Stacey was quite literally pulling me by my hand, down the stairs.
It was as we were bolting down the huge spiral stair case that I realized Stacey's parent's had to have been loaded to afford a place like this.
"Stacey, tell me again why you don't have a car?" I said still trying to get used to my new alto sounding voice.
"Well, last time I checked, the legal driving is 16 and I am 15. Does that answer your question?" she said sarcastically.
"Besides," Stacey responded, "I should be asking you that question. Where's that car your dad promised you when you turned 16? When was the last time you saw your dad anyways?"
More memories came flooding back. My parents were separated and the last time dad came by to see me was right before the girls and I went out to party for my 16th birthday. I seemed to recall sleeping with some dweeb we met at the mall that night. That thought kind of shocked me. I tried to think of his name- maybe he was an ex-boyfriend or something, but I was getting a bad feeling about this. "Yeah, like my parents are anywhere near as rich as yours are," I replied.
Near the bottom of the stairs was the front door. Stacey opened the closet door and pulled out her back pack and a pair of strappy sandal like pair of heels. They looked like they were a 3 or 4 inch heel. With the way she was dressed she looked like she was ready to head to a club and not to high school. She tossed my black semi-trench coat at me, and handed me my pair of boots. It felt odd to be standing there at that moment. I felt like I was dressed and that I wasn't. I had a skirt on, yet the open feeling my legs had made me feel exposed. My legs and feet were sheathed in nylon, yet, I could sense the cold feel of the ceramic tile on the bottom of my dainty feet. I sat down on my posterior as I pulled on the left boot. I raised my leg and pulled as hard as I could. Stacey giggled at the trouble I was having.
"I told you you should have bought the size 9s," Stacey said. I instantly recalled shopping for these boots. Stacey was with me and that bitch Sarah was too. She slept with Steve while I was dating him and ever since then she had this superiority complex over me. She always boasted about how her grades were so good, and how she won Steve over. Just once I wanted to out do her. So when we were shopping around for shoes I discovered she was a size 10! Of course I totally played on that fact. She wanted the same pair of boots I did, but they didn't carry them in a size 10. She would have tried to squeeze in a pair of size 9s, but they were all sold out. I mean what kind of girl wears size 10 shoes!? So, when the sales girl came around I told her I took a size 8. The look on Sarah's face was priceless. I had to squeeze into them and it hurt at first, but to see Sarah all jealous that I had the boots she wanted made my day. "Yeah, I know, I grumbled, and I zipped up the left boot." I then started on the right boot.
Stacey was kneeling down fastening the straps on her shoes when she did one final time check. "We gotta roll, now!" she said.
Luckily, the right boot seemed to go on easier than the left. I stood up and felt the pain the boots were causing my feet, but I tried to put it out of my mind. Moreover, I suddenly noticed how much taller I felt with the boots on. I looked back and raised my left leg a bit to see how big my heel was. It too had to have been about a 4 inch heel. For a moment I almost lost balance on one foot, but I did not fall over before lowering my left leg again. I pulled on the trench coat and tied up in the front. It came down to around the same length as the skirt Stacey wore. In fact, the coat's length may have been longer than the hemline of that micro-mini I had loaned to Stacey. I was trying to think of what I looked like yesterday. I must have looked like a flasher or something. Today, I looked trendy- maybe even smart. The denim skirt came to a few inches below the coat, and my sand-colored hose peeked out from the bottom of my skirt which was above the knee, and the boots made me look like a 20 year old instead of 16 year old- "I could totally get into the bars with this outfit on," I said aloud, much to my surprise.
"See, I knew you'd like it if you gave it a chance," Stacey smiled as she spoke.
There was a mirror by the doorway and Stacey and I almost simultaneously looked into it one last time to make any last minute asjustments we had to before we left. I grabbed some of my hair and sighed in disgust.
"Check your purse Jans, I put one of my hair clips in there in case you decide you want to put your hair up like I suggested earlier," Stacey said.
I grabbed my purse and Stacey and I were about to head out the door.
Stacey checked for her keys in her purse, threw a leather coat over her arm and closed the door after we both walked out.
"Wait a minute," I said, "Shouldn't we grab some breakfast before we go?"
Stacey looked at me like I had fallen off of my rocker. "Earth to Jana, snap out of your hangover already. First off, we don't have any time for breakfast. Second, the only way we'll manage to keep our figures like this is if we skip breakfast. Now, last time you were over here, we didn't have breakfast, and if I recall correctly, the only time we had breakfast before school was way back in like grade 6!"
"Oh," I responded.
"Come on, we're going to be late for our bus." Stacey said as she tried to pick up the pace while walking down her driveway.
"Oh Stacey," I said after noticing she had a back pack and I did not, "Did I leave my back pack in your place."
Stacey just looked over at me again. This was becoming a habit for her. "Did you say your back pack?"
I just nodded at her, while trying not to lose my footing in these boots.
"Look, I don't know who you are or what you did with Janice Michelle Stevens, but let me know when you give her her body back," Stacey stated.
"Okay," I said as I was trying to keep up with Stacey's brisk pace.
"Jana, you haven't carried your back pack since like grade 8 or 9. Besides, you always tell me I should lose my back pack and get some boys to carry my books for me."
I decided I had to start to play the part, "of course I did. I remember now."
We were less than a block away from the stop when we saw the bus pull up toround the corner at the street up ahead to get to our stop. Instantly, I somehow knew that this was bad. I looked over at Stacey and she looked over at me in almost the same state of shock. There was a chance, a small chance that the bus driver might see us, but we had to run. The stop was a football field away, and without hesitation, I made a break for it. I tried to run for it, to try and get the bus driver's attention, but it wasn't easy with these boots on.
"Wait!" I yelled, as I ran closer to the street from which the bus began to round the corner, but to no effect, once the bus rounded the corner and once the bus driver realized no one was at the stop where we should have been, the bu spicked up speed and left me waving my arms in the dust the bus left behind. It took a minute or so for Stacey to catch up the distance I had ran, but once she did she was not happy with the situation.
"I told you to hurry it up this morning, and now look, we've missed our bus and it's all thanks to you!" Stacey yelled at me.
"Well, the bus driver might have stopped had we both tried to run and catch his attention- I could have used a little help here!" I spat back.
"Yeah, does it look like I'm wearing running shoes? Besides, I don't want to get a run in my hose. You better check yours after that little jog of yours. And if you put a run into those pair, you owe me another pair," Stacey said with authority in her voice.
"Fine, fine," I responded while I simmered down.
"When's the next bus Stacey?" I asked as we approached the bus bench.
"Not for another 20 minutes," she said still sounding upset. "Do you know what this means?"
I shook my head.
"It means that we'll be late Jana... that's the third time this week for the both of us, and you know what that means?" Stacey reasoned.
Again, I shook my head.
"It means detention for the both of us if vice principal Stone catches us."
With the mention of that name, more memories came back into my head. I remember Stone busting Stacey and I for so many things: skipping classes, tardiness, and even fighting a few times.
"It's okay, we won't get caught," I reassured Stacey who was looking worried.
"Yeah right, that bitch Stone has got it in for you. I think if she had the grounds, she would expel you," Stacey said.
She was probably right, but now was not the time to think about that, "Don't worry, just relax, everything will be fine. Stone won't catch us," I assured Stacey.
"I hope you're right Jana," Stacey said.
"Me too," I said under my breath.
Stacey and I sat down on the bus bench and began the long wait for the next bus. A thought occurred to me.
"Besides, you know what this means Stacey?" I quizzed her.
"No," she responded.
"We get to do my hair and make-up while we wait," I said.
At that she smiled, and we both opened up our purses to get to work.
