Chapter 8
“So wait, tell me again how you failed the test the second time around?”
Marya recalled Helene telling her the story 15 minutes ago when they first stepped into the car, but for her own amusement she just wanted to hear it one more time. She chuckled into her shirt as Helene’s face began to brighten up, amused by the story as well.
“I swear the light was green when I looked up from the wheel, and then it just switched to red!” The girl threw her hands up, adding life to the story.
“So I just kinda sped up a little, ya’know.”
“You ran the light.”
Marya deadpanned, walking up to the sliding doors of the Old Navy. They opened with ease, and the two girls walked in.
“I knew I could make it though.”
Helene grabbed a blue cart from the cart parking, and rolled it in front of her.
“You could've gotten in a crash Helene, and do we really need a cart?”
Marya tilted her head at the small girl pushing the empty blue and gray cart.
“Yes we need a cart. And yes, I know from what I’ve told you, it sounds very dangerous, but I can assure you that I made the necessary precautions to not get myself involved in a car accident. I’m not that reckless.”
Marya just shook her head, silently laughing to herself.
As they approached the jean section, Marya grew more and more bewildered. Why were there so many types?! Seriously, what was the need for all the different varieties? They're all denim, what's the difference?
“Okay what's your size?”
Helene stopped the cart in the middle of the aisle, turning to Marya who was gazing up at all the jeans.
“U-Uh I don’t really know. All the pants I own are a size large. I wouldn't know how to convert that to the sizing of jeans though.”
She turned to Helene, who was staring down at her long legs, gauging an estimate on Marya’s jeans size. She tilted her head back and forth, standing back to get a good look.
She circled around the girl, visually measuring her waist size and seeing what type of jean might best fit her.
Marya stared down at the wooden flooring in nervousness.
“Well since you're taller, and slightly bigger than me…” She looked at her one last time.
“I would say you're about a size 12.”
Helene looked back up at her.
“Okay, so where are the twelves?”
Marya surveyed around the aisle, scanning through the numbers as they increased. Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of the size twelve jeans, in the far far section, at the end of the aisle.
“Oh! They're over here!”
Marya walked over to the jeans, and Helene followed behind her with the cart.
“Now which one?”
Marya turned her head to the Kuragina, who was sweeping mountains of jeans into the cart.
She must've already gotten 10 pairs in the basket while Marya wasn’t looking.
“Woah, Helene. I thought we were only just getting one pair? Why so many jeans?”
Marya glanced between the cart and Helene.
“We’re gonna try on all of these! We have to find what makes you feel your best. And you don't have to get just one, you can get more than one pair.”
Helene smiled at the girl in front of her.
“Oh, but aren't we buying more things than just jeans? Like shirts and stuff? I don’t want to put a dent in your wallet.”
Marya said, bashfully while subtly smiling back at Helene.
“Marya, it’s not my wallet. It’s my father’s. Trust me, a few couple hundred off his credit card won’t hurt a thing. He won’t even miss it.”
Helene began to pour more jeans into the cart, filling it up fast.
“Alright...but just a fair warning, if you really do expect me to try on all of these jeans, you’re gonna have a hard time.”
Marya smiled, grabbing a pair off the top and heading into the fitting room.
A few minutes passed by, and Marya was ready to show Helene the first pair of jeans. To be honest, they weren't that bad. Maybe paired with a belt, and some other type of shoe it would look better. But they did fit her nicely, and she did like how she looked in them. It didn't hug her body, but you could still see the curves of her waist, the denim carefully accentuated as opposed to her khaki’s which made her look boxy and rectangular.
She stepped out of the change room to show Helene, who was sitting on the bench outside the door.
“Ah! I love it!!”
She squealed and smiled upon looking at the girl in the dark wash denim jeans.
“But my opinion doesn’t matter, how do you feel? You like it?”
Helene asked her questions as she brimmed with glee over Marya.
“I like it… It’s not too tight. I feel good. And plus, it goes over my ankles, which I really love cause sometimes my ankles get cold.”
She smirked and grabbed the next pair of jeans from the overflowing cart.
“When you take those off, give them to me so I can hold them for you.”
Helene said, to which Marya just nodded back to her and slipped back inside the room.
This cycle went on for the next nine pairs of jeans, and of course Marya tried them all on, as opposed to what she had said previously. Marya would step out of the fitting room, Helene would ask her how she felt, and then Marya would make her decision.
Out of the ten pairs of jeans she tried on, four of them made the final cut.
The first pair she tried on, which was the dark wash jeans. The fourth pair, which were light blue high waisted mom jeans. The sixth pair were low rise jeans that had a long silver chain looped into the belt loop. And lastly, a black version of the first pair of jeans was the eighth.
“See? Now was that so hard?”
Helene amused Marya.
“I have a feeling, after today you’re gonna start to learn to appreciate jeans more.”
Helene pushed the cart over to the shirt section of the store, with Marya behind her shoulder.
She smirked when the newly found jean shopper scoffed a little too dramatically.
“Okay Marya…” Helene rolled her eyes at the other girl who was trying to hide the smile on her face.
“...Next time I come over to your house, we are throwing away the khaki’s.”
Now Marya had never been a smooth talker, especially not when it came to crushes. She could never work up the courage to talk to anyone, but with Helene, everything just felt so right and easy. She could have a conversation with her, hours upon end, no telling when either of them would shut up. Flirting, however, was something she had zero experience in, which is why the next few sentences that came out of her mouth were a complete and utter shock to both herself and Helene Kuragina.
“How about after school on Monday? Call it a date?”
Almost immediately Marya regretted what she said.
Helene’s entire body froze up like water droplets in winter, which is why her cheeks becoming a slight shade of pink was a sight to behold.
“I- I erm, sure. It’s a date.”
Helene said, with her heart thumping in her chest.
Running all her words together, Marya tripped over her tongue.
“U-Unless you don’t want it to be, cause it doesn’t have to be a date. It can just be a friend kind of date where you just hang out together, y'know like a little hang out time for just the two of us ...me and you.”
She could feel the sweat forming on her palms.
“No, no, no, it's a date. Just two friends...on a date…”
Helene reassured her, and now Marya wasn’t the only one with the sweaty hands.
“Oh good then…”
Marya breathed out, not so subtly wiping her hands on her khaki’s.
“Yeah…”
Helene nodded in agreement.
A few moments silence passed by where they just stared at each other in an awkward haze. Heart beating rapidly, and sweat pouring down from their hands. In all of the times, people have made moves on Helene, none of them ever made her falter like this. Made her heart feel like it's leaping right out of her chest.
‘Wait, Marya just flirted with me… she likes me back?’ Helene thought to herself, still in a state of shock.
“Um, excuse me can I help you two?”
Suddenly, a new voice brought itself into the scene, snapping Helene and Marya back into reality.
The young woman wore an all blue ensemble, so clearly she worked in the store. Marya spun around to see the woman behind her. Apparently her name was Lelah, as her name tag suggested.
“Oh, no thank you. We’re okay. Just buying some jeans.”
Marya pointed to the large pile of differently shaded blue and black denim.
“Okay…”
Lelah the Old Navy employee, nodded and walked past the both of them, returning to her counter at the front of the store.
“So…” Helene began.
“Shirts?”
“Shirts.”
Marya parroted back to her.
With that, they walked to the shirt aisle silently.
====
“You didn’t even buy anything for yourself and we spent nearly $400 dollars!”
Marya said, unlocking the door to her house.
“It was a day for you, not me! You deserve it. And I told you already, my father won’t care about a few missing Benjamin’s, and I’m still kinda mad at him so it's well worth it.”
Helene threw the shopping bags full of clothes down on the couch.
“He found out you got drunk last night?”
Marya sat down on the chair, while Helene pushed the bags over to make room for herself on the couch.
“Surprisingly no. He was just mad that I didn't come home last night.”
She leaned back on the sofa, and rested her arms on the back of it.
“Oh, that's my fault. I’m sorry I got you in trouble. I should've just - “
Marya started to say before being interjected by Helene.
“No, it’s not your fault. You did the right thing. My dad is just overprotective a lot of the time, and lately he’s just been… off, so his nerves are probably like really high for some reason. But, me getting yelled at is definitely not your fault.”
Marya nodded in understanding in response.
“Actually, can we talk about that for a bit? My dad?...It’s just… I feel like you're the only person I can talk to nowadays.”
Helene sat up from her seat, and rested her elbows on her lap, fiddling with her thumbs.
“Yeah, of course Helene. What is it?”
Her eyes drew on a more concerned kind of look.
“Before I came back here today, my dad and I had this big argument. I asked him why we’re always moving houses and if the reason was so that he could win mom over again. He said he was doing it to protect me and Anatole, but he wouldn’t say from what or why… He’s definitely hiding something.”
She clenched her fist, growing more and more angrier at the man.
“And then just when I was about to leave to come over here, he says that my mother had secrets from us too, that we don’t know about so I guess both of my parents are liars now, even in death.”
“Do you have an idea of what he could be hiding?”
Marya inquired.
“No, that’s the problem. I have no idea what he could be hiding from us. And I deserve to know!”
She glanced up at Marya.
“Don’t I?”
“You do.”
She reached out her hand and rested it on Helene’s arm, trying to comfort her. Helene gave her a warm smile.
Helene’s eyes sparkled with a radiance only she could have. Her beauty was mesmerizing, enthralling even. It was just something about those brown eyes that made Marya melt. Infact, it wasn't just her eyes, it was her entire being. Her personality, her charm, her attractiveness… She was all Marya could ever think about at any hour of the day and even into the early hours of the night.
Even now, she was so lost in thought that she didn’t even notice when Helene stopped her longful gaze into Marya’s eyes to take a quick glance at her lips.
It was in that moment when Marya had a realization.
“How long has your father been having these gala’s?”
Marya asked her.
Stuttering a bit, Helene responded back.
“U-Uh… We first moved back in 2016, and since then we’ve moved five times, so it's been about four years, and five gala’s.”
“Do you know what charity he’s been donating the money to? Because since your father raises quite a large amount of money from the gala’s, I’m sure the charity would have him listed as a sponsor. We can just check the website of the charity and see if he’s under the sponsor’s list.”
Marya pulled out her phone and swiped to google.
“It’s some private charity in Russia called Anastasia. They make technology and other electronics for the government. That's really all I know about it.”
As Helene was speaking, Marya was busy typing away.
“Found the website. Problem is: it’s blocked.”
She clicked off her phone and threw it down on the table.
“Of course it is, it’s the Russian government.”
Helene scoffed, rolling her eyes.
“I’m going to do more research on Anastasia Tech. If I find something, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks.”
Marya was just about to respond when suddenly, the doorbell rang.
The two of them both glanced at the door upon hearing the sound.
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone else.”
Marya got up from her seat and walked over to the door, peeping in the peep hole to see who it might be.
A bright smile illuminated her face. She turned the lock on the door, and opened it.
“Natasha! Sonya!”
Extending both of her arms out, she embraced Natasha in a big hug.
“Aw, I don't get a hug?”
Sonya said, walking into the home.
“You’ll get your hug after I finish hugging Natasha.”
Marya said, squeezing Natasha even tighter.
“If Natasha makes it out alive, Jesus Marya!”
Natasha protested the painful hug by trying to squirm her way out of it, in attempts to break free from Marya’s clutches.
“Sorry Natasha.”
She loosened her grip on the smaller girl.
“I just haven't seen you since last night. You gave me quite the scare.”
Natasha walked inside the home as well, stopping short after seeing Helene sitting on the couch.
“Oh hello… I’m Natasha!” She walked over to Helene with her arm extended.
Marya began to hug her other best friend, Sonya Rostova.
“Helene. Nice to finally meet you.”
She smiled, shaking her hand.
“I’m Sonya. Natasha’s cousin.”
She waved to Helene from the doorway, and Helene waved back with a small, “Hello.”
“What’s all the shopping bags for?” Natasha said after looking at the three bags filled with jeans and crop tops.
“Helene and I went shopping earlier. Bought lots of cool stuff.”
Marya said as the two girls sat down on the ottoman next to her.
Natasha quickly turned her head to Helene.
“Ah! You got Marya to go shopping?! What did you have to do, bribe her with the answers to Monday’s math homework?”
She said amusedly.
“No, I think the answers to the test were more than enough as consolation.”
She half joked, back at her.
“Oh by the way, loved the gala last night! Everything was very nice.”
Natasha smiled as she complimented Helene.
“Oh thank you, but it was my father’s - not mine. I’m glad to see you're safe though. Andrey Bolkonsky is not the kind of person you’d want to spend your night with.”
Helene placed a hand on Natasha’s arm.
“Wish you could've told me that last night.” She chuckled.
“I barely remember what happened, I was so drunk.”
She shook her head in disdain, remembering bits and pieces of the events that transpired the night before.
“I got caught up with Andrey a few months ago, before I went on vacation to Russia. He’s not a good person, if you're still wondering.”
Helene leaned back in her seat.
“Thank you for telling me that.” Natasha turned her attention over to Marya.
“And thank you Marya for alerting Anatole I needed help and driving me home.”
“I didn’t say anything to Anatole and I didn’t drive you home”
She furrowed her brows at her.
“You didn’t?”
Natasha had a confused look on her face.
“It was Pierre Bezukhov. He’s the one who alerted Anatole and drove you home.”
Sonya spoke up, adding to the conversation.
“Pierre Bezukhov? That nerdy senior boy?”
Natasha shifted her eyes from Sonya to Marya.
“He’s not that nerdy, just a little quiet. We’re old friends.”
Helene said, defending Pierre.
“Oh. Do you happen to have his number? I want to thank him.”
She pulled out her phone from her purse, and opened up her contacts.
“I think I do. Hold on.”
Helene took out her phone as well, and opened Pierre’s contact.
“After all these years of not talking, it's a miracle I still have his number. Funny how life crosses paths again isn't it?”
She showed Natasha Pierre’s phone number, and Natasha typed it into her phone.
“Thank you so much!”
She slid her phone back into her bag.
“No problem.”
Helene said with a small smile.
“So Marya, you have all these clothes and you're not gonna show us what you got?”
Sonya crossed her arms over her chest.
“Sonya, you know I don’t like fashion shows.”
Marya retorted, slightly rolling her eyes at the girl.
“Hmmm, but you seemed to like dressing up when we were at the store.”
Helene said rather cheekily.
“C’mon Marya, show us!”
Natasha nudged the girl, who was currently slumped over in her chair.
“Fine.”
Said Marya, giving in to the other three’s wishes.
“I’ll come with you upstairs.”
Natasha said, getting up from the black leather ottoman.
Helene handed Natasha the bags, and up the stairs she went, with Marya groaning behind her.
“So… that’s her right? Helene.”
Natasha said in a lower tone, once they got inside Marya’s room.
“Yeah that's her.”
Marya nodded, sitting down on her bed.
“I like her. Nice, pretty. She got you to go shopping so she’s practically a Godsend.”
Natasha began to open up the bags, pulling out various items of clothing and ogling at them, holding them up in the air.
“I asked her out on a date.”
Marya walked over to the bags, and took out a pair of jeans.
Frozen in shock, Natasha’s eyes widened with amazement.
“You asked her out?! Marya! This is huge! I’m so proud of you!”
She wrapped her arms around her.
“When’s the date?”
She held up the red crop top to Marya’s body.
“Monday, after school. My house. We’re gonna be purging the stuff in my closet.”
She began to slide off her tee shirt, pulling it over her head.
Natasha handed her the shirt in her hand.
“Of course you two are, cause that sounds so romantic…”
Natasha jokingly said, laughing at Marya’s idea of a date.
“Hey, it wasn’t my idea. It was actually her idea. I just said ‘Hey, why not call it a date?’ like an idiot, and then she agreed.”
She trudged taking off her khaki’s.
“Oh real smooth Marya.”
Natasha sat in the nook, at Marya’s window.
“Okay, how about we talk about you huh? I told you not to drink too much last night, and then I end up saving your ass. What was that all about?”
She buttoned up the high waisted jeans, and threw her khaki’s on the bed.
“It was a mistake. I didn’t realize it until it was too late.”
Natasha got up from the nook and walked over to the door, wanting to leave the conversation.
“You could’ve been in real danger. You don’t know what Andrey is capable of…”
She shook her head at Natasha, in disappointment.
“I thought you were glad to see me, and now you're lecturing me?”
Natasha spun her head around to face Marya.
“I need to get it through your head that you need to make smarter decisions.”
Marya walked past Natasha and opened the door and walked down the stairs.
Natasha simply pursed her lips, and walked behind her.
Marya could hear some of the conversation Helene was having with Sonya.
“Your bangs are so bouncy! I love it. And your braided bun is so cute!”
She was fascinated with her hair.
“Thanks! I almost burned it all off on Friday during chem lab. The bunsen burner was on high and Mary, my girlfriend, she said something so silly and I started laughing, the flame almost…”
She trailed off her words, noticing Marya step down the stairs.
Helene looked over to see the girl stepping down the staircase in the red crop top and jeans she picked out for her.
Even in a crop top and jeans, Marya looked stunning. Helene’s eyes wavered from Marya’s face to her body.
“Marya, you look amazing.”
Sonya complimented the awkward girl standing by the door.
“You look beautiful.”
Helene gasped out, and for a second Marya thought she may have seen Helene checking her out?
‘No…unlikely.’
Natasha returned back to the ottoman in silence, still a bit peeved at what Marya said to her.
There was no denying that Natasha has made some poor decisions in the past, but Marya was her friend. She was supposed to understand that those decisions were just mistakes. She thought Marya understood that…
For the next thirty minutes, the girls sat and watched while Marya came out in different outfits. Helene watched how lively Marya became with every outfit she put on. She felt good in these clothes, and Helene liked how good that made her feel. Knowing that she could help in some way with Marya’s self confidence made her feel like she had returned the favor of all that Marya has helped her with. She loved to see Marya smile, and she would do anything to make sure Marya kept on smiling.
‘That beautiful smile…’