Kalina pushed the game store’s door open happily, stuffing the bag of her finds into her purse. Sam The Girl, ever the bargain hunter, had told her they were having a great sale, but she hadn’t mentioned just how great it was – it was too bad she’d had to leave so soon. She noticed her cell phone flashing out at her that she had missed a call, but, seeing that it was from Crisanta’s number, didn’t bother to see if she’d left a message. She had probably just been freaking that they only had fifteen minutes left until their mom showed back up.
Kalina didn’t know why her sister was always so high strung about that sort of thing. It only took a minute or two, once she’d located the girl’s section, to find a great skirt – long, the lace at the hem probably going down about halfway down her shin, and white, with black vines curling all across it, and punctuated with red flowers – that was in her size. There was a nice, chocolate colored tank top nearby, empire waisted and trimmed with a dark pink, flowered cloth that also made up the extra-thick straps, and the sash, that went great with it.
“There you are!” she heard Crisanta’s voice call, just as she pulled the shirt off the rack. “We’ve been waiting for you!”
“I’ve got five-ish minutes,” Kalina shrugged, holding her outfit up in front of herself. “What do you think?”
Camelia smiled and nodded, but Crisanta just rolled her eyes. “I already found you a dress,” she said, holding it up. It wasn’t terrible, Kalina supposed; it just wasn’t as nice as what she’d picked out.
“Nah, I’m gonna stick with this.”
“But this will actually fit!” Crisanta protested. “You can’t just grab the first thing you see, you know – not every company’s sizes are the same!”
“Yes, I know that, -mom-,” Kalina replied. “I’m not as stupid as you think I am.”
“Well, then…”
“Then what?!” Kalina snapped, stepping towards her sister.
“It’s so good to see you two getting along so well,” their mother sighed, stepping up from behind Kalina. “What are you arguing about now?”
Not daring to let Crisanta get in the first word, Kalina held up her outfit and stammered, “We were just trying to decide which to get for me!”
“Between that and…?”
“The green dress,” Kalina nodded over towards Crisanta.
“She…” Crisanta started to say.
“But I’m pretty sure I like these better now,” Kalina said.
“Me, too,” her mom smiled. “You tried it all on, right?”
Crisanta’s face was starting to go red. “Of course…”
“Of course I did!” Kalina spoke over her. “You don’t think Crisanta would let me get away without doing that, do you?”
Camelia ran over to their mom to get picked up. “Hey, sweetie,” she cooed. “Okay, let’s go get checked out.” Crisanta shoved past Kalina, nearly knocking her over, but Kalina didn’t mind. She knew Crisanta was just jealous.