Karen found herself in the mall's food court, having some ice cream with Jen, and a couple of girls she didn't immediately recognize.
"Hurry up, Karen, we've got a lot of shopping to do before the mall closes. I told you that we should've skipped 5th hour, these girls need your help."
All five of them followed Jen around the mall, chatting away, but when they stepped into the first store, Karyn was confused again.
"C'mon maestro," Jen said. "Let's get these girls ready for prime time - they don't pay you for nothing."
Karyn wasn't sure what that meant. She was supposed to pick out clothes for THEM? But she only recently had started wearing nicer things and wasn't sure if she could deliver.
Jen broke Karyn out of her trance. "Just take a look at yourself, K-Bee. Everything you wear is always fashion-forward. Whatever you touch just seems to work together in ways we could never think of. That's why they're here."
She caught a glance at herself in the mirror. Maybe Jen was right, who else could pull off the opaque knee sock, wavy stripe sweater, and leather high-waisted shorts with a beret like she could? Maybe she should just try digging in.
She looked at the racks around her and grabbed a skirt, blazer and cardigan at random and threw them to a girl named Melanie. An immediate hit. The jewels from the cardigan worked with the metallic print of the skirt, and the dark denim blazer pulled it all together! "Society Glam" they decided to call it. This was way too easy.
Erica was "Totally Tonal." Black skinny jeans, tan ruffled tank top, crocheted sweater, and a bow belt. Pretty soon they all had new outfits. Danielle was "Krispy Kream," Kim was "Nautical Notions," and Natalie was "Party in Pink." And they kept going.
The rest of the afternoon was a blur of Burberry and Blahnik, of houndstooth and herringbone, but the best part was that Karyn didn't even have to think about it. She picked, and it worked. Why did she think shopping was so stupid before? She couldn't stop smiling. The girls couldn't thank her enough, and even after they gave her an envelope of money, they still bought her clothes!
Her bags were full of outfits; skirts in black, blue, and tan, fluttery ones, ones that were tight to her body, ones with cute patterns - all of which came down to mid-thigh. She didn't mind longer skirts, but when she tried one on, Jen stepped in. Karyn has ALWAYS had great legs, and loves to show them off. When Karyn looked back in the mirror and put her hands down to her side, the skirt she had on was back to where it should be; the hem at the center of her palm.
She turned around, and was greeted by a group of brilliant, smiling faces. All looking cute, all looking happy, and all because of her. She felt that same warm feeling come over her as the world started fading to black.
"Should I get that sequined dress? The sparkle would really show off the shine in my blonde hair "
