[|]

I walked behind Maddy with my hands clenched behind my back. I was nervous as hell. We just walked into a huge clothing store that looked expensive and I was sure nothing was sold for twenty dollars in case I wanted to save myself with the cash in my pocket. I kept my eyes on Maddy as she pointed here and there. She was one bubbly person.

"So, Jackie. What are you looking out for?" She asked once she faced me.

"I don't know. I don't have a choice," I replied as I looked away from her, trying to not make eye contact.

"Okay!" Maddy said. "I already have something to pick from here. Have you watched any Marvel movies? Well, I'm going to be dressed as Black Widow. They have some leather outfits here that could work for my character choice. Come on."

I grunted when she grabbed my hand and dragged me to the inner part of the store. She stopped by a rack filled with leather clothes. When she released my hand she started to look through them while I wondered why she was being kind to me. I've seen what she did to some students who were like me. Why was she being uncharacteristically kind to me?

First Lucas Hamilton and now Maddy Kingston. Worst of all, Maddy and Lucas had a thing or so I heard. It could be that she was waiting for the hour to strike me for talking to her man. I've seen it in movies so it could be. I have to be careful around her, not only her but Lucas too. Who knows, they could be plotting together.

"Ah-hah!" Maddy exclaimed and held out a leather jumpsuit. "What do you think?"

"It's nice," I replied with my thumbs up.

"Do you think it's my size?" She asked then eyed my body. "Why don't you try it on for me?"

I craned my head sideways in confusion. How could she say that when we weren't of the same size or height. Maddy was some inches taller than me and a little on the thin side. Was she visually impaired or something?

"Pardon?"

"Try it on for me," she said and pushed the cloth into my chest.

I gulped and held it then followed her finger when she pointed at a changing room. With a smile at her, I went to it and hesitantly stepped in. Once I locked the door, I exhaled harshly.

"What is her problem?" I asked myself as I stared at the mirror surrounding the walls of the dressing room. "Something seems suspicious. I can feel it. None of these seems real at all."

I sighed and ran my hands over the smooth body of the leather outfit. I groaned and started to take off my shirt and jeans pants then slipped into the leather jumpsuit. It was tight and was exactly my size from head to toe. My lips parted at the person in the reflection.

This person looked different in the fitted leather outfit. Her cleavage was noticeable through the unzipped top area of the outfit and her small waist made her hips show more— I was surprised.

A knock on the door pushed me out of my thoughts.

"Are you done, Jackie?" I heard Maddy ask.

"Yeah, I'm coming out now," I replied and immediately felt nervous. Maddy was a very judgemental person, who knew how she would react to me in this outfit.

I shook the nerves away and stepped toward the door. I counted to three and opened the door. Maddy's eyes widened and a smile appeared on her make-up-caked face.

"Oh, wow! This is so nice. This outfit fits you so well," she said happily and I could see how genuine she looked.

"Really? Thanks. So, do you think it'll fit you?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yup. Which means I'm taking the Black Widow costume and you're also taking this one," Maddy said and I froze.

"Huh?"

"Yes. Take this one and I'll go get the other size I saw on the rack. I'm paying for them. So, go take it off. We aren't done with shopping," Maddy said and walked away, leaving me shocked to the core.

"Is she serious?" I whispered. I didn't even know If I should be feeling relieved that she just saved me or get suspicious of her sudden kindness but I brushed it off and ran into the dressing room, smiling from ear to ear.

[|]

Three hours later, Maddy dropped me home with three shopping bags filled with what I needed for the party. One bag contained the leather outfit, and another contained shoes and a utility belt. The last contained extra clothes Maddy had bought without my knowledge and handed to me as mine.

I was over the moon because this was the first time someone did such for me and I was on the verge of tearing up in her presence.

"Thank you, Maddy," I said, trying to hold myself from crying.

"It's alright. See you at the party on Saturday," she said and drove off into the night.

I chuckled. "She's nice. I guess her rudeness at school is some pretense or something."

As I turned my body to walk away, I saw my stepfather getting out of his rusted pick-up truck. I gulped and rushed to the front door. I pushed the door open and went straight to my room where I locked myself. I hated that man with a strong passion.

I gasped when I heard the house phone ringing in the hallway. I was not going out there to answer it, no matter who was calling. And so I did until my mom came back the following morning. She yelled, complaining about how my phone was switched off and how no one answered the house phone.

I felt bad because she looked stressed and had needed some warmer clothes, which was why she had been calling. I could not reveal anything to her yet, no one would believe me if I did, so I was told and I had to stick with that.