As she browsed, Megan’s cell phone began to ring. She quickly picked up without bothering to look at the number.
“Hello?”
“Hey. It’s Kylie.”
“Hey!” Megan was overjoyed to hear from her college roommate. If there was anyone who could bring a balanced perspective to her recent crises, it was outgoing, open-minded, big-hearted Kylie Simmons. “What’s up girl?”
“Not too much. I’m at home, which sucks, but I’ll find a way to keep myself busy sooner or later. How about you? How’s your summer been?”
“Good,” Megan said after a moment’s hesitation. It really had been anything but, but ‘good’ was the first word that came to mind. “I guess,” she added as an afterthought.
“Meg…”
“Well, OK, not good. But it’s kind of a long story.”
“Well, tell me later.”
“Will do.”
“So anyway…I’m dying without you, babe. You’ve got to come and rescue me from this boredom.”
Megan chuckled. “You’re bored? You live on a lake. I work in a freakin pharmacy.”
“Trust me, the lake isn’t nearly as cool as you think.”
“Well don’t you worry. I’ll be down to see you soon enough.”
“Cool.”
“Take care, Ky.”
“You too, Meg.”
Megan put the phone down and resumed browsing. It was good to hear from Kylie once again. Even though their conversation was brief, it gave Megan something to think about. She had been doing a lot of complaining lately…over what? Kylie lived practically in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do and still managed to remain at least somewhat upbeat. If Kylie could do that, why couldn’t she?
“Megan!” a voice exclaimed and she felt her heart leap into her throat. Looking around, she couldn’t find the person who had called her. She was confused until she saw a group of girls about three feet ahead of her.

The Megan that was being addressed was Meghan Cole. An exceedingly beautiful, exceedingly popular and, on occasion, exceedingly stuck up girl, Megan could not stand her all throughout high school. Meghan Cole seemed to her like the fabled Girl Who Had it All: straight blonde locks, practically a size zero waist, loved and adored by almost everyone. Though she was never outright mean to her, Cole nonetheless made Megan feel inadequate. She came to think of herself as the ‘other’ Megan and seemed woefully average in comparison. And while college had allowed her to grow and thrive as her own person, merely seeing Cole and her lackeys once more brought back those feelings of inadequacy almost instantly.
Megan pretended notice to notice them as she continued shopping. She suddenly didn’t like the thong she held in her hand very much: it seemed like it would look so much better on Cole. What was she even doing here anyway? It wasn’t like getting a new pair of panties could make her forget all her troubles.
“Hey Megan!” one of the girls called in an aggravating lilt. This time, they were talking to her.
“Oh. Hey,” Megan called back, feigning disinterest. She had a sinking suspicion they were gossiping about her. In fact, she could almost see one of them mouth the word ‘Ted’ as she whispered it to Meghan. Suddenly, she got the revolting image of her and Ted together. It wouldn’t happen, of course (even a great guy like Ted was probably below her standards), but it was horrifying just the same.
“I’m sorry to hear about you and Ted,” Cole said with a hint of condescension.
“That’s OK,” she replied, choking down her own indignation.
“Well…better luck next time.”
The girls around her began to giggle and Megan had had enough. That was it! She threw down everything she had in her hands and walked angrily away. Huffing, she would not give them the pleasure of seeing her this upset. It seemed like way too much grief for her to be having over a two-minute encounter, but some things never change.
Megan became aware that someone was following her as she put distance between herself and Victoria’s Secret. When at last she sat down on a bench, her pursuer caught up with her. He had red hair and wore a Baskin Robbins uniform. His nametag identified him as TONY.
“What?!” she snapped, not very much caring that she was being quite rude. In fact, she had been behaving rudely a lot lately. It seemed every time someone even as much as mentioned Ted, she adopted this hyper-defensive air about her. She knew she needed to cut it out, but it was easier said than done.
“You, um, dropped this,” he said hesitantly and presented her with her purse.