Take It Or Leave It.

As soon as she was out of the store, Kylie exhaled a long-held breath, finally letting go of her confident facade, and walked. She had no specific location that she wanted to walk to, she just walked. After a couple of minutes and a lot of space were put between her and the accessories store, she sat down on an empty bench.

Placing her bag on her lap, she reached up her right sleeve, and slid something down into her bag. It was all very quick, and no one could have known what she was doing; it looked as if she was scratching her arm, then reaching into her open bag. Kylie grinned as she looked down at the two pairs of earrings in her purse. Turquoise studs and silver hoops.

She was thrilled that her plan had worked, it was brilliant if she did say so herself. What you do is you take two of whatever it is you want, and then somehow slip one into a sleeve or pocket, and put the other back. No one would notice the double coming off the shelf or rack, especially if they were small items...earrings for example. Of course, this store was especially easy to take stuff from; they didn’t even have tag sensors in the doors! What Kylie had done was take the studs for her sister, and the hoops for herself, and she had only picked up those dangly earrings to seem like she was really shopping. Of course, she had known all along that there was only enough credit on the card for one cheap thing, but she knew that it was better to pretend like she was surprised. Now she had a new pair of earrings and two little gifts for Mel. She didn’t have any money, so she couldn’t buy a cute card to go with the gifts. She sat there, zipping up her purse inattentively.

She knew exactly what to do. She hurried into the large department store that the mall housed and found the jewellery counter.

“Hi there,” she said sweetly to the surly-looking lady behind the counter, “do you think I could have one of those, over there?” she pointed to a bunch of small cardboard boxes stacked high against the register. “I would pay for it, but I just spent my last few dollars getting my sister a birthday present.” She added, biting her bottom lip.

Kylie could be very persuasive at times; she knew how to use every emotion and feature she had to fully benefit herself in almost any situation. She had gone through a fanatic acting phase not too long ago (old movie obsession and drama camp included), where she would act overly dramatic and practice facial expressions in the mirror. After doing the school play, she realised that acting just wasn’t her thing, and moved on.

“I suppose it wouldn’t be much of a loss...” the lady (Belinda, as her nametag announced) deliberated. She handed Kylie a small golden box, perfect for the turquoise and yellow of her gifts.

Kylie thanked her and walked out of the department, heading towards the cafe. This cafe was the Mecca of the mall, the designated meeting and hanging out place for most of the regular mall-goers. Its' chic yet cozy vibe was thanks to the soft chairs and loveseats that were placed haphazardly around the store, the smell of fresh coffee, and the wall of candy and magazines. Yes, the entire south wall was covered with a display of colourful candies and infinite copies of magazines.

This was, in fact, the first place Kylie had ever taken anything from. Not exactly a memory to be beaming over, but it held a sense of victory nonetheless. What had she taken? Why, her favourite candy of course; a bag of Sour Patch Kids.