Hell on Earth

Chapter Sixteen - Back to School Shopping

"Don't look so miserable," Dustin said as they walked up to the store. They trailed behind their mother.

"Easy for you to say," Cynthia rolled her eyes. "You're not going to be the one who she is going to try and doll up."

"You'll be fine," Dustin said.

"No, I won't."

"How bad can it be, Cynthia?"

"Very."

They walked into the store. Their mother pulled them into the boy's section for Dustin.

"All right, Dusty," their mother smiled at him. "Pick out whatever you want to try on."

Cynthia looked through the shirts because she was bored. After her mother and Dustin had amassed some outfits, they went to the fitting rooms. Dustin was in and out in what seemed like a matter of minutes. Everything fit him, and their mother bought him everything he needed.

"What do you think of the outfits?" Dustin asked as their mother loaded the outfits into their cart.

"I think they're you," Cynthia said. "I'm just jealous that everything fit you perfectly. That never happens to me."

"I think you're exaggerating," Dustin said.

"I'm not," Cynthia said as they started to make their way to woman's section. "Women's clothing is the biggest scam of all time, Dustin. Never forget it."

They were in the woman's section. Cynthia bit her lip. She didn't hate woman's clothing, but she hated the way that it looked at her.

"All right, Cynthia," her mother turned her attention to Cynthia. "Remember, you can pick out anything you want for back to school."

"Noted," Cynthia said as she walked into the woman's section.

She went to the jeans section first. It was a good start. She held up different sizes to her legs. She gritted her teeth at differences in woman's sizes. It seemed that she was a size 10, 12, 14, and 18. She grabbed a few different pairs of the washed out "mom" jeans. After that, she headed to the t-shirts. She looked through some of them. Scratch that, she rolled her eyes at all of them. They were all ridiculous and tight and not her style at all. She grabbed some solid colored shirts in a few different colors before heading back to the dressing room area.

Her mother was standing with an arm full of bright dresses and other clothes. Dustin was standing next to their mother. He's eyes were saying sorry. You were right, he mouthed to her.

"Mom," Cynthia sighed. "I told you, I didn't want any dresses. I just wanted some new jeans and t-shirts."

"Oh, Cynthia," her mother walked up to her. She put the dresses in her arms. "I know that's what you said, but I saw them and just thought that you would look so pretty in them. It could be fun for you and your friend Nancy to dress up together."

Cynthia knew that she wasn't getting out of this one, "Fine."

She took all the clothes and headed into the dressing rooms. She tried on the jeans and t-shirts first. She knew she would like those. When she tried on the jeans, the 12's and 14's fit her best. She kept the four pairs. All of the t-shirts fit her really well. She kept the black, yellow, and purple ones. The blue and red ones would be put back. Cynthia pursed her lips as she saw the dresses. She took a breath and tried them on.

They were all different degrees of frilly and pink. Cynthia tried on all of them for her mother's sake, but hated how every single one looked on her. After she had tried them all on, she put them on the absolutely not hook. She brought the clothes back out to her mother.

"So," her mother smiled at her. "What do you think?"

"The jeans and the t-shirts fit perfectly," Cynthia told her. "The dresses were either too itchy, too short, or too frilly."

"Well that's all right dear," her mother took the clothes she didn't want. "You tried them on. That's all I can ask for." She put the clothes Cynthia wanted in the cart. "You and Dustin look around for a little bit. I need to get some things. Meet by the checkout section in an hour."

"See you in an hour," Cynthia walked backwards.

Dustin walked with her, "Where are we going?"

"I'm going to grab a new pair of overalls," Cynthia walked to the section. "After that, the men's section to look for some halfway decent t-shirts."

"That sounds like a good plan," Dustin nodded. "Much more you than pink, frilly dresses."

They walked through the sections to the overalls. She grabbed a nice red pair. They were really cool. As they were heading out of the women's section, they ran into Nancy and her mother.

"Hey, Cynthia," Nancy smiled when she saw her.

"Hey, Nance," Cynthia smiled. "Hey, Mrs. Wheeler."

"Where's your mother?" Mrs. Wheeler asked.

"She had to get some things," Cynthia answered. "Dustin and I are just browsing."

"She's looking for something not so princessy," Dustin said.

"Good thing," Nancy smiled. "Definitely not your style."

"Agreed," Cynthia nodded. "We're going to look around some more. We still on for swimming tomorrow?"

"Of course," Nancy nodded.

Cynthia and Dustin walked out of the woman's section and into the men's section.

"So, what are you looking for?" Dustin asked.

"I've been trying to find a somewhat decent Beatles shirt for a while," Cynthia said as she looked through the shirts. "I'm also looking for a Star Wars t-shirt."

"Have I ever told you that you are the coolest older sister ever?" Dustin asked.

"Not today," Cynthia laughed.

Her and Dustin looked through the shirts in a comfortable silence. She found a nice Beatles shirt and Dustin handed her a cool looking Star Wars t-shirt. It had the poster for Empire Strikes Back on it. They went back to the boy's section to see if there was anything else that Dustin wanted.

"Are you sure you've seen everything you want to?" Cynthia asked. "I don't want to be back here next week because you want another shirt because your friends have one."

"I'm sure," Dustin nodded. "I've picked my style this year. It's going to be awesome. I guarantee it."

"You are bold, my brother," Cynthia smiled at him. "Let's head to checkout. Mom should be there."

The siblings headed to the checkout line with Cynthia's new clothing. Their mother was there in line. They joined her in the line.

"What did you pick out, Cynthia?" her mother asked.

"I got some new overalls and some t-shirts I've been trying to find," Cynthia put them in the cart. "Overall, it was a pretty good turnout."

"That's good," their mother smiled at her. "You two are going to be so cute on your first day of school."

"Thanks, Mom," Cynthia said.

"It's going to an awesome year," Dustin smiled. "Just you wait."