"They smell like grapes," Allie said, "Here, smell."
She held the purple marker to Mae's face, and she took in a big whiff herself before shrugging. "I can't really tell. I've never noticed grapes to have a smell," Mae replied. Allie put the marker back on the shelf with the others and she and Mae continued down the isle, walking just behind Mae's mother. Allie often went back to school shopping with Mae and her mother, because Allie's dad worked all the time and he figured he could get someone else to pay for some of Allie's needed school supplies. Thankfully, Mae's mother, Juliet, didn't seem to mind one bit. "Are you gonna get a binder?" Allie asked. "I never use binders," Mae replied, "They always take up too much space in my backpack and all my papers wind up outside of them anyway." As they passed a nearby shelf, Mae grabbed a package of stickers and continued walking. "Do you ever plan your outfits the night before?" Allie asked. "What do I look like, someone with fashion sense?" Mae replied, "I just wear whatever isn't dirty." "Same." "Though, a lot of my clothes look the same...maybe variety wouldn't be such a bad idea after all," Mae said, "I see all the other girls on the first day of school and they all look so nice and it makes me wish that maybe I could look that nice too. I just...I hate how girly everything is." "I know, sometimes I just wanna wear shorts and a t-shirt, and not like a pink dress with a glittery unicorn on it, you know? I live in a trailer park, I don't have to look nice," Allie said, making the both of them laugh. Allie and Mae had become closer friends since last year, even while the other girls, Trisha Davies and Chaz Farrar, were also close friends, but something about Allie Enos's attitude led Mae to feel like she was the friend who really understood her. Unbeknownst to the girls, Trisha and Chaz were also here, albeit not together. Chaz was here with her big sister, Laurie, who was only doing the shopping because she herself was in need of school supplies and their mom was working that afternoon. Being a single mom, she worked quite often, so Chaz often relied on Laurie to do things like this for her. At the moment, they were standing in the clothing area, trying to find anything Chaz liked. Her fashion sense was definitely "comfort" over "style", but she was beginning to feel somewhat out of place among the other girls her age thanks to that decision. Chaz held up a blue shirt with a butterfly design and turned to face her sister. "What do you think about this?" she asked. "It's nice," Laurie said, "Blue is definitely a color that works for you. Blonde and blue goes well together." Chaz was a heavier set girl, but she didn't seem bothered by this. She was pretty nonetheless, with short curly blonde hair and green eyes, she was easily one of the prettiest girls in her class, she just lacked a fashion sense. Thankfully she had her sister to help her. Laurie was incredibly fashion conscious, and often dressed well when they were out and about. "If you pair it with jeans-" "I don't like jeans." "Yeah but jeans go with anything, they're the universal pants," Laurie said. "I like shorts that aren't jeans," Chaz said sternly, tonally insisting she was resistant to budging on this fact. "Alright, your choice," Laurie said, "But I still think the shirt is good." As they rounded a corner they bumped into Juliet's car, and thusly Mae and Allie, who stopped to greet Chaz. Seeing her opportunity to do a little of her own shopping, Laurie asked Juliet if Chaz could stick with them for a bit while she got some things, and she'd be back shortly, to which Juliet had no issue with. Chaz walked alongside Allie and Mae. "Who's your teacher this year?" Allie asked. "Uh, Mr. Murphy," Chaz said, "He's cool, I like him. Laurie had him and she said he was fun." "I got Mrs. Spinner," Mae said, "She's old. Why are so many teachers so old?" "You have to live a long time to be able to learn enough to teach," Allie replied. "Oh...that...actually makes sense," Mae said, "Hey, has anyone seen Trisha?" Chaz shook her head, and Allie reminded Mae that she'd been with her since last night. Trisha never went shopping with them. In fact, she was lucky if her parents let her do anything with them. Trisha Davies came from an extremely religious family, and as such her parents didn't like her mixing with outsiders, but they also felt it was a poor choice to send her to religious school instead of public school. They thought public school gave you much of the needed socialization, and they weren't wrong, terrible as public school was. Trisha often shopped with her parents and her little sister for back to school, and it just so happened she was at the store this very day, with those very people, doing that shopping. In fact, she was only a few aisles down, not that the girls would know that. Standing there in her sunday best, looking longingly at a selection of gel pens while her little sister was picking out a backpack with her mother. Their father, David, was still there with Trisha, arms crossed as he watched Trisha. She slowly pulled a pack of gel pens off the rack and turned back to face her father. "Can I get these?" she asked. "Will you be allowed to use them for work?" he asked, and she shrugged. "I...I don't know," she mumbled, "I just think they're pretty. I'm sure if I wrote legibly and turned it in on time, nobody would mind if I used them for homework. And even if not, I could take notes with them. I could even color code the notes by pen so I know what color corresponds to what course. Blue for english, red for math, whatever." David smiled and shrugged. "Sure, I guess it'd be fine," he said, "As long as you can find a practical use for them." Trisha smiled and did a little hop, excited. She tossed the pens into the basket he was holding and then, together, they continued down the aisle. Trisha had always liked her father more; he had never been as strict as her mother, and always seemed to let her get away with things her mother usually wouldn't. As they walked side by side, David put his hand on her head and stroked her hair, tied up with a ribbon. "I'm scared," Trisha said. "For?" "4th grade," Trisha said, "I mean, I like learning, I like school, but...but it just feels like I'm getting too old too fast." "That's life for you," David said, exhaling, "Enjoy it while you can." Meanwhile, after a bit more shopping, Juliet went to get groceries at the opposite side of the store, leaving the girls in the clothing aisle again, since Mae needed some new clothes as well. Standing there, she was drawn to the rack of dresses. She liked dresses when they weren't overly feminine, and this one in particular that her eyes had been drawn to was not feminine in the slightest. It was just a plain blue dress, nothing fancy or obtuse about it whatsoever. "I think I'll get this," Mae said, pulling the dress from the rack, "I like this. I don't particularly like the color blue, but I do like this dress." "Remember the skirt length has to be long enough to cover your knees," Allie said. "I'm barely 3 feet tall, I think I'll be alright," Mae said sarcastically, making the girls laugh. "That would look good on you," Trisha said from just outside the aisle; the girls all turned to see her and smiled. Trisha walked into the clothing section, her father just behind her. She stopped as she approached the girls and she reached out, gently touching the dress, adding, "Yeah, this is nice. Good material. You'd look pretty. It's not flashy or anything." "Hi Mr. Davies," Allie and Chaz said in unison, as he smiled and waved at them. "You're the dress expert, so I'll trust you," Mae said to Trisha as she slung it over her arm and went back to looking at the other dresses hanging up, Trisha by her side while Allie and Chaz bothered David with their incessant questions about his job at the nearby aeronautical space company; Mae smiled as she and Trisha continued looking through dresses and added, "Are you excited?" "More like nervous," Trisha replied. "Come on! We've been talking forever about being in later grades, and now we're finally in 4th grade! Aren't you the least bit excited?" Mae asked. Trisha couldn't help but smirk at her infectious enthusiasm. Trisha and Mae had met first, in 1st grade, when Mae had moved to town. It wouldn't be until 2nd grade that they'd meet Allie and Chaz, but for that whole first year, it was just Trisha and Mae. At the time, Trisha's mother didn't really mind. She was grateful for her daughter to have friends outside of the church, because it made her seem more normal to the other parents, but as the years had begun to pass, she started to become concerned about the girls outside influence on her daughter, particularly Mae, who she considered somewhat of a heathen. But Trisha and Mae had been best friends for 3 years now, and it didn't look to change anytime soon. "I got gel pens," Trisha said. "Really? Your dad let you do that?" "He's always pretty lenient with me," Trisha said. "That's really cool," Mae said, pulling another dress off the rack and holding it against herself, this one a dark brown with a belt, asking, "What about this one?" "That one looks good," Trisha said, "...I guess I'm excited, but I'm also nervous. I like learning new things, but I hate having to get older to do it. Remember in 1st grade when our homework was nothing more than writing about what animal we would be if we could be an animal? I much prefer that than what we'll face this year." "I mean...I kind of understand," Mae said, "but it's also cool, isn't it? Like...to think that we'll eventually be able to drive and stuff? Doesn't that sound exciting?" "That's not even close to where we are though!" Trisha said, laughing, "That's still years away!" "I know but it's coming up and it's exciting!" Mae replied, the both of them cracking up now. It was always a weird feeling, reaching the end of summer, and doing back to school shopping, but at least they did it together, and they had a good time doing it, which was more than most kids could say. *** That evening, each girl prepared for the coming school day differently. After dinner, Mae took a bath, then got her things together so she could watch TV for the rest of the night. Allie, now back in the trailer park, was happy when her dad brought home pizza for dinner. The two of them ate together and played a racing game afterwards. Only then, right before bed, did she prepare for the next day. Chaz was already prepared except for her clothes, so no sooner after she and her sister got home did their mother take them out to eat, while Trisha picked out an outfit - something her mother would approve of - and do some reading and bible study. Then she too took a bath and climbed into bed. That last day of summer...such a weird feeling. Giddy, tense and nervous, simultaneously excited for the coming school year but also afraid of what it could hold. New teachers, new friends, new possibilities. Nobody really knew how different things would be, but at the same time that unease birthed into excitement. By the end of the year, however, each girl would regret feeling excited for the new year, each for a different reason. Before she climbed into bed that night, Trisha said her prayers like she always did. She knew nobody else prayed, so she prayed for her friends as well. It was only 4th grade, but it was going to change everything.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
ABOUT
FANNYPACK follows 4 girls - Chaz, Allie, Trisha and Mae - in the 90s as they deal with adolescence and friendship. Archives
December 2022
Categories |