Shake It Off

Rob

I was on a dark street, and the only light that was there was flickering. I wasn't…me though. This isn't my body…who am I right now?

I'm female. I know that much, in this particular dream. What is my purpose for dreaming this? I asked myself, but heard no answer. I looked around. The sidewalk was cracked and dark. It looked like Lake Road, kind of, but reversed. Maybe…East Avenue? Yes, that would make sense…no streetlights or barely any.

I looked to my left and right. I was here for a reason. I realized there was a brick building to my back and thankfully, my dream body leaned against it. I was losing my awareness. Let's play the game – I'm done being aware. I know it’s a dream. Let's kick some ass.

I put my hands in my pockets, looking around. I couldn't see anyone but, I could feel that there was another person somewhere. Was it that guy from the dump? Who am I? Julie… answered the silence. Right…I'm Julie. No wait…I'm Rob. Fuck, this is confusing. I looked down. Wow…boobs. Nice.

I tentatively reached up to my chest and felt. It looked pretty real to me – felt real too. Wow. I'm a female. What a surprise…can't wait for the guys to find out.

My subconscious drifted above the scene so I was watching the girl…Julie…feeling herself. She put her arms down and looked around. The street light flickered out for good, but I could still see her just fine. A dark presence – I could hear him breathing – came from the shadows behind her. I tried to yell out to her – Julie was going to get hurt or something. I couldn't move – I was helpless to watch.

The dark presence…I tried to figure out a name for it…him. He was human, heavy breathing like he had asthma. He reached out slowly, and touched her shoulder. My shoulder…

I was back in Julie's body. I screamed, turning around to try to see who it was. Why hadn't I heard him breathing? His hand was surprisingly clammy on my bare shoulder as I tried to get away. His grip tightened and he pulled me closer to him. My arms flailed out and I tried to punch him. He pushed my hand away with his right hand and it deflected onto the wall. I tried to scream but no sound emerged from my dry, cracked lips. His eyes gleamed yellow in the dark. He looked like the guy who had confronted us in the dump…He grabbed my other shoulder and roughly pushed me up against the wall. He grinned at me, and even in the dark I could see his ugly, stained teeth. He pushed his body up against me, pulling my arms up over my head. I was sandwiched between his slimy, scrawny body and the strong, solid brick wall. But I couldn't get away…

I was back up above the scene. Disgusted, trying to move, I watched as the man pushed his face into Julie's. He switched from holding both her hands with both of his to only holding them with his large, callused left hand. His right hand reached out, brushing a lock of hair out of her face. RUN! I thought desperately to her, trying to get control of the dream again. I didn't like the way it was turning out. I saw him put his lips to her and grind his body into hers. I could almost hear her skin chafing off against the rough brick wall, but I was helpless to do anything. Why wouldn't she get away!!!

I woke sweating and shaking, mumbling the word "run away!". I was in my own bed for once, unlike the night before. Who was I telling to run away? What had just happened? It was 9 in the morning – the sun was shining, the birds were chirping. I needed to get to Steve's by 10!

I rolled out of bed, wandering out of my bedroom and into the bathroom. I turned on the shower hot, calming water and stepped into the shower after throwing off my boxers. I felt dirty.

Before washing my hair out, I scrubbed myself all the way down, getting the night's grime off of me. We were going to the mall today!

Julie

I woke surprisingly well rested. The second half of my night had been peaceful, and it was only 9 in the morning. Dreams forgotten about, I got out of bed and leaned over, stretching out my legs from their cramped state. My sleep always abused me more than it helped me – if I was running in a dream, I was running in my bed too. It caused for sore legs and sometimes bruises and cuts. Speaking of cuts, I looked down at my left arm. The cuts had scabbed over nicely, and they didn't even hurt if I poked at them, which I, of course, did a few times.

My eyes struggled to stay open as I looked at my carpet clad floor. The sun was shining in from my southern window and casting beautiful shadows all about. I stood up and leaned back as far as I could, staring at the various writings on my ceiling, but not attempting to read then this early in the morning. I had to get moving; I told Steve that I'd be at his house at 10 today so we could all go to the mall. First stop? Bathroom.

I relieved myself and then turned on the shower, barely paying attention to what temperature it was. It didn't really matter because I was just going to hop in and then hop back out. My hair needed to be cleaned, something I had forgotten to do the night before. As I undressed, I peeked in the mirror. The color of my hair (I forgot) woke me up more than a shower ever would. It was bright purple, and set off my green eyes splendidly. But it reminded me of Barney, that stupid kids show dinosaur. With the exception that my eyes were prettier than the stuffed dinosaur's stomach.

I stripped out of my nightgown and stepped into the shower. It was lukewarm, which fit the day. The daylight screwed me up as I showered. Usually I take showers in the night or in the morning, before the sun is above the horizon. I scrubbed my purple hair, pleased to see that not one drop of dye washed out that I could tell. Conclusion? Steve is an awesome hair manipulator. I put my conditioner, which smelled like apples, into my hair and let it sit. As I was waiting, I quickly shaved my legs, running the razor up them in semi straight lines.

I avoided cutting myself and then washed the conditioner out of my hair. Without bothering to let the water drip off of my body a bit, I shut the shower off and then stepped out, searching for a towel. Finding one of my bright red ones, I roughly dried myself off and wrapped in it. I grabbed another towel for my hair and went back into my room. I wrapped the other towel around my hair, then quickly grabbed underneath the first towel to reposition it safely around me. That finished, I began to look for clothes.

My closet held nothing that appealing to me, but I chose out some cargo pants that zipped off(I took the bottom part of them off). They had little red flames crawling up the legs. I put my chosen pants on after grabbing a pair of underwear out of one of my drawers and putting that on first.

I kneeled down, looking into my lower dresser drawer. This is where I kept my summer clothes, and I had a feeling I was going to need some today. I pulled out the first article, which happened to be a black spaghetti strap shirt. Perfect. I dropped the towel and threw the spaghetti strap on, being careful not to get it twisted because of my slightly damp body. I shut my drawer, and picked up the towel. I returned to my bathroom and hung the towel on the rack. I looked at the medicine cabinet and opened it, searching for my deodorant. The green bottle of rub-on deodorant was on the top shelf, hidden behind my Tylenol. I took it out, rubbing some on and set it back.

My hand brushed against the antihistamine shelf and several of my 'drugs' so to speak fell with a clatter into the sink. I sighed, annoyed at myself for being so clumsy. After putting them back, I shot into my room and looked at the clock. 9:32 am…I had to get something to eat, brush my teeth and jog over to Steve's house by 10. It shouldn't be too hard, I thought, as I moved quickly down the stairs and into the kitchen. Mom looked up from reading the paper.

"Good morning, sleepy head."

"Hey mom. You know I'm going to the mall with Steve, Rob and Adam, right?" I nodded my head up and down once, trying to be cute. She ignored it, to my disappointment.

"Well, I figured as much. Rob just called asking if you were up. I said I heard you up there and he told me to tell you to get to Steve's as soon as you could."

"Okay. Thanks. You don't mind, do you?"

"No, I don't. Ray, do you mind?"

"I don't mind…" Ray's tiny voice answered from his chair. He had Apple-jacks for breakfast and was chewing heavily. I watched his head bob as he swallowed, then looked at me expectantly.

"I don't mind at all, as long as you read with me tonight, Julie. Mom reads too slow."

"Of course I will kid. Anything good for breakfast? Mom, you want anything?" I asked as I walked into the kitchen area. I pulled open the cupboards, searching for something edible. Candy spilled out of one cupboard, and eventually I just grabbed a piece of toast and put it in our toaster. I sat down at the table with my mom and my brother, anxious to get moving.

"Where's dad?" I asked mom, feeling bad for disturbing her yet again.

"He went into the city to do an estimate for a grant house. Why, you want money?"

"Well, I asked that because I love him. But money would be nice, yes. I'm broke."

"Alright. You can have 20 from my purse. You know, any other mother would probably wonder why she lets her daughter go with 3 males to a public place with money. But not me…I just accept it."

"Yeah, you do. You're one weird mom." I grinned at her as I dug into her purse and pulled out a fresh 20$ bill."But I love you." I said as I kissed her on the cheek. Ray looked up from the cartoon section and his food. He rolled his eyes.

"Suck up." He said, sticking his tongue out at me. I stuck my tongue out at him in return."Wimp."

"Children!" Mom said, laughing as she returned to her paper. My toast popped up and I went over to it, taking it out of the toaster and putting it onto the counter. I turned around, searching for a knife. Finding one, I took out the butter and put a tiny bit on the top of my piece of toast. I spread it evenly, and waited for it to melt. I put the butter back, and the knife in the dishwasher.

As I ate my toast, I poured myself a glass of milk and sat down for a moment to read the paper, or at least glance at it. Nothing really caught my eye…even the editorials were boring. Once I finished, I wiped the crumbs off of me and went upstairs to brush my teeth. The clock read 9:40 now, and I needed at least 10 minutes to get up to Steve's.

I went into my bathroom, looking for my toothbrush, and upon discovery, massacred my teeth for a minute. I checked all around them, made sure they were clean, then grabbed my shoes and went downstairs. I sat in our purple recliner, putting them on, then went back into the kitchen. I kissed mom goodbye and gave the little brother a hug. Then I went out the door into the big wide world.

The birds were chirping, and the day was cooler than yesterday, I'd say about 80. I left my board at home, choosing to walk instead. I couldn't board inside the mall anyway, so there was no point to bringing it along. Plus, if it wasn't in my house, or in my eyesight, it wasn't safe. I loved Steve to death, but I wouldn't even trust his house with my board.

The neighbors were much more active this morning. Everyone was up drinking coffee, sitting outside and reading their papers. In actuality, it looked like something off of one of the 1960's television shows, where everyone lived in a perfect home and everyone did everything the same. I waved to each neighbor as I walked by their house, and I stopped at Adam's house, ringing the doorbell. He answered the door in seconds, as if he was on his way out. He shrugged and smiled at me.

"Hey…I was just leaving." He offered up as he shut the door. His black beater showed off his slightly defined muscles, and I tried not to grin. I couldn't help it though.

"Adam, you're sexy today!" I said flamboyantly. His face froze for a minute, because I surprised him, then he broke out into a relaxed grin.

"You saying I'm not sexy every day of the week?" He raised one of his eyebrows, mocking a stern teacher. I laughed.

"Well, you're sexy every day. Just more today than you are usually."

"Right." He said. We walked along in the road together, stepping in unison like the Men in Black. That's what we'd do at the mall too. We always stepped in unison to freak out small children and make old people sigh and shake their heads. It was a tradition.

"So what'd you dream about last night?" I asked Adam, grinning."Or are you willing to tell me what you dreamed about the night before?"

"I can't remember what I dreamed about last night. I guess I can tell you what I dreamed about the night before, but don't get freaked out or anything I don't remember most of it…" He said as we turned onto the main road and started up the hill. It was 9:45.

"Alright. Go on." I encouraged him. He took a deep breath, but remained silent for a minute before I poked him in the side. Like a scratched CD, he got right back to functioning.

"Yeah…you were in my room. You were sitting on my bed, crying, and I was standing on my bed, looking at my ceiling. I got down and asked what was wrong…I can't remember what you said. But basically we just sat there and talked and you wouldn't tell me what was wrong. Then you went and ran yourself head first into my wall. That's all I remember." He said.

"Interesting." I stated. I was…crying…in his dream. He saw me crying? Now that I think of it, I don't think he's ever seen me cry. Why would I be crying anyway?

"Did someone die or something?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I can't remember! I should have written it down yesterday, but I don't remember any of our conversation in the dream. That's why I was so freaked out yesterday, because I've never seen you…"

"I know. Not a lot of people have seen me cry. Especially not any of my guy friends. I think only my family has seen that out of me." I affirmed.

"No wait…I remember after your first dog died. I saw you cry. I was there with you when you found out." He offered meekly. It was my turn to shrug. I studied the sidewalk as we picked up the pace a tiny bit.

"Do you know how hot it's supposed to get today?" I asked after a moment of our uncomfortable silence. His face screwed up in thought.

"No, sorry. I didn't listen to the radio or anything this morning so I wouldn't know. I got up at 7 and played until 9 or so."

"Ah, is it one of those days?" I asked him knowingly. Sometimes he would have these moods strike him where he would play a guitar whatever chance he could get. None of us minded, he would bring it wherever he went, especially to the daycare center. He would sit on the sidewalk and watch us skate, playing any music we asked him to.

"Not really. There just wasn't anything else to do. I knew none of you losers would be up." He grinned at me and I punched him weakly on his right arm, with my left fist. He mocked me, punching my arm back just as weak. It didn't even sting.

"I got up at 9." I admitted as we turned onto Steve's road. His house was just ahead of us and we waved hello to Rob who was sitting on the porch, waiting for us. He had a hat on, but we could still recognize him anywhere with his hair the way it was. It always stuck out at odd angles underneath the hat because his hair was so thick.

As we walked up Steve's driveway to meet Rob, I called out, inquiring where Steve was.

"He's inside getting ready. He'll be out in a minute. Hey, by the way."

"Hey Rob. Long time no see." Adam joked as we reached the porch.

"I know dude, its been like, months!" Rob stood up, enveloping Adam in a hug like an Italian would. He offered his arms to me, and I gave him a hug.

"Watch out Rob, Adam's been dreaming of me, and he's in a song writing mood. He could get very frustrated today, without our help."

"Fun." Rob said, shrugging. Steve opened the door and walked out, shutting it behind him. His pale skin matched his blonde hair perfectly, his brown eyes looking like a freaked out horse's.

"Steve, when's the last time besides yesterday that you actually ventured outside of your house?"

"Not sure." He said, answering me. Rob released me and Steve hugged me next."Probably sometime last week. Maybe the week before."

"You're insane." I said, letting go of him. He offered his right hand to Adam.

"Hey." He said to Adam, searching in his pocket for his keys with the other hand. Adam took the hand and then they let go of each other, and we all piled into the car. I sat up front with Steve, and Rob and Adam sat in the back. Adam was behind me, and Rob was behind the driver's seat.

The black car that we were in was a 1996 black Buick Regal, and hot in the summer. It worked for transportation though. Steve pulled out a pair of sunglasses from above him, and he turned on the radio.

"Anyone bring any CDs?" He asked us. None of answered, and he turned on the radio quietly to the Nerve, the hard rock station around here. The obnoxious radio announcer, "Weeze", was babbling as usual. Wanting music, I reached over and pressed the button to search for channels. Next station? WCMF – Classic Rock. A rendition of "We will rock you" was playing and I could see in the mirror the two guys in the back mouth the words.

"How's your little brother doing Julie? I haven't seen him in a while. He getting big?" Steve asked me. I nodded.

"Yeah. His newest thing is getting me to read with him, even though he just reads to me. Before, I read to him or we read together. Now he's the one who reads me to sleep."

Steve didn't visit my house much, between his working and my own not being home that often. Steve didn't show up at people's houses like Rob and Adam and I did. He always called or something beforehand. Last he was over was probably in the spring, at least a month ago.

"Steve, you've got to come over sometime. You have to sign my wall."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Maybe on the way back from the mall, I'll drop you off at your house and you can drag me up to sign it."

"That works." I said, retreating back into the silence of the car.

The boys behind us were quietly arguing about some new game that was out for playstation two. After they were done, we were all enraptured in the radio, and just a few minutes later, we arrived at the mall.

Steve drove around the mall, looking for a good parking spot. As we encircled the mall, he asked us where we wanted to go, if anywhere in particular. None of us really cared, so he chose a parking spot close to the food court and we all piled out of the car into the late morning sun. As we walked up to the sidewalk, and into the mall, we automatically fell into step with each other.

The mall, Greece-ridge mall, was bustling with activity. We entered through the food court entrance and I stole a look around. Almost every table in the huge food court was taken, by old people and teenagers, by families of 2 or 3 to families of 6 or 7. The green and white tiled floors were reasonably clean, with next to no evidence of previous spills that day. There were sparrows flicking around in the glass dome ceiling of the food court. Some even had the audacity to swoop down at leftover fries, but for the most part they played their games above.

From Taco Bell to Chinese, this mall had a lot of variety in fatty fast foods that someone could eat. To our left was the arcade, teeming with kids of all ages. We would probably stop there on our way out. To navigate our way through the mass of people, we had to get out of our freaky line and move single file through the Sunday's crowd. In our adventure, we avoided the dark green cast iron chairs, bags hanging off of the back of them and sneaky toddlers wandering away from their mothers' eyes.

As we walked through the crowd, Steve called out from in front of me, "Busy today, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" I called back, and rob and Adam echoed me. It had been a while since we had seen the mall this busy.

"Whatever happened to God-loving people who went to church on Sundays?" Adam called from behind us. I hid a grin. It did seem though, that more and more people ignored their religions and instead turned to materialistic things to satisfy their needs. Interesting – worth discussing with Adam when we got to a slightly quieter area.

After about 30 seconds, we broke through into an atrium area where we could breath. We stood together. Steve was next to me on my left, Rob on my right, and Adam across from me.

"Where to?" Asked Steve.

I could tell that he was already beginning to lose some of his stress over whatever his latest project was. That was good – I wouldn't be too surprised if Steve was going to start losing hair soon enough. He stressed himself far too much over the quality of his work. He had yet to find an unpleasant customer. Except…for this time. He was on this job for weeks and still the customer wasn't satisfied. They always wanted, 'needed', something changed to fit their company's needs better. Steve compared it to a girl getting dressed, the day before.

"Let's wander this way." Suggested Rob, pointing behind him. In that direction laid Sears, Barnes And Noble, Hot Topic, Spencer's and Victoria Secret among other stores. This was the most entertaining end of the mall, if you asked me.

"Alright." I said, moving to walk next to Rob. After we aligned ourselves, we started walking again.

Now that we were through the food court, walking in general was much easier. People were still milling around everywhere, but you had breathing room now. We could hear each other fine over the din and shouts of the mall.

"You guys want to stop into Hot Topic?" Asked Adam as we nearly passed it. I nodded and we stopped, turning to enter the store.

The slight smells of incense and new clothes greeted our senses as we entered. The dim black lights, mixed with the bright light bulbs hanging high above our heads provided interesting lighting as we broke from our chain of people and spread out to explore. I went to the band shirts, and Adam wandered over by the posters. Steve was looking at the pants, and I think Rob was standing in front of the glass display case, fascinated by the various patches that he could attach to clothes and bags.

They didn't have any new ones that I could see, and the ones they did have were much too big. The bad thing about the band shirts was that they either came way too small – Small, Medium – or way too big (XXL, XXXL). This made shopping for clothes that semi fit very difficult for me.

I looked up anyway, at the impressive myriad of clothes before me. Each shirt for sale had been stretched out and put behind a plastic display board. From Metallica to Finch, Eminem and Blink-182, the band shirts' wall had everything on it for someone who enjoyed 'modern' music, and even some for those who enjoyed older music like Led Zeppelin or Queen.

I wandered through the crammed aisle to where Rob was standing, and put an arm around his shoulder, looking at the patches he was studying. The various (silent) cries of the patches made my eyes hurt. The variety, I suppose, was to be expected. Everything from the rainbow patches that declared someone to be homosexual, to the ones with Happy Bunny on them were there. Little phrases were on stickers, and there were even various religious symbols on patches, like the Star of David, a Cross, or a Pentagram.

"Find anything good?" I asked him as I let my arm fall from his shoulder. He seemed engrossed in reading one.

"Yeah. I think so. Look at that sticker."

I looked to where Rob was pointing. The one that he was pointing to was a plain black sticker with white writing on it. The writing read: Those too weak to follow their own dreams will always find a way to discourage others.

"Deep." I said, after taking a moment to digest what Rob had just pointed out to me. Was Rob actually being serious? Why were my male friends so confusing as of late?

"Yeah…too deep for me?" He looked at me from underneath his eyebrows. I shrugged."Surprised me."

"Well…" he said, grinning, "That's what I'm here to do. It is my goal in life to surprise, scare and upset those people around me that become too comfortable with the way I'm. And I'm done being intelligent now. Back to being a dumbass."

I laughed, patting him on the head and moving over to Adam in the back of the store. Adam was flipping through the various posters.

"Anything good over in the shirts?" He asked me before I could ask him if he found anything good to buy. I shrugged.

"There's nothing new since last I came in here. But that's just me, and I'm cheap. Plus – I've got to save some money for lunch."

"I see. Where'd Steve wander off to?"

"He's over by the pants I think. He's still got enough money to last him comfortably for a while from the last job he did."

"When he fixed the database for Kodak? I'd imagine so." I said, nodding in agreement.

Steve charged them big bucks for that job, when in actuality it only took him about 3 hours of complete and utter concentration on his part to reroute something into something else. He had worked for Kodak before, and they treated him well. He wouldn't tell us how much he was getting on a job, but we could always tell if it was a lot or a little by the way he smiled after he completed it and got paid.

I walked back past Rob, greeting the salesperson with a smile as I walked beyond her to find Steve amid the small racks of clothes. He was easy to spot, because his chest was well over the tops of the racks. He stuck out like a sore in this store. He was the tallest out of all of us, reaching about 6 foot.

"Finding anything?"

"What are you, the salesperson?" Steve asked me, laughing."You did that to Rob and Adam already."

"Well I was just wondering. Fine then.." I glared at him, trying to be mad. Steve was immediately apologizing and I grinned.

"You're so whipped." He nodded pathetically at me, and then, forgetting about me, examined a pair of pants on one of the shelves.

The black pants were…well…dark…with camouflage straps hanging off of them. They had dark vinyl attached as the pockets and light made funny angles off of the vinyl. I reached out and poked them. They were denim jeans, and they jingled when they moved. They looked heavy, more like winter pants than summer pants. He frowned, then continued to examine shorts. I wandered to the jewelry section, looking for a necklace of some sort that I could adorn myself with.

None of us could find anything, and after a while we all wandered out and met back up in front of the darkened store. Music still blasted within, a punk song right now, and I shrugged.

"Where to now?" Was the question all of us voiced at the same time. I pointed to the direction where we had been going.

"Why don't we go to the Disney store or something?" Rob suggested, and I hit him on the back of the head.

"The Disney store? You're dumb!" I exclaimed. Steve grinned at me.

"What, are you too adult to be in the Disney store or something Julie?" He challenged. I glared at him.

"No, I was just pointing out that I've never actually been in there because it plays scary music. I don't know. If you three guys want to go, I suppose I can manage to tag along."

"Mmhmm…" Said Rob thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. I searched for Adam's help, but he was just standing there and shaking his head. One of the disadvantages of being with three males – no one ever sided with you in an argument.

We walked down the mall. People were wandering up towards the food court because it was getting towards lunch time. The food court would probably be absolutely impossible to navigate now, with all of the people bustling about. I was slightly claustrophobic when it came to crowds. You couldn't stick me in places with a lot of people and no room to breathe. I'm definitely a tomboy in that aspect – I can't stand larger groups than 5 or 6. Preps and cheerleaders always have at least 10 people around them. Personally, I would kill them all for bothering me.

We passed the T-shirt stand in the center of the mall. I caught a worried old woman's look as she glanced at her watch, probably waiting for her husband or grandkids to meet her.

People amaze me with the sort of stuff they do in malls. Did you know that the mall that we go to, actually has speed walkers in it? People will go to the mall with a headset and CD player and speed walk our mall as aerobic exercise. Pathetic! Some will bring their 3 month old babies along for pictures, when the babies won't even sit still for more than ten seconds at a time. I've seen people on cell phones while at the mall, and people buying all sorts of things. It wouldn't surprise me if I saw a monk meditating in the middle of the mall.

People even had the nerve to sell drugs in the mall! More than once, Rob or Steve or Adam have been asked if they had any pot on them. Or if they wanted to buy some for something or another. People amaze me.

We continued down and then crossed the bustling hallway. As we crossed it, I took a look up at the foreboding, bright purple Disney sign. Inside was a sight to see. The carpeting was purple and yellow, with little geometric shapes all over it. There were cushions all over the place, but surprisingly the store wasn't only littered with small children between the ages of 0 and 10, but also parents and older people with grandkids. But, of course, us four were the only teenagers present, because, as Steve so graciously pointed out, teenagers were too cool for Disney.

I looked up at the big screen hanging in the back of the store. Its multi facets each showed a bit (a ninth to be exact) of some movie…I think it was Mulan. The screens were set slightly apart which distorted the image, but it looked fine over all. Along one of the walls, there were lined up enormous amounts of stuffed animals and plush toys for small children to amuse themselves with. On the other wall, there hung the plastic, more expensive toys for the older children. These were the toys for the kids who were slowly losing their imaginations.

In the center was something like an altar to the various toys and movies that had come out over the years. It was a pedestal, on which rested the figurines of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald Duck. They were plastic, I think, and were arranged so that both adults and kids could get amusement out of them. It looked like Mickey and Minnie were talking, and Goofy and Donald Duck were lounging around staring at each other aimlessly. It was really a comic sight to see in the middle of a store.

I stepped over a little kid, and then once my territory was free I looked at Steve. I opened my eyes really wide and grabbed onto his arm possessively."I'm scared! Stuffed animals!!"

I yelped at him, and he quietly untangled me from his arm. I grinned at him, and he sighed."You're such a smart ass." I nodded enthusiastically, and he patted me on the head.

"I love you anyway." He said, pausing a moment to pick up a toy piano."I guess." He finished his thought, hitting a rather bad chord on it. It sounded loud, but in truth could be barely heard over the din within the store.

I hit him in the arm, and he made a face at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and he reached out, grabbing for it. Quick reflexes caused me to pull it back just in time and manage to snap at his finger, but unfortunately I missed."Of course you love me." I said in defeat, as I wandered away to explore the world of fluffy white wolves and orange tigers that made odd noises when you poked them in certain places.

I picked up a wolf – I suppose it was a version of that wolf dog thing…Balto? That they had made a movie of a while back. It was cute, but I never really liked that movie. That movie was really boring when I watched it. Setting it down, I picked it back up after a moment. I searched out one of my friends. Adam was a few feet away from me, examining the sculpture in the center of the store. An evil thought was forming in my head. Suddenly, I launched the stuffed animal at the back of his head. It soared nicely and hit him square in the neck. On contact, I ducked behind a mom who was walking in front of me. By the time she went by, Adam had discovered me anyway. He threw it back and I caught it, just narrowly avoiding another mom who was chasing her toddler.

Setting it back on the shelf, I looked around the room, searching for my friends. Adam had disappeared on me, and Steve was engrossed in Mulan. The other one…Rob…was sitting by the center display playing with a kid. I think he was helping the kid assemble a puzzle that was laid out on the floor. Above us, a train was circling around the store's perimeter.

I walked over to Rob, navigating through the kids and moms. I kneeled down behind him and put my arms on his shoulders.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, realizing that was a stupid question. He was putting a puzzle together. The kid had wandered off, but he was still staring at it. I poked him on the shoulder to get his attention – he hadn't heard me.

"Come on, Rob, let's go."

He got up and helped me up, but didn't look too happy with me for disturbing him. I grinned, and he shrugged."That's what I want for Christmas. A puzzle like that one. If you flip it over, there's another puzzle on the back of it! It was hard!" He sounded like a 6 year old, and I stifled a laugh.

We went over to Adam and gathered him up next. He was playing with some odd gadget in the corner. Steve had moved over to the other corner, the one with all of the ultraviolet lights and glow in the dark stars.

Before we left, Steve grabbed a package of the glow in the dark planets for himself, getting in line to pay. Not wanting to be in the noise any longer, I went and waited outside with Adam and Rob. Rob looked longingly back into the store at the puzzle, which some kid was now mercilessly tearing apart. I patted him on the back.

"Its ok Rob. There will be another puzzle." I tried to hide a grin. He looked genuinely disgruntled.

Steve emerged from the store with his little Disney bag and shrugged."I couldn't help myself. Plus, they'll go awesome in the living room at night. You have to admit that."

I nodded."Yeah, they will. Are you guys happy? I survived going into the Disney store."

"Yeah. Weren't you scared though?" Adam said, grinning at me. I was taken by surprise – Adam almost never took a direct part in the teasing. I decided to play along.

"Oh yes. I was terribly frightened of the big bad…stuffed animals." I said the last part with a hint of hysteria in my voice. Steve shook his head, and laughing together, we continued on our way down the main stretch of the mall.

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