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I live kind of close to the mall, it takes 5 minutes to get there if you're on foot, two minutes if you biked, and around 30 minutes to drive. Well, it's a minute and 30 seconds, but there's only 28 minutes added because Dakota takes her sweet time trying to find a parking space. 

"Oh my god." Layla groaned and glared at Dakota, "We'd been here forever, can't you find a good space yet?"

"It's not my fault everyone took up the good spaces, I need to get the perfect spot!" Dakota stated. 

"Uh, what is the "perfect" parking spot?" I asked from the back; Dakota sighed and spun the car around again. "The perfect spot is the one where it only takes a few seconds to walk inside of the mall."

"Ah." I adjusted my seatbelt and looked out of the window as Dakota took a few more minutes to find it. And when she did, we hopped out of the car and walked inside of the mall and rode on the escalator. 

The mall didn't change, obviously. The stores were all big and the same, the food court looked the same, everything looked the same, perhaps a bit duller than last time. Of course, feeling down about the mall felt natural. 

I mean, it's not like I didn't spend all of my time hanging out with Mckayla, Tracey and Andrew. Sure, they don't own the mall, but every time I looked at a different store, I couldn't help but feel... lonely again. 

All of the little things reminded me of them. A green tank top, some fancy sunglasses and baseball cards smacked me in the brain. 

A sapphire green tank top would make me think of Mckayla, some fancy new sunglasses would make me think of Tracey and baseball cards just kept reminding me of how cute Andrew looked when he was swinging with his baseball bat. 

I kept walking alongside with Layla and Dakota, smiling so that they didn't seem super bummed out about me being happy, but then Layla saw this big, cute store called "Pretty in Princess." Even though it was grammatically incorrect, Layla seemed really insistent on us checking it out. 

When we walked inside, the one thing I could think was just "Wow." Everything was a soft pink with white polka hearts, stripes and the workers had cute little puppies and kitten themed hats. 

The clothes had ruffles, fur, and even sold petticoats and huge heart purses, Of course, if I wasn't so mature, I would buy this entire store if I could. But since I am, I couldn't. Even though it felt like the entire place was screaming my name, begging me to purchase all of them. 

"Wow, this looks nice." Dakota hummed, picking up some of the stuffies to absorb them, I nod my head and crossed my arms. "Uh, y-yeah. But don't you think you're too old for that stuff? It's for kids."

"Yeah, unlike you, I don't care." Dakota rolled her eyes and kept looking at the stuffies as I looked around the store more. It's like I'd been here before and I haven't been back there in such a long, long time. 

When I got to the back, Layla was there and to my surprise, there were books there, but usually the really girly stuff, like the mythical adventures of Lana the Unicorn, or Cute Action Hero 5! Stuff like that. 

But then I saw that same old book Layla gave to me, Ms. Pink with even more soft colors and cute gems on it. "Woah... Is this where you got the books from?" I asked, Layla smiled and nod her head.

"Yeah, there were on sale, and I was like, "huh, maybe Rosetta would like these." Layla smiled as I shrugged. 

"Uh, I guess so. Actually, that begs the question. Why would you think I'd liked the books, uh, not that I'm saying that I like the books because-"

"Rose." Layla stared at me. "You know, it's not the end of the world if you like a book like Ms. Pink, right? If you like the book, you like the book. It doesn't make you any less mature than anyone else."

"But-"

"But do you like the book, yes or no?" Layla raised an eyebrow. Of course, I'd be planning out counterarguments against her claims and exclaiming stuff over and over again, but with one look at the Ms. Pink made me think otherwise. I sighed deeply and adjusted my glasses. 

"Yes, I really, really like it." 

Layla smiled and grabbed a few of the books before handing it over to me. "Good." Layla stood up and kept checking out the other book as I stared back at Ms. Pink. The book was titled Ms. Pink: Trouble in Europe. and she even had a new hairdo. 

I clench on the book as I flipped over the pages. Maybe, just maybe I could read it. It's good to have a lot of reading references in the world, I guess.  

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After a while of hanging out at Pretty In Princess, we left the store and ended up at the food court, with all types of people being there. Thankfully, it seemed like I didn't see anyone I knew for now. 

We sat at a table; I was on the right with Dakota sitting next to me while Layla sat on the right alone, typing on her phone. 

"Okay, I'm gonna go get some food. What do you want?" 

"Uh, get me a burger, some fries and a coke." Dakota rubbed her eyes

"Same thing! But uh, just lemonade."  I smiled, Layla nod her head and stood up, Dakota got on her phone as I just stared and looked around. Seeing just kids laughing with others, or people eating their food was simple at best, and boring at worst, and of course it didn't take long for it to be worst. 

I leaned my head right to see if anything else was going on, or if anything looked interesting. But that's when I saw Mckayla and Andrew. There were at the middle tables, sitting side by side, talking to each other and laughing. 

With the way Mckayla's dark hair was tied up into a spiky bun and how she had sharp eyeliner on, there's no way she wasn't on a date with Andrew. He was even wearing one of his nicest plaid t-shirts! 

And how she just kept lingering around felt so gross to see. Have they always did this when my back was turn? How many secret make out sessions or holding hands have they done? How long? 

I know everything was a lie, but how long was I lied to?  I slump back in my seat, like the weight of it all really, really sunk in. It's over and I'd do anything for it to start again. As I sighed, Dakota tapped me on the shoulder and stared right at my face. 

"What's wrong?" Dakota narrowed her eyes. 

"Nothing, everything's fine. I guess." 

Dakota stared at me intensely and sighed. "Dude, come on. I know you're upset. What could it be?"

I rolled my eyes and Dakota groaned at me before she looked to the right of her before looking back at me. "Okay, so Mckayla's there."

"Yeah, I know she's there." I sighed, "Let's just ignore her."

"Tsk, I can't believe her. I mean, she chooses some basic dude with locs, and for what? So she can be popular?" Dakota scoffed, "You're better off without her."

"Do you really think that?" 

"Yeah! If she's willing to get with some jerk and ruin your life because of it, she's not worth hanging on to. You'll find your people in time, so stop wasting it on people who don't get you."

I blinked for a moment and looked around myself before quickly pinching myself to see if this was a dream I was having. It wasn't, Dakota was saying all of this nice stuff. Sure, she did it yesterday, but it still felt odd to hear all of the sweet stuff coming from her mouth. 

"Wow." I let out as a responded, I nod my head and sighed. "Okay, yeah..." 

"Hey guys! I'm back!" Layla called back out, holding the tray of burgers, French fries and drinks for us all, I smiled and sipped my lemonade, I looked over at Mckayla and Andrew at their table, holding hands with each other. Mckayla kissed him on the lips and Andrew returned it, because of course he would. 

I sighed and ate my food as Layla and Dakota chat and laughed, I forced a smile on my face as I listen to them talk about everything and nothing.  But hey, today wasn't a loss, I managed to escape my own head with my sisters and not feel bad about myself for an entire day! 

That's pretty good if I do say so myself. 

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~Dear Diary, ~

~It's nice to know I have two big sisters who have my back, especially one that I was willing to kill my ex-best friend and ex-boyfriend, now that was sweet, but bad. ~

~I'd been reading more of Ms. Pink and I have to admit it, she rocks! I really like her, even more since because of this day and her clothes are always super pretty! I love how big and poofy her skirt is and the stockings she wears? Ugh, to die for! ~

~Anyway, I didn't tell anyone about the video Mckayla and Andrew made, I mean, I probably should, but even with the video gone, Mckayla, Andrew and Tracey have the public opinion against me! ~

~Maybe I'll talk to mom about it. But I guess I'll figure it out tomorrow. ~

-Rosetta H

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(Author: I did it! Numbah 6! Yay! Thanks for reading into the end! Tell me what you like, tell me what you despised, and I'll see you next time! Later!)