Have a Nice Day

Juvenile's Life of Crime

Walking down the isles of Jaci's department store, I held arms with my friends, laughing and tripping over fallen clothes and shoes.

"We're off to see the Wizard! The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!" We all sang through our giggles. I let go of their arms and pushed my red-tipped hair out of my face.

"Oh, what a rip. That chant has to be the dumbest line in any fairy tale that we've encountered in our lives." I laughed.

"Meep, you're father is the Wizard, you know." Feather Bell, daughter of Tinkerbell, said while she fixed her green and black leather skirt.

"That's why I think it's the dumbest chant, it's about my father!" I chuckled.

"Well, I wouldn't blame you. My mother's singing drives me crazy." Hona, Pocahontas' daughter said. Her black hair was shaved on one side, while the rest went to her waist.

"You think you're mom drives you crazy? What do you think my father's like?" Crimson laughed. Her parents were Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. I had been over to her house, and when her father gets mad, it could get ugly pretty quick.

Looking at the floor for just a moment, I gazed at a pair of red pumps. Red was my favorite color, so they caught my eye well. I picked them up and turned them upside down to see the size. 9's. Perfect.

Sitting down on one of the stools nearby, my friends kept talking on and on about how their parents were so annoying while I tried on the heels. Trust me, no one was more annoying than my father. I stuffed my black studded and spiked heels in my carrier's bag purse as I pulled on the red shoes.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here!" Crimson said, looking down at me and crossing her arms. "Looks like we got a little Dorothy on our hands!"

"Oh cut it out, I like them, okay?" I laughed.

"Yeah, guys, cut it out." Hona said. She put her hands out so that the girls backed up a little. "Give the girl some space."

"Thank you, Hona." I said as Hona sat down next to me on the stool. 

"After all, she needs some room to click her heals and go home sweet home!" Hona laughed, nudging me hard on the shoulder. The other girls laughed too, some folding over with their abs flexing so hard I thought they were going to pop.

"Knock it off guys, and for real," I said, standing up in the 3 1/2 inch heels, "what do you think?"

They stopped laughing and looked at me. Feather put her finger to her chin.

"Well, you definitely look taller." She laughed. I slugged her in the shoulder and she stumbled back a step.

"I like 'em." Crimson said. "You know, if you wanna look like a black-haired, leather-wearing Kansas farm girl." She laughed and swapped Feather in the chest, both laughing silently like open-mouthed fish trying to find water.

"Do you want black and white striped stockings to go with them?" Hona joked.

"Alright, that's enough!" I yelled, but I was smiling, so I didn't mean it. Twirling my fingers, red swoops of color came from my nails and trailed to my friends. "Tell me the truth."

"It' looks great on you." Hona said.

"Their cute." Feather said.

"I don't like them." Crimson said. I looked at her and raised my eyebrow. "I love them."

"Good answer," I said, pointing at her. She smiled mischievously and turned away. The spell I used on them went away and they were back to my bad, rotten, evil friends that I so much loved.

They had poster parents for good, and so did I. It didn't mean that we had to act like them. With Crimson's hair uncovered by her mother's cape, her hair was beyond blonde and was straight white, instead of her mother's jet black or her father's chocolate brown. The cape hung around her shoulders, useless beyond measures other than being an awesome accessory.

Feather's love of green didn't mean that she had to wear her mother's traditional leaf gowns. She wore black everything with hints of electric green here and there, her fingers pulled into tight fingerless gloves with green highlights. The thing that separated Feather from her mother the most was that Feather preferred to be human-sized, instead of the tiny frame that Tinkerbell had.

Hona was probably the most daring from being diverse. Her hair was highlighted blue and she had a nose ring. With feathers in her ear, she still had some traditional Indian clothing within her bad-girl mojo outfits. Despite the tattoo on her arm exactly like her mom's, Hona almost looked like another person's daughter, having almost no physical relation to Pocahontas.

I, however, was the one that had to try the hardest not to be my father. I had magic, just like my father. He doesn't use his much, but when he does, it's for good. Bleh. I, however, used my ability to keep my reputation. Bad. And, I had to keep away from my father as much as possible when out in public. Whenever I'm in his sight, he would sell me off as good's angel baby, even though I was only a few days away from sixteen.

I had no physical relation to my father whatsoever. I had pitch black hair. No joke. It was like I poured ink over my head. Though it was tipped with red, it was no where near the redish-brown that my father had. My father is a big and short man, but I was petite and tall. And, like I said, he was for good, I was for bad. I couldn't let myself become his shadow.

"Meep?" I heard one of my friends say.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Why are you staring at us?"

I shook my head and focused my eyes again. My friends had stopped laughing and their smiles had faded, looking at me like I had adopted a puppy. Bleh.

I was about to answer, when I was interrupted by someone behind me.

"What happened here?!" Someone yelled. I turned around to see a woman in a Jaci's department store uniform standing in front of the mess we had created.

Clothes scattered the floor so much I couldn't see the carpet. Shoes stuck up from the piles of cloth like they were traps that we had set for the clerk. Head bands, belts, purses and other objects hung around the remaining racks and hanging clothes that we hadn't already pulled to the ground. 

I looked behind me to my three friends, waiting for their consult.

"You four are cleaning ALL of this up." The woman said. "And you're not leaving until every last thing is in it's place."

I turned back to the woman and walked over to her, stepping over piles of clothes.

"Uh, are you sure?" I asked, bringing my hand up to my chin. "Because I think you enjoy picking up someone else's mess."

I put a hand on the woman's shoulder and twisted my fingers around so that she couldn't see the red smoke from my nails hit her head. I smiled as I saw her eyes tint the same red as my magic.

"Of course, what was I thinking?" the woman laughed nervously and bent down to start cleaning up. I turned around to my friends and saw all three put their thumbs up and wink at the same time. I smiled back and put a finger to my lips, shushing them and walking over to them. I took Feather's shoulder and turned her around, same with Hona and Crimson. I pushed them away from the woman, who had gotten through about a fourth of what we had messed.

I turned around to make sure that she was still cleaning, when I saw her look up.

"Hey," She said, her nervous smile fading. "Those shoes..."

I looked down at my feet, the red pumps still snug on my heels with the tag hanging out of the side. I turned back to my friends.

"RUN!" I screamed. Hona, Feather, and Crimson started to sprint, me not far behind.

"Stop those girls!" The woman yelled, standing up and pointing. Obviously my spell hadn't lasted that long. Before any other clerk in Jaci's could figure out what was going on, my friends and I ran out the store and down the block, all the while laughing like we had been under a spell and just woke up.