Henshin My Style

[KamiKaze]

So, Central Mall was kind of sucky. It used to not be. What made it sucky was that a lot of perfectly decent stores had closed over the past few years. Miranda had heard somewhere it was because they weren’t making money, but it was still painful. Sure, Kensington Heights had a lot of stores she could go to, too, but it wasn’t quite the same. Same went for the shopping plaza, which, yeah, admittedly, had its own perks that Central Mall couldn’t live up to.

Call it nostalgia, she guessed. Miranda had plenty of good memories of this place. Besides, it had ULTA. ULTA was big, and stocked with all kinds of beauty supplies. If it exists, finding it at ULTA was a pretty good shot. Also, on-site salon, which was nice. Sure, the place looked like what would happen if Apple started selling makeup, but she absolutely adored it.

She’d come in today because she needed some new makeup brushes. Miranda had found out that one of hers was shedding bristles, and another had a cracked handle. It was a clear sign that she needed to retire her current ones, and try something a bit fresher. It was better for her skin, anyways. It’d been unfortunate. She’d taken good care of them, but things happen. So, she needed a foundation brush that didn’t shed, and a blending brush that wasn’t cracked. Pretty simple. Today was a Saturday, so she had time to go get them.

Miranda’s heels clacked against the tile as she stepped inside. She had to admit, getting new makeup supplies was always a little scary yet exciting. She’d probably find something that worked well, was worth the price given, and lasted a long time. You’d be surprised to find out what fits those three basic requirements, and what doesn’t.

She looked to her left, seeing the Too Faced display. For a moment, she considered it, before deciding to re-focus on the brushes. Too Faced was a nice brand, and they came out with some new stuff a while back. It was better to deal with the brushes first, though, since that’s what she came here for. Once that’s taken care of, maybe she’d look. The new Too Faced stuff did look nice, from what she’d seen. They’d come out with a peach-themed collection, which even smelled and tasted like it. The shades were nice, and Miranda even felt a little disappointed that she had to be careful with peach-colored makeup. Her skin tone was a little on the cooler side, so some of the shades would be tricky to pull off. She still liked what she’d seen of that collection, though. There was another new collection out as well, but she’d have to consider it a bit more since she didn’t know as much about it.

Where was she? Oh, right, brushes.

It took only a moment before Miranda found the shelf they were placed on. There were plenty of options, so she just needed to find the correct type she needed, and look from there.

She’d been listening to music since she arrived at the mall. While ULTA did play music of its own, she hadn’t turned hers off when she came in. Her earbuds’ white wire could be seen snaking down from her head and into her brown handbag. Miranda didn’t like other people seeing her playlist. Sure, there were things in there that seemed average, stuff with titles like “Ariana Grande- Into You,” “Katy Perry- Dark Horse,” and “Lady Gaga- Paparazzi.” Okay, that sort of thing, she’d defend. What she couldn’t was the ones titled things like “Hatsune Miku- Disturbia (cover),” “Kalafina- Magia,” and what started playing when she picked up a brush, “DA Games- Build Our Machine.”

Yeah, there was a reason why she didn’t let people look at her playlist.

Alright, so what could she get today? Miranda inspected the black foundation brush she was holding. Seemed nice. It was a bit like what she had before, so sticking to what she was used to might work? Maybe? Depends.

[Somersault]

It had been a few weeks since the disastrous dance and the debacle with brandon Baxter, but Ramona figured she was mostly over it, and if she wasn't, at least there was some retail therapy she could seek solace in.

((Ramona Shirley continued from Torn Jeans and Prom Queens))

Central Mall had been on a downward decline ever since a few years back, but Ramona figured that they still has a few good years left in them, at least until she graduated from college. That was her hope, at the very least, because Ramona's job waiting tables down at Benson's was not going to be enough for her to go to Kensington Heights and buy her beauty products. Sure, she could get some stuff at the Plaza, but her shopping experience there couldn't really match up to this.

Or, what this had been, a few years back. But Central Mall still had ULTA, with those gleaming displays and rows upon rows of products to make her face pop, and so that was how Ramona found herself strolling through the store, looking for some new mascara and lipstick. It wasn't as if she considered herself obsessed with make-up, but a girl's gotta make herself look presentable, right? Besides, Ramona really wanted to find the right things to accentuate her lashes and lips before the end of the year. It would be hard, but she knew she could do it.

She had just gotten her paycheck anyways, and Ramona felt like she needed to use at least some of this money on an instant purchase. Maybe it wasn't exactly the most financially sound decision, but it was the one that would relieve the most stress for her. For Ramona, that was enough for it to become a good decision.

As she began to look at the displays, Ramona felt her purse vibrating. Opening it up and getting out her somewhat worn phone, she saw that her dad was asking where she was. Seriously? She rolled her eyes good-naturedly, before sending a quick message to Dad, telling them she was at Central Mall. This weekend wasn't going to be all that eventful for Ramona, so she thought it would be a good idea to start stocking up on makeup to last her the year.

Maybe that wasn't how makeup was supposed to work, but Ramona would not be argued with on this issue.

As she looked right in front of her, Ramona noticed the in all honesty, kinda gigantic CoverGirl display. Perhaps CoverGirl was a drugstore makeup brand, not like Benefit or anything, but she appreciated their dedication to affordability. It wasn't as if her family was swimming in money, so Ramona was grateful for the advent of cheap makeup. Although, she did find the new Benefit eyeliner to be quite interesting. Maybe one day, she would work up the courage to try purple eyeliner. One day.

It was as she began to inspect some of the various shades of lipstick (cerise, or coral?) when Ramona noticed the girl holding up a brush at the Too Faced display. She was sure she had seen her around somewhere, but her mind raced to find out exactly where before things could get awkward.

Her name was alliterative or something, right? Lana? Anna? Wait, wait, it was Miranda, right! Ramona knew it. Miranda was part of the track team, and was one of the stuck-up popular girls, always looking down on others. Ramona definitely did not approve of that, but in the short conversations they had, she had always found Miranda to be fairly polite, if somewhat tense, so Ramona figured she was at least in Miranda's (semi) good graces.

Ramona sighed. It wasn't as if she had much to do over the weekend, and making small talk with a classmate she barely knew sounded like a better idea than binging Netflix and then falling asleep at four in the morning. Her decision now firmly sat in her mind, Ramona put down the lipstick, before she walked over to the Too Faced display, and approached Miranda.

"Oh, hey Miranda! How you doing? It's Ramona from school."

She hoped that her makeup sense would be enough to impress Miranda.

[KamiKaze]

Miranda flinched, then reached into her handbag to shut her music off. She ripped the earbuds out by the wire, wincing as she did. Remind her not to do that. It kind of hurt.

She turned around to look. Oh, hey Ramona. Yeah. She was this chubby girl who a lot of people made fun of for a while. Then she joined the basketball team and became a singer? Apparently, she was a good basketball player. But how did she stay chubby, then? Miranda had no idea. Maybe genes or something. Maybe something else. Ah, well. At least she was doing something with herself. She wasn’t like, say, Aria. Maybe Aria could join the basketball team, do more than… whatever he does.

“Oh… hey,” she said.

It couldn’t hurt to talk to her, she guessed. If nothing else, it’d be something to do while she was looking. Right, what to say? Maybe bring up what she was doing? Maybe?

Her eyes darted back to the display, then to the brush in her other hand. Then, back up.

“I was just… looking for new brushes. Two of mine broke.”

Was "broke" the right word for when one's shedding? Maybe it was. But, it got the point across.

[Somersault]

Well, Miranda was speaking to her now. Ramona considered that a good thing, and so she nodded understandingly as Miranda explained why she was even in the mall in the first place. To be honest, Ramona wasn't too sure herself. Wasn't Miranda rich? But, maybe she enjoyed Central Mall, and so Ramona waved that thought away. "Ooh, that must be tough. I hate it when that happens. It's such a hassle." Ramona agreed, nodding. Small talk and chit chat was always good.

But maybe, there needed to be something more to fill the silence that now encompassed the whole conversation. She couldn't let the conversation get awkward. That was definitely a big no-no on Ramona's list. But, what could she say?

Should she talk more about Miranda's problems? More about why she herself was shopping?

In the end, Ramona smiled at Miranda. "I mean, I'm here because I needed some lipstick, but I'm not sure if they have the shade that I'm looking for." She frowned at that. Maybe she would go empty-handed in the end after all.

But, Ramona tried to think better of that. More positive thoughts, because at least this shopping trip had turned into a conversation.