As she walked out of the cafeteria, she didn’t know where to go. She walked down the silent hallways towards the gym. She remembered the first day of school, when she walked around the school aimlessly to avoid the cafeteria scene.

Rachel heard noises coming down the hall. She turned to see what it was, and she saw Emily, Liv and Taryn walking and whispering to each other.

Rachel turned around and began walking towards them. “Hey Guys!” she shouted down the hall.

“Ah! Rach, OMG, you will never guess what happened,” Emily said.

“Where were you guys? Nobody was at lunch today,” Rachel said.

“Yeah, duh. We were all in Dr. McNery’s office all morning. He kept all of us for questioning. It was terrible.”

“Seriously? All of you? Where’s Jen and Kate?”

Rachel saw Emily look at the other girls with questioning eyes and then back at Rachel.

“Well, we’re not sure what’s going on with them, but they were sitting in the Vice Principals office when we left just now. They didn’t see us though. I hope they’re not in trouble.”

“Oh gosh,” Rachel said, sounding frightened. “I wonder what happened.”

“I completely agree with you,” Liv said, giving her a high five. “Don’t they have better things to do than to harp over some dumb fight?”

“I can’t wait for this week to be over!” Rachel exclaimed. “We need the weekend to come. All of us!”

“Cheers to that!” Taryn said, holding up her hand as if she were holding a glass.

RING RING RING

The bell rang, and kids began to flood into the hallways. Rachel was thankful that she had survived lunch, especially with her run in with Arielle.

Now, she just had to make it through the next two and a half hours and then she’d be home free— at least for the weekend.

*

Rachel couldn’t wait to get out of school when she heard the sound of the last bell ring. She gathered her bag and ran out the doors of the school and waited for her friends. A moment later, Taryn pulled up in her BMW and honk the horn. As Rachel walked over to the car, she heard someone calling her name from behind her.

“Hey Rachel! Where are you going?”

Rachel turned around to see Sarah calling after her as she got into Taryn’s car.

“Oh, hey! Is mom here?” Rachel quickly asked Sarah.

“Don’t think so,” Sarah replied, looking around the parking lot.

“Phew, I’m supposed to be at math extra help. Please cover for me if she asks.”

“Haha!” Sarah laughed. “You’re growing up!”

“I told her I needed to say after, but I’m going to the mall for a bit, please don’t tell.”

“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me, Sis! Call me if you run into any trouble.”

Rachel was so happy with their new relationship. She couldn’t believe how over the course of the past week their relationship had completely shifted. She felt like they were really becoming close friends, instead of enemies.

“Hey Taryn!” Rachel said, as she hopped into the back seat. She didn’t want to sit up front, just in case she saw her mom driving around.

A moment later all the girls hopped into the car. The back seat was full and Rachel was squished in between Jen, Liv and Kate. She knew it was illegal to ride four in the back, but there was nothing she could do about it now. The car began to accelerate, and the six girls were off to the Westchester Mall.

The car speed down route 22 and onto I-684 with Z100 blaring over the radio. Rachel couldn’t help but remember their infamous trip into NYC the previous weekend. This was a de ja vous moment for her.

Rachel looked at the orange-lit clock on the dashboard, which read 2:43PM, and she knew she only had about two hours until she would have to be picked up from school. She knew she would have to remember to keep an eye on her watch.

“What happened to you two today?” Rachel asked, turning to Jess and Kate.

“Ugh, it was awful,” Kate, answered. “They kept us in the office all afternoon.”

“But why?” asked Rachel.

Taryn turned down the music so she could hear what they were saying.

“They thought we had information on the whereabouts of this Benji guy,” Jen said.

“It was totally crazy. Like, why would I ever call Benji? I don’t even know him or have his number,” Jen said. “I think the police have gone mad.”

“They accused you of calling him?” Rachel asked.

“Well, not exactly,” answered Jen. “But it was weird how they asked us if we’ve been in touch with him and said they’ve checked our phone records.”

“They did the same thing to me,” Rachel said. “Luckily, I hadn’t talked to him since the night of the fight.”

Rachel thought about what she had just said, and got sad for a moment. She really missed Benji and so desperately wanted to speak to him. She was still a little skeptical and creped out that he called himself a vampire— but she wanted to at least talk to him, warn him about what was going on at school. She wondered if he had any idea of the repercussions he had caused.

Rachel looked out of the window and saw a huge cement and stone building with a W and an M intertwined. She figured that stood for Westchester Mall. Taryn turned up the music as they entered the parking garage and pulled into a spot next to another BMW and a Mercedes.

This was Rachel’s first time at the famous Westchester Mall. Her friends had been telling her about this mall since they’d met. Rachel was pumped she was finally here to experience the mall for herself.

As the six girls entered the big white and gold doors that led them into the mall, Rachel could smell the potpourri smell that infused the air. They got onto the escalator and Rachel looked up. It was the most beautiful mall she’d ever seen. It was four stories of sheer bliss. She looked up at all the different floors and then up at the ceiling, full of skylight windows. The ground floor of the mall had marble tiling and each floor above it was beautifully carpeted. She couldn’t help but feel like Annie, the first time she entered Mr. Warbucks’ house. She stood there in awe of this place. It was the biggest and grandest building she’d ever been in. She didn’t know where to go first.

The girls walked over to the directory and started spitting out names of stores they wanted to hit. “Abercrombie, Sephora, Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom’s, Anthropology, Delia’s, JCrew.” The list went on and on, and Rachel’s mind was spinning. Where was she? She hadn’t heard of most of these stores, but she figured she’d go along for the ride. She wasn’t really in the market for anything new— not to mention her weekly allowance of $25 dollars probably wouldn’t get her far in this place.

Rachel looked at her watch: it was 3:03pm and she had about an hour and a half until her mom would begin to wonder where she was. The girls began to walk around the first floor, and they entered the Tiffany & Co. store.

The walls were painted the Tiffany Blue color and Rachel was in awe of the beautiful diamonds that filled each case. She’d never been inside a Tiffany’s store before, but had heard all about them. Apparently, in Westchester, every girl had something from Tiffany’s. All her friends had the heart tag charm bracelet with their initials engraved on them. The girls said they got them for each other last year as a Christmas/Hanukkah present. Rachel was surprised, but then realized she was in a much different town than the one she came from in Pennsylvania. She couldn’t believe that these girls would spend $300 dollars on each other for a Christmas gift.

Liv walked over to the counter and called over one of the sales ladies. “Can I see this?” she pointed to a mesh ring in the case.

“Yes, you may,” the sales lady said in a professional voice as she pulled the ring out of the case.

Liv tried on the ring and looked down at the price. Rachel saw the tag, and could not believe it: $895.

“I’m going to ask my mom for this, for my birthday!”

Rachel watched as the girls “ood” and “ahhd” over the ring she put on her finger. Liv handed the ring back, and the lady handed Liv her business card

“Please give this to your parents, and have them call me when they’re ready to purchase the ring.”

“Will do!” Liv said with a smile.

The girls walked out of the store and headed up the escalator into Neiman Marcus. They walked over to the shoe department and began looking around at all the different pumps, sneakers and flats. Rachel picked up one shoe and flipped it over to see the price. This particular shoe had a bright red bottom with a small sticker, which read $795! Rachel thought she had read it wrong. Seven hundred and ninety five dollars for a simple pair of black patent pumps? She looked at the label on the inside of the shoe, which read Christian Louboutin. She’d never heard of this brand, but knew she was better off. She could never afford those shoes—or any of the shoes in that whole shoe department. She picked up a few others Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Manolo Blahnik, each one more expensive than the next. She couldn’t imagine who would spend $2,500 on a pair of tan suede and fur trimmed boots, but apparently they sold them, so someone must want them.

Rachel was in shock. This was the opposite of any mall she’d ever been in and she felt a little ashamed. She couldn’t afford anything in the entire store. She wished she were back in Pennsylvania shopping at Aeropostale, JC Penney’s and Wal Mart. At least there she didn’t feel like she was being judged by the amount of money she could spend.

The girls walked out of Neiman Marcus and upstairs to the Louis Vuitton store.

“Guys, I’ve been wanting the LV Neverfull so badly,” Taryn said as they walked into the store.

“What’s that?” Rachel asked. She instantly felt like a moron. She figured she should have kept her mouth shut and just watched.

“That’s it!” Taryn said, as she pointed to a bag high on the shelf.

“Can I see that?” Taryn asked the sales man.