Zoe and Athena were the first ones to arrive.
As they walked through the mall to the food court (they had to consult the mall map/directory to find it), Zoe noticed a few guys staring at Athena ... and also at her, but mostly at Athena. One of them was apparently with his girlfriend and she slapped him when she saw him staring.
"You know, you're really getting a lot of attention from these guys," Zoe said.
"I'm not really paying attention. I'm just trying to make sure I don't stumble in these damn shoes again. Sarah and her friends make it look so easy."
"Yeah, well. They've been wearing them for a lot longer than one night."
When they finally made it to the food court, they sat at a table near the edge of the seating area, and waited for their friends to show up.
Zoe looked around. "So, this is the mall, huh? I thought there'd me more people."
"Isn't it closing time in another hour?"
"Is it?"
Athena groaned and took off one of her heels.
"What is it?" Zoe asked.
"My feet hurt."
"Yeah, mine too." Zoe sat back in the chair and crossed her legs, something that Sarah told her to do whenever she sat down.
Athena put her shoe back on and looked up. "There they are," she said.
Zoe turned around and saw Sabrina and Stephanie walking towards them. They didn't look very pleased to be there. Sabrina looked so weird wearing a tight white T-shirt with the word BABE written across the front in big pink letters and a pink pleated miniskirt. Stephanie looked equally as weird wearing a pink halter top and a light pink miniskirt, especially considering she hated pink.
"I can't believe you made us come here," Sabrina said.
"Hey, we have to keep up appearances," Zoe said. "I'm only doing it for that reason. I'm not really interested in shopping."
"So, where's this evidence you have," Sabrina said to Athena.
"Right here." She pulled a piece of paper out of her purse. Her "new" pink purse. The paper had a list of varying objects, all labeled as "magic".
Sabrina grabbed the sheet. "This is it? There's twenty things on here."
"Nineteen," Athena corrected her.
"Okay, whatever. What are we supposed to do with this list?"
"I thought we should memorize what's on the list and be on the lookout for them. Hey, I know this isn't what you wanted, but this will point us in the right direction. I'm 100% sure that what we're looking for is on this list."
Sabrina settled down a bit. "I just want my life back. I don't think I can take any more of this fucking nightmare."
Zoe coughed and looked at Sabrina.
Sabrina groaned, then said "Sorry. I meant damn nightmare."
"That's better. But remember that Amber was sweet. You have to be more like that."
Sabrina had no intention of it. No way was she gonna turn herself into a sweet happy-go-lucky girl. Just the thought of it made her sick. She'd agree to keep the profanity down, but that's as far as she was willing to go.
"Did you ask the spirits?" Stephanie asked Athena. She was talking about Athena's use of a Ouija board.
"That's something that I was afraid to bring up."
"What do you mean?"
She looked from one friend to another. "I can't perform magic anymore."
"What? What are you talking about?" Zoe asked.
"I'm not a witch anymore. When we switched, my ability to perform witchcraft was given to Tiffany. Now she's a witch."
"But, she obviously doesn't know anything about it. Isn't that dangerous?" Zoe asked.
"Very."
"Maybe you should teach her," Stephanie suggested.
"Teach her? She's a bimbo. Anything I tell her will go in one ear and go out the other."
"Maybe you should give her the chance," Zoe said. "It's better than not doing anything at all, especially with how dangerous it is."
Athena shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh, and speaking of bimbos," Zoe said.
"Yeah?" asked Athena.
"I think you should act like them. I mean, that's how Tiffany acted."
"No way. I'll dress like her, but I won't act like her."
"But that's kind of the point of all of this," Zoe said.
"I'm not going to act like a bimbo."
"How about a slut?" Stephanie asked, joking. To Athena, however, it was no joke. She was already hesitant to tell them about her nymphomania, but after Stephanie's remark, she thought that she should keep it to herself. Earlier when she said she wasn't paying any attention to the guys in the mall because she was trying to keep from stumbling in her shoes ... well ... that wasn't totally the truth. She was also not paying attention to them because she didn't want to feel those sexual urges she had been getting for the last two days.
"Just try it out. Say something like her," Zoe prodded.
"Okay. Fine." She paused for a moment. "I, like, found these really cool shoes today? And, they're, like, totally awesome."
"Maybe tone it down a bit," Zoe said.
"Well, well, well," a voice said suddenly. The four girls looked up from their table and saw Laura Steemer, the student council president. Like most of the students on the council, she was really preppy. "If it isn't the most popular girls from school."
"What do you want?" Zoe asked.
"What I want is to stay as president when we return next year. But seeing how fast you've become popular in your first year of high school, well, frankly, you're in my way."
"I don't want to be president, so you have nothing to worry about," Zoe said.
"Well, it's not up to you. Now, is it? It's up to your followers."
"I won't be running."
"I doubt that. And when you do run, I'll be there to stop you."
"It's the truth."
"Whatever, bitch," she said, then walked off.
Athena leaned over and said "It looks like you made a new enemy."
