Chatoyant College, Book 1: New Student Orientation

Chapter 32: Shopping

In fact, when they got past the houses, it was even smaller than Edie had expected. She'd thought that a college town would be substantially bigger than the town where she grew up, but this one was about the same size. It was full of people today, but that was probably because of the upperclassmen moving in. However, she felt instantly at ease with its size.

Naomi looked around. "Which way should we go first? It looks like there are only two directions..."

"The post office is over there," said Edie, pointing. "If it's like my hometown, which I think it is, everything will be clustered around that, so we should start there."

"Okay," said Corrie. "Let's do it."

Edie found herself in the almost entirely new position of the leader of the group. She almost hung back, shy and unsure what to do, but... she was the one who'd noticed the post office, and she could certainly lead a group of four people walking less than two blocks, couldn't she? Maybe she'd even find she liked it, awkward as it was.

When they'd reached the post office--which was tiny, but with a prominent sign--she stopped and faced away. The others followed her lead. Across the street was a grocery store; on either side of it were a pharmacy and a toy store. On this side of the street, there was a boutiquey-looking clothing shop and a cheaper place. Edie looked around, at something of a loss. She didn't know where to start. But they'd talked about getting groceries mostly, hadn't they? And everyone else was looking at her as though they expected her to make the decision. She took a deep breath, feeling terribly awkward, even though it was just Corrie, Dawn, and Naomi. "Well, I guess we should start at the grocery store, right?" she said, gesturing to it.

Corrie shook her head, pursing her lips. "We're probably going to get some pretty heavy stuff there, right? We should leave it for last, so we don't have to carry that stuff around with us all day."

Edie let out a long breath, feeling lighter with the relief of having Corrie take over the leadership role. No, leading did not agree with her. Besides, Corrie's suggestion was very reasonable. "Okay, that makes sense. Then where should we go?"

"I want to go to the liquor store!" said Naomi, pointing at the store on the other side of the pharmacy.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Right. Are you twenty-one?"

"Well... no. But they probably don't care that much. This is a college town--they probably sell to all the students."

"You can go to the liquor store by yourself, then. I'm certainly not going in." Edie and Corrie both quickly nodded agreement with Dawn, who grinned. "I want to go into that fancy clothing store!"

They followed her in, Naomi trailing in the back, but still going along with them. Dawn and Corrie quickly descended on a rack of summer dresses and started cooing over them. Edie poked half-heartedly through a rack of skirts, then joined Naomi, who was leaning against the doorway looking bored. She felt the same way. There was nothing in this store for her. It was for skinny girls like Corrie, and to a lesser extent Dawn. Naomi probably could have fit into the clothes and looked good, but from what Edie had seen of her so far, she wasn't too fond of mass-produced clothing items.

"Edie!" called Dawn. She looked up from studying the carpet. Dawn and Corrie had moved on to look at some blouses, and Dawn was gesturing for her to come closer. Reluctantly, she pushed away from the wall and started walking over to them. She glanced back at Naomi, but the other girl's expression hadn't changed.

When she reached the blouses, Dawn thrust one at her. "This would look so cute on you, Edie. And it's even on sale."

She barely glanced at the shirt before looking skeptically back up at Dawn. "You're kidding, right? This would never fit me."

"What do you mean?" Dawn protested. "You've hardly looked at it. That shade of blue will look beautiful with your hair."

The idea of another girl, even if it was someone she'd already grown accustomed to thinking of as nothing more than a friend, predicting that she would look beautiful made Edie take another look at the blouse in her hands. She had to admit to herself that the shade of blue was very pretty, even if she didn't understand how it could look good with her mousy hair. But she could still see that it was much too small for her. "Dawn, this is not a plus-sized store. I am a plus-sized girl. This will not fit."

Dawn frowned, practically pouting. "At least hold it up to yourself."

Edie sighed and complied, pulling the top tight against her chest to demonstrate that it barely went halfway across her. "See?"

Sighing, Dawn took the blouse back and replaced it on the shelf. "That's ridiculous. They should have something here that fits you."

"I don't know how things work in the snowy north," said Corrie, smiling, "but here in the States, girls' clothes are about as divided as they can get them."

Dawn allowed herself a smile. "You're right, it's no different in Canada. But I still think it's stupid that they have entirely separate stores for so-called plus sizes. It must be so frustrating for you, Edie."

Edie shrugged. "I don't go clothes shopping much. When I do, at least I know what stores are going to have the clothes that are more likely to fit me."

Dawn pursed her lips, giving Edie an appraising look. She didn't have much time to grow uncomfortable under the stare, though, before she was grabbed by the arm and dragged toward the front of the store. "Whoa! What's going on, Dawn?"

"We," said Dawn quite primly, "are finding a plus-sized store and finding you some clothes that actually fit and look good on you. In those shapeless things you will never find a girl."

"What makes you think I need to find a girl?" Edie protested, but it sounded feeble even to her own ears; Corrie and Dawn just laughed.

"What's going on?" asked Naomi as Edie was dragged past her to the door.

"We're finding Edie some real clothes," Dawn informed her. She followed as they moved down the street, in the opposite direction from which they'd come.

"What's not real about my clothes?"

"They're boring and they don't fit you," said Naomi, grinning.

Edie sighed. "It's a conspiracy against me."