The beginning

Looking around at passing students rushing to get out of school, Ibby thought. 'I wonder if they truly exist, am I the only one alive? do they disappear as soon as they disappear from my line of sight?' The question left her mind as she decided not to think about it any deeper.

She walked out of the school and scanned the parking lot for her Ferrari. It wasn't like her parents didn't give her everything she wanted. They were rich and could afford anything. Whenever she asked for something, she wouldn't receive any reply, but she would get it the day after.

She opened the door with the key on her keychain and got in the driver's seat. She drove, on the way, Ibby got the feeling something slipped her mind. -Ibby always forgets something- She stopped the car abruptly and turned around, realizing she had left Christine.

When she arrived, she saw Christine tapping her left foot on the pavement, looking confused and worried. She looked in both directions of the road to see if there was any red Ferrari.

Finally, seeing Ibby's car pull up, she bounced in excitement. She ran over to the passenger side and waited for Ibby to open the door before she got in. "You left me?" Christine said with disbelief in her tone.

"I forgot."

"Of course you did." Christine nodded and leaned back, Ibby forgot to pick up Christine a lot, but this hasn't happened recently so, Christine thought Ibby had finally passed that stage, but it turns out she didn't. Christine couldn't help but feel hurt by this.

They drove in awkward silence. "I'm sorry," Ibby said with sincerity. It was rare times like these you could hear the emotion in Ibby's voice though her face remained passive. A small smile made its way to Christine's face, but she didn't say anything.

Ibby stopped the car at Christine's front gate and waved at her as she got out. Ibby waited until Christine was inside before she drove off. Christine could see that Ibby cared about her, and this made her regret her past decisions.

Christine knew there were times Ibby felt something was off, and she always tried her best to get rid of Ibby's suspicion. Sometimes Christine wished she could turn back time and take back her actions.

Ibby parked the car and got out. She walked up to the door and turned the handle to see that it is locked. Just then, her phone rang. She took it from her pocket and looked at the number on the screen before she answered.

"Hello"

"Hey, cupcake!" The familiar cheerful voice shouted through the phone. Ibby moved the phone from her ear for a second before returning it. "Are you ready to go to the mall?"

"I got locked out."

Christine laughed on the other side of the line. When Christine heard nothing on the other end, she stopped laughing. "Oh, you're serious."

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?"

"I thought you had finally developed a sense of humor, guess not," Christine whispered, her sentence not meant to be heard by Ibby.

"Mmmmh?" Ibby asked, wondering if the sentence she just missed was important.

"It's nothing. You can wear my clothes to the mall, come over right now. By the time we get back, someone might be home, and if not, you can crash at my place."

"Okay. Bye," Ibby hung up the phone and headed back to her car. She got in and drove to Christine's house. When she pulled up, Christine was already waiting for her on the porch. Ibby got out of the car and slammed the door shut.

When Ibby made it up to the spot where Christine was, they went inside together. "So I already picked out a few outfit choices you can choose from," Christine said with an overly cheery smile etched onto her face.

Christine caught Ibby looking around the house in search of something when Christine realized what it was. She spoke up. "My parents won't be back until late, and cookie is at his friend's house" Christine's parents and cookie, who is Christine's brother for some reason, don't seem to like Ibby. No one seems to like Ibby.

Ibby nodded at the information and followed Christine up to her room. On the bed positioned in the middle of the room was not a few suits of clothes to choose from, but a tall mountain of clothes. Christine walked over to a chair that was pushed up to the far left corner used as her study area and picked up a small box of donuts located on the table behind her.

Christine munched on donuts as she watched Ibby pick out a suit, occasionally licking the sweet remains off her finger. Christine's face scrunched up in disgust as she looked at the outfit Ibby chose, well more like snatched up, as Ibby just took up the first set of things she saw that looked to be about her size.

They arrived at the mall an hour later. Ibby had worn a tank top matched with dark blue pants and black converse as she had agreed to her friend's outfit choice for her and didn't complain as she took it up and went to the bathroom to change.

Christine picked out a few outfits, Ibby followed her asking herself what she was doing there, but for some reason, when Christine had asked her to tag along, she had felt obligated to say yes.

A dress had caught Ibby's attention. It was a simple red dress that had a heart neckline and no patterns, the dress was about knee length on someone with Ibby's height, and the waist looked like it would hug her waist and bring out her curves.

Too deep in her thought, wondering why this dress had caught her attention, Ibby didn't see the little boy running her way. She stepped out in the aisle a little, and they collided into each other. The impact had left Ibby unbalanced. She took a few steps back to regain control. Not realizing her mistake, she had stepped on the tail of a dress that looked to be a ball gown. Her weight had stretched the dress far more than the fabric could handle.

The dress ripped, and Ibby fell to the ground, pulling the dress she had seen earlier down with her. The back of that dress got caught on a nail, and it too had ripped. A lot of people had gathered around by now to see what all the commotion was. Ibby didn't check herself for injuries, neither did she look at the dresses she had torn, and for the first time in years, Christine could see the emotion on Ibby's face. She had a look of shock and dread as she had realized she broke the first rule.

Rule#1: Never destroy someone else's property.