Cataliya

7. Make Over and Shopping

Cataliya's P.O.V

She turned me around. I looked at my face in the mirror. I couldn't take my eyes off it. For once, I looked pretty to myself. My hair was cut at mid back. Jenelia gave me a pretty good hair cut. I had side bangs too andy eyebrows were perfectly shaped. I had manicured and pedicured nails with dark green nail polish. I didn't know what, but she did something to my face. It looked cleaner and clearer. My face looked so different and I looked better than before. I just relaxed through the whole process. Slept, even.

"You look great Cataliya!" Jenelia clapped her hands together with a smile on her face. Her short chestnut hair bounced as she jumped. "I'm happy with my work. Teehee!"

"I can never thank you enough Jen. You're great!" I smiled back at her and gave her a hug.

"You don't need to thank me. That's what any friend would do, right?" She asked with a smile.

"Right." I answered back with a smile of my own, but in my case, it was fake. 

I thanked her once again and exited her salon. Jenelia was a human, a really nice one at that. She went through hard times too. Anybody can get that by just looking at her. Yes, she seemed lively, but I could see right past through it.

I started walking towards home. It was 4 pm. I rushed to my room once I got there and took out all the savings I had. I counted it and it was somewhere around four thousand. I had been saving this amount for almost a year now. I would've had more by now if I hadn't quit my job.

I took two thousand bucks and kept the other two thousand in the drawer. I then rushed out the house and ran to the mall, which was pretty far.

After I had reached the mall, I roamed around the stores, not really liking what they had there. I couldn't find the type of clothes or anything that I could like. I didn't have a type. I was an outcast. Everybody had a type, I didn't.

I aimlessly walked around more stores until I came across this one store which had a big poster reading as "SALE. GET UPTO 70% DISCOUNT!" 

That poster caught my eye. I went inside and my eyes found some of the best t-shirts and tops I could ever find. I walked to the rack and grabbed all the tops that I liked; about seventeen or more. All of them were good. They weren't too gothic nor too girly. They didn't seem too loose or too tight. They fit my taste.

They were rather inexpensive as well, since they were on sale. Most of them fell in the range of 7 to 10 dollars. I took a big basket that was stocked amongst others and kept all the tops there.

Then I went to the 'bottoms' section. I picked a lot of legging, skinny jeans and tights. They were cheap too. The jeans were mostly 20 or 35 dollars. 

Then, I went to the shoe/sandal section. There were some really cool shoes. I picked four pairs which seemed the best to me.

I took all the stuff to the counter. A girl who looked like she was in her late teens beamed at me when I placed all the things there.

"That's a lot of stuff right there. Somebody's a shopaholic I see." She winked.

"Not really." I gave her a pointed look. She just shrugged.

"That would be a total of 738 dollars. Anyway, you bought a lot of stuff, so here you go. Pick one. It's free for you. Think of it as a gift from me." She pulled out a box of lockets, with a smile.

I hesitantly picked one, not really caring. "Excellent choice! That's my personal favourite!" She beamed at me.

I paid the amount and was about to leave when she stopped me.

"Hey, my shift it about to end. Want to go have some good burgers or something? I'm Elliane by the way." She smiled at me.

I felt a little weird, going to hang out with somebody I didn't know. Could I trust her? She seemed decent, but looks could betray.

Nevertheless, I nodded, questioning my sanity. I guess I would actually like some company. Especially one like her. She seemed nice and she reminded me of Michael. She even had dark brown hair like him, and had a sense of familiarity.

Cataliya, you're an idiot, and you're insane for doing this. That was the only thing I kept telling myself in my mind.

I waited patiently for almost twenty minutes. I looked at the time and saw it was just ten past six. I had time. It was not like anybody would actually need me, so I couldn't care any less.

Soon enough, Elliane came out with a bag in her hand. She stuck her hand out for me to take. I took it and we walked hand-in-hand. You're doing just great, idiot. Walking like this with a goddamn stranger who you don't even know anything of. 

 "I'm Cataliya, by the way." I introduced myself.

"Cataliya. I like that name. You are pretty, too! You are different from all the girls that come to the store everyday. They're all so loud and annoying. I have the hardest job ever!" She dramatically exclaimed. I laughed lightly at her.

"You're nicer than 99% of the people. Nobody actually talks to me nicely anymore. Not that they did, ever. It's nice." I said, truthfully.

We walked to the nearby food store, talking and laughing mostly. I felt good. Is that how it felt to be a human? I wish I were a human.

"I know you're a werewolf. And I know who you are." Her words took me by surprise. What did she mean by she knew who I was?

"Huh? I am Cataliya. What's there to know anyway?" I gave her a weird look. "Are you a werewolf too?"

"Yes, but more of a seer actually. And a little bit of elementalist too." She smiled. "When I said I know who you are, I didn't just mean your name. I meant, like the real you and who you really are."

"Who am I?" I asked, confused, and curious.

"We can't be here. It's late." She too looked around us, then turned around with me along her. Her grip on my hand got tighter.

"Why? What's wrong?" I questioned. She was walking really fast, and me with so many bags in my hand was not really helping, though she had held half of my bags in her other hand that wasn't holding my hand.

Suddenly, my head started spinning. I was very dizzy. I could collapse on the floor any moment, when Elliane pulled me harder and started running.

We were out of the mall and in the garage. She let go of my hand and took the remaining bags that were in my other hand. She soon disappeared from my view with all my bags.

I couldn't stand anymore. My head was pounding. It was getting hard for me to even breathe. I vaguely remember touching the sides of my head.

A loud honk brought me back to reality. It made me condition worse because soon I was falling. Although, the impact from the fall was not bad at all. I did not get hurt. Instead, I felt two strong, yet soft hands hold me.

I looked up with blurry eyes and saw Elliane. She offered me a sad smile and helped me get into her car. She had a car. 

"Here, use this to wipe the blood off." Blood? I was bleeding? From where? I didn't get hit, did I?

She handed me some wet wipes. "Where am I bleeding from?" I questioned, lost. My head still hurt like it hit a wall and I was almost at the point where I was about to faint.

"Your eyes, honey. Your eyes." That was all I heard before I actually fainted, with the wet wipes on both my eyes.

____________________

Done.

What do you think? Do you like Elliane? 

Pic on top of Elliane.