Kristie Davenport draped her arms over the rail in the mall atrium and looked around.

What a hole! She thought to herself. Look at all this space! I mean, if this were my mall, I'd get rid of the skating rink, put in some more stores! They've got these little kiosks all through the place... I bet they could make a lot more money than they do now with more room!

Around Kristie the crowd flowed, going about their errands and business, the sound they made was loud but not entirely unpleasant.

Kristie mused to herself, not really paying any attention. Mom is so lame. I'm a high school student! Sure, a freshman, but that doesn't mean I'm a little kid! Go buy a Halloween costume, Kristie, she told me. Get something nice, maybe win a prize.

Lame, Mom. Really lame! A roomful of teenagers in Halloween costumes? Lamer! I mean, are we supposed to go trick or treat? You gave me twenty bucks, Mom. What kind of lame costume can I get for twenty bucks? Win a prize! Oh yeah, for sure! Lamest costume of the century!

Behind her, Kristie heard a familiar high-pitched nasal voice, talking over-loud. Yep, she thought, looking behind her. That's Ann Marie Kruger and her two pals, Angela and Andrea. Triple A's they call themselves... triple assholes is what they are! The trio would no more glance at Kristie than they would gum stuck to the sidewalk.

Kristie watched them go past, shaking her head. All three of them were wearing the same sort of outfit; different colors, slightly different styles, but identical. Skirts that barely covered their butts. Crop top blouses with no bras. Yeah, they had on matching panties that looked like very short shorts, put you could still see their butts.

Actually, maybe that was what bothered Kristie the most. My two-piece bathing suit isn't really different in how much skin you can see.

Mom was only mildly critical of it. But to see Kristie in an outfit like Ann Marie's? Her mom would just flip out. Go off like a rocket. Dad? First he'd look really hard at my tits, then he'd go off like a rocket. What's a girl going to do living with two lame parents? A six-year-old brother who drools? That wasn't lame, that was just gross!

What's really lame, Kristie thought, is standing here feeling sorry for myself with a lousy twenty bucks I can't even use to buy a new CD or blouse...

Kristie straightened up, started walking. I'll run into JC Penney's. I will find the cheapest costume I can. I don't care if it's lame, because the whole thing's lame. Then I'm going to take the change and go over to Thirty-one Flavors and have a chocolate malt. Yep, tomorrow I'll have zits and blackheads, but tough! I got stuff for that. I can deal with it! Dealing with all this lame stuff? She shook her head and sighed.