~ Maddie ~

  I heard the front door close of which I presumed was either Zoey or Joanna heading out, as Ellie and I made the final preparations. I was wearing a beige crop top with a white padded bra complimented by the only skirt I had—a high-waisted, brown pid pleated skirt. I put on my usual-and only-pair of shoes while Ellie just magically gave herself a more casual look: matching long brown hair with curtain bangs and the same makeup styling that she applied to me minutes before. She was wearing a beige pleated skirt and a white women’s shirt along with a white bra that accentuated her much rger B cups compared to my mini A’s that needed padding.

  I grabbed my car keys and we both headed to my outdoor parking space, where my white suv greeted me with the unlock chime. Ellie took a few minutes of becoming very curious of the white spaceship she was stepping into. I expined to her that people use cars to get around, and prescribed more time being spent on the internet for Ellie to learn more about the strange world that I call home which she got thrown into. Also I may or may not have gotten her addicted to 21st century American pop songs during the drive there.

  Taking the freeway exit, I drove until the pastel-yellow speck of light in the distance grew as we approached. Large arches beled “Brightstar Mall” in neon white text came into view, greeting us dramatically. The pce was packed, with people navigating around the palm trees and vibrant dispys all around me, dispying various advertisements. Traffic slowed to a crawl as we entered the parking area, and after a long thirty minutes of pying ‘finding parking’ on hard difficulty, we parked and walked towards one of the entrances of this giant maze.

  The mall was extravagant, standing at three stories tall and must be at least three million square feet. It was the prime hangout spot in the town, due to the plentiful shops and food offerings.

  We walked into the concourse, with fast food pces left and right. I walked beside Ellie and took in my surroundings. People were going about their day in all directions, and we passed by unnoticed. After all, we were just two normal girls.

  I got distracted by my thoughts and didn’t notice Ellie leave my side. Looking around, I eventually noticed the other brown haired girl with silver eyes waving.

  “Over here!” Ellie pointed towards the map dispyed on a wall feature when I noticed her. “I found a map that’ll tell us where we need to go.”

  I walked over as Ellie expined our itinerary for today. We’ll buy clothes first, then makeup, haircare and skincare products before heading to this newly opened cafe pce for dinner. They’ve been gaining fast traction for being known as ‘THE hangout spot’ in town ever since they opened a few weeks ago.

  We walked up the stairs to the second floor and walked for a few minutes until we arrived at the intimates store-underwear and bras basically.

  I froze as I realized where Ellie was trying to take me. “Wait, what??? this one first??” I whispered, expressing my reluctance to enter.

  “Well, we can do the most difficult part first and end off on a high by wearing cute clothes!” Without waiting for a reply, Ellie took my hand, dragged me in, and found an employee. “Hi. My friend here’s finally getting some growth and needs her boobs measured.” She asked assertively.

  I stood behind Ellie at her 8 o’clock, somewhat hiding myself from view. “Sure thing! Let me help her out.” The employee responded. I reluctantly stepped out of hiding and followed the employee. After getting my measurements, she ran off to get some bras and told me to wait by the changing rooms.

  As I walked towards the changing rooms, Ellie walked closely behind me, saying that she’d watch the door while I tried them on. After I entered the small, confined space with a giant mirror-wall and a smaller one on the door. No matter how I turned and tossed around, my reflection would always appear in my field of vision.

  As I turned, I made eye contact with my reflection and couldn’t help but stare at the girl in the mirror copying my exact motions. The long, styled hair did a perfect job framing the more feminine features of my face and the makeup Ellie applied also really helped with passing as a girl! I felt euphoric looking at myself and seeing an actual girl instead of trying to imagine it into view as I did before and shaking my head after a few moments of seeing him.

  As for the assortment of bras and panties, they were nothing special, some were pin ones while others had vibrant colors. I removed all articles of clothing from myself, and avoided looking at myself in the mirror as I stripped (eugh body shape). There were two rules of thumb when it came to purchasing clothes for me. A—-if they fitted and B—-if they were comfortable. After a few minutes, I decided that most of the bras and panties did in fact pass both of the inspection criteria, and I pced the ones I liked (matching pairs in white and pastel purple) into a corner of the room. Yippee! Mission part 1 completed!

  After paying and leaving the intimates store, we browsed around to hit up a clothing store. A small shop caught my eye as we passed by; the dispy mannequins behind the gss were wearing softcore inspired clothing. I wanted to go for a soft girl aesthetic with clothing in pastel colors, and this store was perfect!

  As we entered, we were greeted by a girl somewhere around my age at the cash register. “Hellooo!” She said melodically. “Welcome to Cute Cws!“ I smiled back as I walked further into the store.

  The options were endless!

  Skirts, dresses, thigh highs, crop tops, and they even had little accessories like bracelets and hair ties to complement them!

  Ellie waved her hand over my face to get my attention, “Need some inspo? You seem like a little lost there.”

  “Ummm sure!” I replied cheerfully. This might be just one of the days of all time! The excitement I felt was immeasurable. I dreamed of shopping trips like these as a girl with other girls and was always jealous of the choices they get to make. Well now I get to too!

  “Hmmmm….” Ellie pondered as she scoured the small establishment’s collection, walking up and down the narrow passageway with two stories of dispy walls filled with cute girl clothes on each side. I observed watchfully, eager to see what Ellie had in mind.

  “Ohhh! I know!” Something in the corner had caught her eye. A pastel purple off-shoulder jacket with an array of white cat print on the sleeves, and a white crop top. She picked it up and looked around some more, grabbing a white pleated skirt and matching thigh highs. I picked out a couple accessories, including a silver bracelet with heart cut-outs attached to it, a couple hair ties, scrunchies, along with a white cross-body cat plushie bag, which finally relieved me from having to hold my keys and phone awkwardly in one hand ‘cause like, no pockets!!

  “Maddie, try these on. I think they’ll look great on you!” Ellie said enthusiastically. I trusted in her confident outfit-picking skills and took the bundle of clothes she picked. Ellie said she’d pick some more outfits for different days as I walked over to the changing rooms. This time, I was a lot more excited because I was trying on cute clothes and not underwear!

  I avoided looking at myself in the mirror again as I stripped, and only opened my eyes after fitting my new attire.

  I gasped after seeing myself, feeling a wave of euphoria rush over me from head to toe. “What… the fuck? That’s… really me? How can I possibly look that cute? I mean I know I was cute before but now in my style-“ I put my hand over my mouth and giggled. I did some poses, including twirling a few times and watching the skirt go spinny.

  “Hey Maddie, I got a couple more outfits over here.” Ellie said from the other side of the door.

  “Okay!” I responded melodically. Ellie had picked out a couple more outfits, including an oversized hoodie that went to right above my knees, a couple t-shirts and crop-tops, sweatpants, more colorful pastel hoodies, skirts, jackets, and loungewear.

  I spent probably 20 minutes in the changing rooms before coming out in the first outfit Ellie picked for me.

  We went to pay at the register. Taking out my credit card, I swiped and out came the bill—-a total of 1,476—welp, there goes my entire rent contribution this month. But I’m a cute girl, oh and, cute clothes! And yeah, these outfits definitely fit the two criteria of clothing shopping and even went above and beyond by making me look cute!

  We both left the store with one shopping bag in each hand. “So Ellie, now that I’ve got all my clothes, it’s your turn now.”

  “It’s okay girl, I can create clothes at will. If we have time when we get home, I’ll show you.”

  “What??? Then why did we come here to buy them?”

  Ellie smiled. “So you can be more confident in being a girl in public, and for the experience! Every girl should have at least one super duper extravagant wardrobe-repcing shopping trip in her lifetime.”

  “You’re right. Honestly I do feel a lot more confident, especially with you around.” The weight of the heavy bags of clothes were beginning to strain my shoulders. “Can we take these to the car real quick? I think we ran out of hands.”

  After a quick trip to the parking lot, we stowed our things and headed towards a different section of the mall.

  After entering the air-conditioned indoor area, I looked towards a map on the wall. “So, where to next?” I asked.

  “Makeup should be that way.” Ellie pointed to the left.

  As soon as we turned around, I froze.

  A couple feet away were two very recognizable faces and one very unrecognizable one, all heading towards our direction.

  Zoey, and Joanna.

  I paused, unsure as of what to do. They were with this other girl that I’d never seen before. She was wearing a bck dress with red ruffles and accents. Accompanying the dress was bck thigh-highs and tactical bck boots. She had long, brown hair and hazel eyes—hazel eyes that were staring directly at me.

  I took Ellie’s hand firmly and moved behind her. She turned around and faced me, blocking the three girls from view, and held both my hands in hers.

  A chill ran up my spine as I began feeling lightheaded and my heart rate increased. Ellie’s mouth was moving but I couldn’t process what she was saying, as a wave of silence washed over me. They can’t see me like this! What if they recognize me? What if they call me out or something? Or come over and try talking to me and after finding out that I can’t utter a word and look like I’m about to break down, they’ll raise eyebrows I’m sure of it!

  Her face was full of concern. “Maddie, look at me.” I made eye contact with her, my face expression being one of fear and uncertainty. “What’s wrong?”

  “They’re my-my roommates and I think they noticed me and the girl in the bck dress I have no idea who that is and she made eye contact with me—“

  “Woah girl, slow down. Breathe.” Ellie interrupted.

  “We need to get away from here like now!” I shrieked quietly. “I can’t risk letting them recognize me and I already have their attention!”

  Suddenly I felt Ellie envelope me in a hug, smothering my face full of her hair as I leaned into her neck, washing away my feelings of fear and insecurity.

  She consoled and comforted me for a few moments. “See, they passed right by. We’re in the clear.”

  I looked up, and indeed, the three girls walked right past us, leaving us unnoticed. “Fuck, I need some ice cream after that.” I said, my thumping heart gradually began to fade.

  “Ice cream we go!” Ellie said and smiled gently.

  Ellie continued to hold my hand, rubbing it gently at times to comfort me as we walked.

  I felt safe in Ellie’s presence. If anyone tried to screw with me I have Ellie behind my back.

  As long as Ellie’s here, everything will be okay. I felt like my life is finally improving after years of recession and heartbreak. Just then, a small glimmer of hope within me sparked, and I began seeing a small, dim, yet promising light at the end of the tunnel.

  lunamidnight