Zoe and Athena were on what had become a weekly lunch date at the mall food court. They had begun hanging out a bit more over the past couple of weeks and their relationship had moved on from the "rediscovering each other" phase and into a more trust building area. This was by design, Athena didn't want to bring up the massive fight that would be a make over without having Zoe trust her to do a good job. She had been stalling for a month with the girls, who were waiting in the wings every time they went to Yoga together. Gladys was the worst about it, often nearly ruining things with an errant comment or offer of free tanning booth coupons. Athena had gotten Gladys off her back for while though, by suggesting to Tom that she and Biff should date.
Zoe on the other hand had found herself wanting to be around Athena more often. It didn't matter what they did, going to the zoo, which she would have thought was lame any other day was exciting and silly when they did it. She had taken on a real enjoyment of Yoga, not just in how fit she was becoming, that was a nice side effect, but also in the spiritual aspects of it, which she was had studied in the hopes that it could be a stepping stone to getting the old Athena back. Athena had not really bought into it, but the more Zoe learned the more she liked it, in a way Zoe was becoming more like the old Athena that Athena was, for all her efforts.
They ate at the mall food court once a week now because both of them had plans for what they wanted to do. Athena was hoping for an opening in the conversation that would allow her to bring up the idea of a make over and then they could act on it as quickly as possible. Zoe had a much more complex plan. She too was hoping they could go to certain store, but it was one that was more rare than a Forever 21 or Gap. There were stories of store that sometimes existed and sometimes did not, called Spells R Us, it appeared and disappeared at will. She had heard stories of gender bending, identity thief, transformations, all the things that had happened at the school the day of the sticky notes. She thought he might be behind this, and she thought he might be able to fix it. She had done research into magic and how to find this place but it all seemed to be a crap shoot. This research had taught her a lot, and often times she would share these little bits of information with an often disinterested Athena. Zoe thought this was because of Tom.
Athena and Tom had started dating about a month ago, she didn't know that she had started dating him so that Gladys wouldn't have him to use as leverage against her, but Athena certainly seemed to be enjoying that new part of her life. They had only gone on a few dates, but Athena would always call Zoe afterwards and tell her all about it. Athena was hoping the joy of having a cute guy to cuddle with would bring Zoe around to the idea of dating...but Zoe was often disinterested, Athena just had to find the right guy for her. She liked dating Tom a lot. She liked kissing him and she loved how small she felt in his arms when he would hold her. He made her feel pretty, he made her feel safe. The whole thing made Zoe annoyed.
They sat at the table, trying to avoid the subjects that they didn't want to talk about. Athena couldn't bring up Yoga or Cheerleading because Zoe would turn that into a discussion on magic. Zoe couldn't bring up anything having to do with guys or it would turn into a discussion dating. So, being in a mall, the discussion turned to cloths...and that was the opening that Athena was hoping for.
Next time: Zoe's Make over!
