just shrugged my shoulders and went with it.

As I walked through the store I noticed an awesome Gir purse. I smiled as I picked it up and inspected it, but once I looked at the price tag I put it back on the shelf and walked away.

What I didn't notice was after I walked away, Gerard picked up the Gir bag and placed it on the cashier desk.

Bill followed me to the tee shirts wall display and began to look at all of the choices with me. "See any you like?" he asked me.

"Yeah. Too many to count." I replied.

"Which ones?" Bill questioned, sounding curious.

I smiled, "I love all the Gir tee shirts. Gir is so adorable and when Invader Zim was on tv it was so underrated."

"What else?" Tom questioned as he came up on the other side of me.

"I like two of The Ready Set tees, that Young and Reckless tee, ooh that Tetris tee up on the top row, the Jackass tee right here in front, and..."

Soon I realized I had counted off about twenty-five tee shirts give or take.

Melissa had been practical when the first few articles of clothing she found were a couple matching sets of bras and underwear for each of us.

"Which bottoms do you like?" Gerard asked as he came up behind me.

"Well the destroyed leggings are nice. The skinny jeans in the colors mint green, turquoise, and the faded neon orange are pretty awesome...oh my God. Those black and white split leg skinny jeans are beautiful!" I said as I nearly smiled from ear to ear.

I found my size on the shelf and practically bounced toward the changing room in the back of the store. I began to change into the split jeans and just as I finished buttoning them up, a shirt came flying over the stall door and landed on my head.

"Here, try this on too." someone said. I think I recognized the voice belonged to Gerard.

I removed the green shirt from my head and nearly squealed with delight as I realized it was one of the Gir tees I had pointed out earlier.

"Let us see what you look like!" I heard Tom call.

I pulled on the shirt and opened the changing stall door before I slowly walked out and I made sure to keep eye contact with the ground only.

"Look up." I heard Bill whisper.

I did as I was told and looked up to see Bill smile at me, "You look beautiful." he said.

I smiled and whispered, "Thank you."

I looked beyond the twins to see Gerard at the cashier desk with a huge stack of clothes, "What's going on over there?" I questioned.

Neither Tom nor Bill answered me and instead Tom threw a piece of clothing at me.

"What's this?" I asked as I held it up. Even though I asked, I knew what it was. It was a Levi's brand blue denim mini skirt. A very mini skirt.

"I don't think-" I started.

"Just try it on to see how it looks." Tom said as he winked at me.

I rolled my eyes at him, but still retreated into the changing stall to try on the damn skirt.

After I pulled it on I checked my reflection in the mirror.

Wow.

This skirt is really, really short.

I silently groaned.

The guys are going to love it.

"Ready?" I questioned.

"Yeah! Let's see it!" Tom called back.

I sighed before I opened the door and stepped out.

"Wow. You look hott!" Tom said as he practically drooled.

"Tom!" Bill gasped.

"What?" Tom questioned quickly, "She does!"

I heard Melissa giggle, "I always tell Julie she should wear more stuff like that but she always tells me she wouldn't be caught dead in it."

I turned to my best friend to see she was modeling a new outfit as well. She was wearing a blue Nintendo 'For The Win' tee shirt and All Time Low stripe logo booty shorts. She looked pretty cute.

"Uhh, well I guess I should put my own clothes on." I said as I opened the stall door.

"N-No, put on the split skinny jeans." Bill spoke up.

"But I can't afford them." I said quietly.

Bill smiled, "I'll pay for the jeans and that shirt too."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"O-Okay. Thank you." I whispered.

I went back into the stall and changed back into the split leg skinny jeans. As soon as I rid the mini skirt from my body, I threw it over the stall door never wanting to see it again.

"I got it!" I heard Tom call out, only to hear him utter an "Oof!" seconds later.

"What happened?" I asked, still being inside the changing stall and not being able to see.

"The skirt hit Tom in the face." Bill answered as he couldn't help but laugh.

I exited the stall wearing the clothes from the store and carried my own.

"You look great." Bill said as he smiled.

I smiled back, "Thank you, Bill." I whispered.

"Now, let's go pay for your outfit." Tom said.

I nodded and the three of us walked to the cashier desk. "Where are Melissa, Frank, and Gerard?" I asked.

"They've already finished and they're waiting for us back on the van." Tom answered.

"Oh." I said quietly.

The guy standing behind the counter eyed me and smiled. "So I see you've decided to wear clothes out as well. Nice choice by the way, those pants look good on you." he said as he winked. "Come around the counter, I have to ring up the price tags."

I started to make my way around the desk, but Tom caught my wrist, stopped me and shook his head.

I gave him a questioning look before he leaned over and whispered into my ear, "He's handsy."

"Ah." I said in understanding.

I looked up at the guy and he was giving me a charming smile, "Well, what are you waiting for? I don't bite."

I smirked, "Here are the tags." I said as I plucked them off the clothes and set them down on the counter.

I could just feel the smiling twins behind me.

The guy chuckled, "You're a smart girl." he said as he smiled before he rang up the purchases and gave me a bag for the clothes I was holding.

Bill paid and the three of us left the store, left the mall, and met the others back at the van.

The short ride back to the venue was silent and when we arrived I noticed there were three new tour buses in the parking lot.

When we got out of the van we were swarmed by a manager and a couple of security guards. "Aah, here you all are. The new bands have arrived and they are waiting backstage to meet everyone." one of them said.

Gerard nodded, "We'll be right there."

Gerard and Frank tried to guide Melissa and I to their bus for us to wait for them while they went to meet the new bands. But in all the chaos that seemed to be going on, we got swept up with everyone else going to meet the new bands too.