It wasn't until three blocks later that it was evident Carmen wasn't going to stop. Dylan wrenched out of her grip, hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Woah, Nelly," he sniped. "I thought we were meant to be shopping, now playing 'Drag Dylan as fast as you can and ruin his fancy new Ferragamos in' the process'." He dropped his hands. "What gotten into you?"
Carmen scowled.
"It's just so pointless!" she burst out. "Face it, Dyl. No matter how many sweater dresses I wear I'm never going to achieve the 'Clarissa' look. It's not fair, but what can I do?" She shrugged helplessly. "This is pointless. Let's just go home."
"Not so fast!" Dylan grabbed her wrist.
Carmen glared at him, her eyes filled with tears. "What?"
"Nobody said you have to look like Clarissa to be pretty," he said, unexpectedly gentle. "Were you trying to dress like her, is that it?"
Carmen gave the tiniest of nods.
Dylan sighed and towed her to the nearest bus stop. He patted the metal bench for her to sit down next to him and she obliged.
"Carmen," he said in a weird otherworldly kind of voice, like he was Yoda addressing the Jedis or something, "you know the first thing I learned about fashion?"
Carmen shook her head.
Dylan's face was totally serious. "You have to stand out. And in a good way, mind you. Look at Lady Gaga," he said, flinging his arm out into skyscrapers yonder, "Style and Originality," he said like they were the names of celestial beings sitting on golden thrones. "You can say she looks tacky or slutty, but you can't say she looks bad."
"I can, actually." Carmen piped defiantly.
Dylan rolled his eyes. He fished around in his Prada men's purse for his cellphone. Then, he drew up a picture of Lady Gaga. She was wearing some sort of dress made of coloured bubble wrap. He held it up for Carmen to see. "Whaddaya think?"
Carmen studied the picture. She had to admit, Lady Gaga didn't look half bad. She looked poised and confident, as if wearing the dress was the most normal thing in the world. If bubble dresses were in, Lady Gaga would look totally awesome.
Dylan nodded impressively. "See? It ain't just about how the clothes look. You must feel like you are comfortable wearing these clothes. Okay?"
"Erm... if you say so," Carmen muttered.
"Now, come on," Dylan said, grabbing her hand. "We still have a lot of shopping to do!"
They roamed the streets of the neighbourhood for hours, ducking into shady little second-hand shops and trying on fake Ray-bans in the store windows. Carmen's heart went out to a pair of pretty cream clips that nestled just right in her thick red hair, and a pair of rose-tinted cat-eye shades. In her cute new outfit from this morning, and sporting her new accessories, she felt almost like a new person. But just then, a mannequin sporting a dark blue ribbon-headband caught her eye.
"Oh! Dylan! Lena's been looking for the perfect headdress to go with her new toga dress! That headband's beautiful and it would match so well with her hair... I have to call her - " She had just snatched her phone from her pocket when suddenly, her face fell.
"She's not talking to me again, isn't she? Oh, what do I do without her?"
Dylan sighed despairingly.
"Carmen, you've got to understand! Your world doesn't revolve around Lena, you know? She's not everything! And besides," he scoffed, "someone who treats you like she does isn't worthy of being your friend."
Carmen thought about it silently. Throughout her life, it had been her who was the proactive one, asking Lena if she wanted to pair up, to hand out, to do homework. She never did anything without Lena, but sometimes, it seemed as though Lena was doing everything without her! She had gone to watch the new chick flick she knew Carmen had been dying to catch with her bunch of girlfriends from the art club. Nowadays, it felt like those dreamy, giggly girls with their paint-splattered jeans and bared midriffs were taking over her special place in Lena's heart. Posing for a portrait was nothing to them. One girl Lena was especially close to, Jessica, had even sat at the pool for three whole hours in her swimsuit just so Lena could get the exact shade of sunrays on tanned skin. Carmen had never agreed to let Lena paint her. She had thought Lena would understand, but judging from her behaviour, she didn't.
She doesn't get me at all, Carmen thought. Why do I love her so much, if she's so unappreciative of me? Fine. If she'd rather hang out with those artsy-fartsy little girls that boring old Carmen, so be it. I don't care.
She turned her head and stared fiercely at Dylan.
"You're right. You're so right. Why should I care for her if she doesn't care for me?"
Dylan's beam illuminated his entire face.
"About time too, honey."
Carmen straightened her back and forced a radiant smile on her face. "I know there's a new yoghurt place down 2nd Avenue. It's cheap enough and ninety-nine percent fat free! They have these crazy awesome toppings and - "
Dylan slapped his hand over her mouth.
"Say no more, darling. Let's go!"
My God I am tired.
Uh so the top bit was Yoomi's work and I continued from somewhere, heh. Let's see if you can identify the place where she stops and I start! c:
Anyway, so I did a writing analysis earlier due to boredom.
This is Yoomi's,
And this is mine.
LOL so apparently, I change writing styles when I write in my personal blog as compared to stories. Or maybe it's just this one, but usually I get Cory Doctorow. :D
And also, I'm thinking of drawing out all the significant outfits the characters put on during the story; just those which are thoroughly described. It's just for fun hahaha, like a destresser. How fun!
Next update coming really really soon! (:
MIKE
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