a restaurant once for being too
loud.”
Belle
was more shocked by the sushi story than this one, so she said nothing. Then
Mary turned to the others and waved goodbye as she headed out the doors to her
car. She had finished her shopping, but the girls insisted they weren’t done
yet. So Mary had agreed, after a bribery of waffle fries, to come back and
pick them up in two hours.
“What
was that for?” Belle gave Snow White an angry push with her hand.
“Sorry!”
Snow White replied, shrugging.
“No
harm done,” Cinderella added, coming between them. “You covered it up nicely,”
she added, looking at Belle.
The
Princess sisters made their way to the other side of the mall and entered a
store with beautiful Homecoming dresses on display in the front windows.
“Let’s
try them on!” Aurora said excitedly, rushing into the store. The other four
looked around at each other and shrugged before following her in. When they
caught up to her, Aurora was already holding up two dresses and looking at them
against her body in the 3-way mirror.
“Put
them on!” Ariel said.
“Which
one?”
“Why
choose? Try them both!”
Aurora looked again at her reflection and grinned. “Okay!” She hurried toward the
dressing rooms and then paused. “You guys all have to try some on too!”
“We’ll
be right behind you,” said Cinderella. She then began flipping through a rack
of lavender gowns to her left. The other three, giddy with excitement, spread
out through the store. Once they each had a decent armload, they too scampered
for the dressing rooms.
A
door on the far end opened just as they approached and out stepped Aurora in an emerald, floor-length dress. She was stunning! Everyone stopped and awed.
“Hurry
in!” She waved them forward.
“Can
we all fit?” Snow White asked.
“Yes,
but hurry.” Aurora glanced in either direction before pulling the fitting room
door closed behind them.
The
Princess sisters found themselves in the largest fitting room, with a wood
bench along one wall and a wide, full-length mirror just behind the door. Aurora took charge, gathering up each girl’s dresses and hanging them from the three hooks
on the wall to the left of the door. Her four cousins sat squished beside each
other on the thin bench, so only one pair of feet could be seen at a time
beneath the door. Aurora slid out of the figure-hugging gown and returned it
to the hanger before slipping back into her khaki capris and tight, pink shirt.
“Who’s
next?” she asked, facing the others with her hands on her hips.
“I’ll
go!” Belle jumped to her feet. She reached for a cerulean blue dress with a
silver beaded flower pattern along the breast and bottom trim. Once the dress
was over her head and pulled down into place, Belle attempted a battle with the
zipper in which the zipper won. No matter how she twisted and squirmed and
bent her arms in awkward positions, Belle was unable to get that silly thing up
the last two inches. Cinderella finally got to her feet and, without a word,
easily pulled the zipper into place. Just as she returned to the bench, Belle
turned around and the other girls all gasped.
“You
look incredible!”
“Wow!”
“That’s
it, the first dance you get asked to, we are coming back for that dress!”
exclaimed Aurora.
“You
really think so?” asked Belle, examining her reflection. Her voice carried
doubt, but the way she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and continued
to smile at her own image from every angle suggested that she knew exactly how
stunning she looked.
The
girls continued to take turns trying on various dresses, in many cases all five
of them putting on the same dress to see who looked best in what color and
which style. It took some coaxing from her cousins to get Snow White to
participate, but she eventually joined in too.
Cinderella
stood in front of the others, showing off a peach colored
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