The bell had rung to signal that the much anticipated morning break had finally arrived.
It had only been three periods and Sandy was already so, so bored. And it was only Monday. Since break time had arrived, she could restore some excitement, some vitality to her life. Somehow.
The day had been dark with a mild drizzle, a fairly depressing day with a weather that matched her mood. Sandy had ridden her bicycle to school in a raincoat. It had been fairly troublesome with the tail of the raincoat getting in the way of her paddling. Plus, more than once, a stray raindrop hit her in the eye.
The day was also quite cold. Momma Lois had urged her to wear a jacket in addition to her raincoat. It made riding a little more cumbersome since it restricted her arms a tiny bit. Sandy was glad for the jacket, though. It had kept her warm during class since the school was penny-pinching on heating bills. Her old black stockings helped too, though she had to keep checking for creases.
Sandy looked behind her for something interesting to do, to take her mind off the tedium of the lessons thus far. A few of her classmates had already fled the suffocating confines of the classroom to the freedom beyond. Those that were left had already gathered in their usual gossip groups.
(They were quick, for teenagers who had been bored-to-death lethargic just a minute before.)
Sandy went over to Esper's desk near the back, where Selina and Ariel had already gathered.
Ariel was asking something in halting Spanish when the brown-haired girl joined them. "Hi, Sandy," the blond girl greeted, "I was just asking Esper what she did last weekend."
"It's nothing much," Esper replied, "Selina and I went out shopping in town." She was seated with her chair pushed back from her desk.
Shopping! Yeah, Sandy would love to do that. Had she the money, she could wander in the mall and buy everything that caught her eye - clothes, shoes, food, cosmetics, music CDs. Oh, and she would get a new CD player too.
"Did you buy anything interesting?" Ariel probed further.
"That clothing outlet on the second floor of Miss Megamall has a new line of clothes," Esper mentioned.
It was one of the more popular shopping complexes in the city. 'Miss Megamall' was the name the locals used, rather than its cumbersome official name: the Morrison-Smith Megamall. People had first shorten the name to MS Megamall. Then someone forgot that the second 'S' was a capital letter and thought 'Ms' was 'Miss'. And that was how the unofficial name came to be, to the horror of the mall's public relations people.
"I bought a few blouses and skirts," Esper continued.
"They weren't my style, though," Selina said. As usual, she was wearing slacks, though she had a sweater on that day. Presentable and not conspicuous. Her height and glasses already drew enough attention.
"What about you? What did you do?" Esper asked Ariel.
"Huh? Oh, nothing much," the blond girl replied.
"Really?" Esper uttered with a hint of disappointment.
"I think Ariel did something she'd rather not tell," Sandy said. She knew her friend all too well. Most likely it had been something embarrassing. Probably involving food.
"Really? Esper repeated, that time with more excitement in her bright brown eyes.
Ariel frowned at Sandy.
Suddenly, a little black-haired girl slipped in through the back door. She girl had her short hair tied into a pair of pigtails and she had the small sharp eyes typical of an Asian. Her skin had a yellow tint to it.
"Hide me!" the newcomer pleaded. Her little eyes were wide open. She looked like a frightened rabbit.
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