Hand-Me-Downs - By Erika and Averi

I, Hanna was just a regular girl...Except one thing. The only new things I got were hand-me-downs. It was horrible for me because I was always wearing last years styles. At first, everyone laughed at me as I walked by, but now they're just used to it. And after 16 years, you'd think it would've changed, but no, it hasn't yet. So here I am again, walking through the hall, with what used to be last years fashion.

"Wow, I didn't know 80's fashion was in!" the mean girl, Shelbey, exclaimed when she saw

my plaid skirt and sequined top.

"Yeah, and I thought only people over the age of 90 could shop at the grandma's clothing

store" her best friends, Stacy and Liz added, looking specifically at my sequined shirt.

"Actually, sequins are everything they're selling at Forever 21" my best friend,

Rachel, said, coming up behind me.

"Omigosh, really?" Stacy and Liz looked at each other and squealed. "We need to go

shopping!"

"Oh, please, girls" Shelbey said with a scoff. "She's just trying to make her look

better. Not working!" Stacy and Liz burst into laughter until Shelbey held up her hand,

silencing them.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Rach, let's just go" I whispered, starting to turn away.

Rachel was my best friend, and had been since 1st grade (and now we were in 10th

grade), and she had always been by my side while I wore ugly clothes.

"One sec, Hanna. Let me just try something." She turned to Shelbey and her peeps.

"I bet you $300 that there are sequins in Forever 21" Rachel challenged. Shelbey

smirked.

"You're on! I have $600 in my purse anyways" she added, flipping her hair.

"Great! Let's go!" Shelbey led the way out the door, with Stacy and Liz close on her

tail. Once they were gone, I turned to Rachel.

"How do you know there are sequins in Forever 21?" I exclaimed. "Sequins went

out of style, like, 4 years ago!"

"Just trust me" she replied mysteriously, and then began to type on her cell phone.

"My sister works at Forever 21, and she has a shift there right now. So I'm texting her

to tell her to put some random sequins in the windows and hang them on stuff to

make it looks like we were right! Trust me." Rachel began to type, and then she

pressed SEND, looking satisfied. I laughed and pulled her into class.

When we got into the class, our teacher, Mr. Bowman, got mad when he realized

that Shelbey, Stacy and Liz weren't here.

"Does anyone know where they are?" he boomed. I raised my hand innocently.

"Yes, Miss Hanna?" he growled. "Do you know where they are?"

"I heard them talking about ditching class to go to Forever 21" I whispered. "How

horrible!" I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

"Well class, guess what? We're taking a trip to the mall!" Everyone screamed with

joy and we all grabbed our backpacks and rushed out the door.

"We will all take separate cabs in whatever groups you want, and we will all meet

outside of Forever 21, got it?" Everyone cheered in response. (At least all the girls did.)

Rachel and I got into a cab and told the driver where to take us. As we drove, I

turned to her. "This is turing into the best school day ever!" I exclaimed. "I mean, first,

you get Shelbey and her peeps in trouble, and then we get to go to the mall! I needed

to go shopping anyways. I mean, have you seen my clothes?" I groaned.

"But Hanna, your mom doesn't let you shop, remember? She always makes you

take the old clothes from the charity places and from your sister because she doesn't

want to spend money! Did that just fly out of your head?" I began to seethe. You see,

my sister is a Senior in high school now, and she has always gotten to buy the new,

cute clothes from all the cool stores. But I have to just take her hand-me-downs,

which are always out of style when she is done with them, and they all have holes and

stuff in them! I was finally going to just break my mom's rules for once.

"You know what? Who cares! I'm going to buy whatever I want now! We're going

everywhere, okay? Nordstrom, Abercrombie, Hollister, Forever 21, and that new store

that I forgot what it's called! I need to get some cute clothes! I am sick of being the

out-of-style, ugly girl! I need to change my reputation, Rach, and you're going to

help me!" Rachel blew out a sigh, then laughed. "Sure, I'll help you. How much money

do you have with you?"

Well, because I never spend anything, I have about $800" I said with a smile. "And

it's all going to be spent - today!" I grinned. "Let's hope Shelbey and her peeps aren't

easy to find - I need some time to shop!" We hopped out of the cab as it pulled up at

the curb, and we ran into the mall. Forever 21 was closest, so we went there first. We

grabbed everything in my size that was cute and plopped it into my basket.

Once we had basically everything in the store, I checked out and spend $300.

"Ok, this is great! I'm going to look adorable for the rest of my Sophomore year,

and then I get to go shopping again! This is fabulous. Now onto Abercrombie!"

"Wait, Hanna. Think about what you're doing" Rachel said, stopping me. I stared

at her. "Getting cute clothes...Is there a problem?" I was getting really annoyed now.

I had a limited amount of time, and Rachel was wasting it with a pep-talk! "Rach, let's

get going! Once the principal gets here and finds Shelbey, we have to go. So hurry up!"

I grabbed my bags and began to walk away. But she grabbed my shoulder and turned

me around. "Hanna. Seriously! Don't spend all of the money that you saved on clothes!

I mean, you could do so much better. Sure, you want to look cute. Now you do! So let's

go put this extra money in the bank or something - save it for college! Please don't

waste your life on clothes." She looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Oh god" I groaned. "You're just like my mother! Oh, you have extra money? Put

it in the bank! No way! I'm going to spend it wherever I want it, and if you don't want

to be a part of that, then fine. Leave! Go buy some luggage or something!" I whirled

around and began to speed-walk away.

"Ok, fine, Hanna" Rachel said, out of breath from running up to me. "You can

spend that money wherever you want. And i'll be by your side the whole time, I

promise." She smiled at me loyally.

"Thanks, Rach! But as touching as this is, we need to hurry!" I grabbed her hand

and we went laughing down the mall.

When we we were done shopping, we checked inside Sephora, just to make sure

we didn't miss anything good. Then, I laughed and pointed to...our principal! He was

going crazy - putting on eye-shadow, eye-liner, mascara, blush, lip gloss, lip stick...

even lip liner!

"Have I tried on everything yet?" he exclaimed to the cashier in a girly voice.

"Oh my gosh...sparkles!" He grabbed the containers of all different colored sparkley

eye-liner and put them in his basket. "Everything please!"