School today was mid, with a side of manipulation. Surprisingly, Dad was really chill with me going out with friends I met just yesterday - quite opposite to the protective Dad I've had since as long as I can remember, till 13.
I don't know what changed inside him after 3 years of living in hiding, but it's strange and different.
The mall was as you'd expect - full of shops of all kinds, a mixture of the various cultures of our ancestors and immigrants. I've always liked visiting malls, mostly for the sights. The shops are the same everywhere, but the malls themselves always have some unique feature.
A little history on my country, it's actually a city-state-island off the coast of the United Kingdom. It's slightly smaller than most European countries, but it's a lot bigger than a dot on the globe.
The island was previously uninhabited till about a decade before World War I, therefore its main occupants are ethnically from everywhere else on the globe. Plus, there's always 100s of students arriving from abroad to study at Elemental University.
Dad's family is German. His parents moved here before he was born. He doesn't really know the language too well, but can definitely understand basic phrases and words.
I don't really remember where my mom's from, because her side of the family stay really close to our old house - just half an hour away.
Back to the mall, it's always interesting to see something unique brought from each country. It's quite nice actually.
Liora and Sylvia mostly yapped about goodness knows what, while I had to act curious and make a few odd comments.
We window-shopped in basically every store, searching for nothing in particular.
The mall, in all its capitalistic glory, was honestly predictable and monotonous. Another store dedicated solely to phone cases. Revolutionary. I plastered on my Lexi smile, chiming in with the occasional, "Oh my god, so cute!" or a perfectly timed, "Do you think that would look good on my Insta?" It felt like performing a bad improv sketch for an invisible audience, with the rhythmic noises of distant cash registers in the background.
As Liora was mid-sentence about some influencer's latest scandal, a thought, insidious and brilliant, sparked in my mind. Lexi needed a public act of goodness, something to solidify her sympathetic, new-girl status and boost her popularity beyond just being "the poor new kid Carly was mean to." It hit me like a perfectly ripe fruit falling from a tree.
"You know what?" I interrupted, my voice bubbling with manufactured enthusiasm. "All this... shopping... it's fun and everything, but it feels a little... tiring... you wanna go eat?"
Liora paused, her eyes widening slightly. "Tired already?"
"I guess... I just feel bad about yesterday..."
Sylvia nodded along. "I heard the tea... I know this is serious, but dang it, now I wanna go get boba tea." she said with a mock frown.
Liora sighed tiredly but smiled it off. "Boba it is then," she declared, leading us to the first floor.
***
My insta feed pinged while drinking boba - completely forgot to tell it or write it. That was my big idea. I saw the poster earlier, but how did I not show them? The school cupcake fundraiser... it's happening next week.
You know how I said Lexi needs some big new public act of kindness? Well... I guess Lexi's grand entrance is going to be quite a sweet one...
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