Chapter 5:

Barbie

After the embarrassing French lesson, I'm eager to go to music.

Throughout the whole lesson, Steven sat there with a cheeky look on his face, Madam Rosilet kept picking on me for answers after my late entry; and Zac kept looking at my answers-

Not that I minded.

And the two girls that were talking about us when we walked in late kept looking over at us, whispering and then going on their phones. It was as if they were sports commentators, and they had thousands of people they had to update every time the tiniest thing happened.

The sudden sound of the bell is like music to my ears.

I leap out of my seat, grabbing my bag and almost sprinting for the door but Zac grabs my arm, putting himself in front of my escape route. I turn, agitated at the thought of being caught in all of the people, who are still staring and whispering.

"So, I'll catch you later then." He says with a smirk which turns into a cheeky grin.

Great.

It's as if he deliberately said that so that everyone would become even more curious and he definitely did it to annoy me. The two girls grab their phones, and they begin texting at a highly dangerous level of speed. I can just imagine the amount of posts I'll see on the school feed when I get home later.

The thought of all the unwanted attention makes my stomach churn, so I decide to focus on the fact that I have a music lesson next to try and take my mind off of the Zac drama.

As I near the art department of the school, it became apparent that I was in a more secluded area. This side of the school is much quieter, and the classic school spirit posters which crowd the walls are replaced with framed pictures of school musicals.

Once I reach the music room I am stunned by the size of it. There's the main room with long desks and a whiteboard. It's aligned with generic instruments like brass and wind instruments. The hallway leading up to the main music room has small rooms to practice in; filled with pianos and drums which I know I'll be sending most of my free time in. Next to the main room is another room filled with computers for the music software, attached to this room are two recording studios.

At the very end of the hallway stands a grand hall with a stage at the front, which I'm sure has been used for years of musicals. The room is decorated in rich colours and looks very similar to an old fashioned theatre. One wall is made up of huge, glass windows that look over the endless green fields that are next to the school. Standing in front of the stage is a black, grand piano. The rays from the sun acting as a spotlight to it. It looks like my kind of heaven.

It becomes very apparent to me that the school is proud of two areas of subjects. Firstly there is sport, especially football, which the teams have always performed outstandingly in. All of the rows of trophy cabinets near the sports area showed off all of their achievements. That's the area where I bumped into a certain someone.

Secondly, is the performing arts area of the school. The school has a range of different activities for the theatrical students as well as hosting so many various events and activities every year.

I've been playing the piano since I was ten and it's the best thing I've ever decided to start doing. I especially love to play classical music; it flows so naturally off of the hands and sounds so elegant.

Sometimes I sing too but other than my music teacher from England; no one else has ever heard me sing. She says that I have a sweet and graceful tone to my voice, but I just can't understand how she hears that when all I hear is the sound of a screeching cat.

Music has become a part of me, especially in the last few years, it has become my safe haven.

The music lesson flies by as we sit and listen to our teacher, Mrs Jones, speak about the theory side of music. I mainly sit in awe, thinking about all of the different musical features that this school has. It's way more than my school back in England ever had.

Before I knew it, the bell rings and a sense of relief fills me as it's the end of the day. But the end of the day means that I will now be faced with the gossip on the school feed.

As the dread begins to settle in, I know it will be another long night.

***

Walking through the large doors, located on the left side of the building, I begin to head towards my bus. The smell of fresh grass overwhelms me, one of my all-time favourite smells. It reminds me of the start of everything beginning to bloom and spring. It marks the beginning of the months becoming warmer.

Whilst in mid though, I hear a faint thudding sound coming from behind me, getting closer and closer.

"Lola! Just the girl I was after." Sophie says slightly out of breath, jumping in front of me, stopping me in my path.

Blake is just a few steps behind her, shaking his head whilst chuckling at Sophie's excitement.

"Hey, what's so urgent? Is everything okay?" I look both of them up and down trying to seek any sense of urgency.

"What? Oh no, everything's fine. I just needed to make sure that you didn't get on that bus."

I can tell that she has something up her sleeve, there's a mischievous glint in her brown eyes that is so easy to read.

"Right, and why is that?" I hesitate, trying to understand the look on her face.

"We are going shopping!" She squeals, barely containing her excitement as she bounces on the spot.

I pause for a moment before a smile creeps across my face. In a synchronised movement, we both then squeal together. If there's one thing that Sophie's already nailed in our friendship, it's that I love shopping.

"Well, aren't you going to ask why we're going shopping?" She looks at Blake smiling and then turns back to me.

She says it with that same suspicious look from earlier. This time I knew that she definitely has something up her sleeve.

I look back at her blankly, not answering her question.

"Fine, I'll just tell you then. I have decided to throw you a 'Welcome to America' party next weekend!"

Sophie grins so widely, clearly proud of her idea, which is to make me feel welcome. For that, I am grateful.

"Oh Sophie, that's so lovely, thank you so much! You don't have to do that for me." I say, mirroring the grin on her face.

"No Lola I want to, we all want to. Everyone in the group has said that it's like a breath of fresh air having you with us. They all really like you and when I suggested the idea everyone was so happy to help."

"Now we've just got to invite everyone." Blake says, smiling too.

Before I can even reply, he stands on a bench, cupping his hands and shouts-

"PARTY AT SOPHIE'S HOUSE NEXT SATURDAY, 7:30, TO WELCOME LOLA TO THE SCHOOL, EVERYONE FROM JUNIOR YEAR IS INVITED."

Everyone turns around in the same way they did when he introduced me to everyone, clearly startled, before cheers erupt.

But I'm too distracted by what Sophie had said, her words set in my mind like concrete, and I can feel this fuzzy feeling inside. Her words mean so much to me. To feel wanted is an indescribable feeling and anyone would be lying if they said that they didn't wish for it too.

***

The shopping mall is massive; I have never seen anything quite like it. It has a big glass roof meaning that sunlight pours in, shining on the white marble floor. There are fountains dotted around on the ground floor. It has four levels and a huge food court with so many different restaurants; you'd probably end up starving before making your mind up on which one to go to.

Sophie takes me into American Eagle first.

It has rail after rail of clothes: all different types and all different sizes.

We wander around picking out a few outfits; I've picked out three so far. One is an ankle-length, emerald green jumpsuit. The second is a flowy, burgundy skater dress with a black mesh bit that went across my chest. The 3rd is a simple black, lace, tight that goes just above my knee.

Sophie has already fallen in love with a navy blue, velvet, tight dress, which is embroidered with navy velvet roses. She tries it on with some small, black gladiator heels and decides to buy them too. She looks stunning in her outfit, and it compliments everything about her figure. The dress makes her look perfect like a barbie doll.

After trying all of my outfits on, I'm still unsure if they are what I'm looking for and Sophie is a great critic. I don't have to worry that she is telling me I looked nice because she feels obliged to, she does it out of honesty. Therefore, once she says that she also isn't sure about my outfits, we grab our stuff and leave for another store.

We decide to try Forever 21 next.

I loved this store back in the UK. All of my favourite outfits were from here; every little detail was perfect. I once brought a pastel pink jumper that had a white lace collar with the same white lace around the hem of the jumper. I loved it so much that I cried when it got a hole in it, and my mum said that I ought to throw it away.

We walk in and there it is hanging on the wall.

My perfect dress.

It's a flowy dress with a halter neck that has a diamond-shaped open back. It flows down to just above the knee. The soft, satin material from the neck to the waist is tight, which helps flatter my figure. The top bit is a cream colour, patterned with gold sequins. At the point of which the dress goes out on the waist, it's just the plain cream colour with a tulle layer on top.

It completely stands out from all of the rest.

I also realise that I have the perfect pair of strappy, gold stilettos to match.

I go straight towards it; every other item of clothing around me turns blurry. I need to get hold of it before anyone else can see it and also fall in love with it. Sophie tries to keep up with me as I rush towards the dress. I grab it, and Sophie gasps, her eyes wide. I can tell before trying it on that she loves it too.

"To the changing room now!" She demands.

We run into a changing room, giggling and I can hear Sophie pacing around outside with anticipation.

I unzip the dress, taking it off of the hanger, smoothing my fingers over the satin. I step into it, pulling it up and tie the halter neck into a bow on the back of my neck, using the cream, ribbon-like material.

I turn to face myself in the mirror and a smile creeps across my face, this was the feeling I have been waiting for. It looks so elegant and pretty. It makes my legs look long and thin, all whilst making my waist look smaller. I love it.

I throw open the curtain, and Sophie just stands still, gawping at me.

"Oh, Lola, it's beautiful. You're beautiful, wow. You must buy it! It's perfect for the party too, it'll make you stand out, and you're meant to stand out at the party thrown for you." She gushes.

I spin back around towards the mirror, smiling and posing for fun—Sophie bursts into laughter.

"I think you're right. It is just everything I was hoping for." I reply.

It's the truth; the dress is shouting for me to buy it.

It is the right dress to help me stand out, hoping to catch people's eyes.

Or to rephrase, catch one person's eyes in particular.