Shopping
The next day was my half day, and the manager on duty gathered us for a huddle before we opened. "When the contestants come in, we can cut their fabric, ring them up, but we're not supposed to offer help," he said. He patted my shoulder. "Lys here did a great job with customer service yesterday, but some of the other contestants complained that the one she helped had an unfair advantage." He shrugged. "Any of them could have asked us to check the back room and we would have done so, but they didn't." Ugh. I was glad I'd be off the next time they came in. It was the shopping day with Mom and Aunt Amy, which I wasn't looking forward to as much as I had been. We were going to stop by the high school first to get me registered. I'd already checked out the website and read the dress code. No uniforms, but there were minimal expectations for both boys and girls. I looked at the yearbook and saw that the students wore mostly jeans and slacks, some skirts, and anything from t-shirts to dress shirts. Nothing too ornate, which was nice.
On the way home, I swung past a store and went to Uncle Steve's to drop off a thank-you gift. I'd gotten him some beautiful rich watercolor pencils and a sketchbook. I dropped it off with his directrice, who was happy to pass it along, and I went up to the next floor above where Aunt Emma had her shop. She was working and glad to see me. I explained my errand, and that I'd come here as a customer, looking for some special earrings. I'd decided to treat myself, not having much in the way of nice jewelry, and honestly, I needed a substantial pick-me-up. Aunt Emma popped out from the divider that shielded the safes from the customers, and I went over eagerly. "Let's start with these three," she said. "I think they'd look pretty on you."
One set were fancy-cut amethysts, another pair were peridots, and the last pair was small dangles of enamels. They were really pretty, like little stained glass windows in purples and blues. "It's plique a jour enamel," she explained. "The backing metal is ground off so that the thin metal that makes up the little cells is the only thing keeping the enamel together and the light shines through."
"It's so beautiful," I said, holding them up to my ears and looking in the mirror. She gave me a friends and family discount, making them really affordable. I went home feeling a lot better. When I got home, Deri was down at Van's, so I was able to eat my lunch in peace. Then I went upstairs and installed the curtain rod I'd gotten so that when I found my curtain fabric I'd be ready to go. I went over to Miles' studio and got in some practice time, and spent the rest of the afternoon out on the patio reading a book on sewing that I'd gotten from the library. I went in for dinner only reluctantly.
"How was work, Lys?" Dad asked. I shrugged.
"It was fine, the show that's using the store complained about the help I gave to one of the contestants so now we're not allowed to help even when asked."
"What happened?" Mom asked, and I summarized concisely.
"So unless there are customers who aren't contestants in the store, we'll be at the registers for checkout or on the cutting tables or in the back room. That's probably going to cause a ruckus too, because Casey and Matt have seen some of the contestants hiding fabric that other ones might want to use. We put them back when we see things out of order, but it seems like cheating."
Dad shook his head. "It's a shame that a few people have to spoil things. So what is your next project going to be?"
"I'm going to make some bed curtains and throw pillows," I said, more interested. "We're already out of the lining fabric I want to use, so it was good that I bought ahead. I've got fabric for the pillows, though, so I'm ready to go there."
"Planning ahead, Lys," Dad said in approval.
"Oh, before I forget, Deri, a decorator is coming on Monday to talk to you about your room," Mom said, and my good mood took a hit. Deri looked smug. "And Lys, here." I took the chip she gave me. "It's the sum we've agreed to pay to have Deri's room done. You can spend it on more things for your room or save it, or spend it as you wish. And don't forget we're getting you registered tomorrow--"
"Public school," Deri muttered, and I rolled my eyes.
"And then we'll meet Amy and go shopping for your clothes and supplies."
"What?" Deri demanded, getting to her feet.
"Lys won't be wearing uniforms, she needs things to wear to school," Mom said, and it was my turn to smirk.
"I want to go too," Deri said immediately. "I can skip going with Van."
"You've already made commitments and I expect you to honor them," Mom said firmly. "In any case, this trip is for Lys. Your uniforms are the same for this year, and you have sufficient clothing already."
"But--" Deri tried.
"No, Deri." This was Dad, and I was kind of surprised. People don't generally tell Deri no flat out. "You have plans that you were excited for just two minutes ago. Your sister is older than you are and needs thing that you don't, and these plans have been made for some time. You don't have to go everywhere Lys does." Deri sat down, sulking, and Mom and Dad talked until Alan called us to dinner.
After tea and cookies I went up to my sewing room to cut out the fabric for my pillows. I cut the fabric carefully to minimize the waste, put the fabric face to face, and put the piping between the two layers, pinning as I went so that the tape that the piping was attached to wouldn't show when it was all sewed. I'd gotten a few more tips at work for making my work better. I was sewing slowly, using a different foot on the sewing machine to really snug up to the piping (one of the tips), when the door opened and Deri came in.
"So this is where you're hiding," she remarked, looking around. "Why don't you get a decent room? We've got guest rooms."
"I like it here. And besides, we often have guests who will need the guest rooms. What do you want?"
"Wanted to see what you were doing. I might want to sew too."
"Don't be a copy cat, Deri. Besides, you don't have the attention span." She frowned at me and started going through the fabrics I'd carefully folded and placed on the shelves. "Don't touch my stuff." And we had a little argument, but I prevailed and she left. I finished up the night with one pillow completed--and my hand stitching was getting better too--and the pieces for two more ready to go later. I neatened up, turned off the lights, and went to my room, placing the pillow on the window seat before curling up there and opening the windows. I'd decided that Grandma was right and it wouldn't be a bad idea to try a new nickname. The new school was a chance for me to reinvent myself, be a new person. Maybe I could create an alter ego for myself, smarter, cooler, better with people, more competent, and less loser-y than the real me. But what could it be? Lys was already my nickname, so... Sip? Sipee? No. Pee, Gods, no. Alex? No, there was already an Alex Wayne, the one and only, even if I'd been named after her. Lex? Lexa? Lexie? Naw, I didn't want the L to start both nicknames. Andra? I considered that one. Andra Wayne. I just didn't like it. I was running out of options, though. Dra. Ra. D. An. Ann? I rolled that one through my brain. Anna.
Anna Wayne. That sounded nicely anonymous. That could be anybody. I tapped my fingers on the windowsill as I thought about who she could be. Her style would be better than mine. Different colors, definitely, more style-forward. I had a thought and went to the computer, asking for elective choices at Hell's Kitchen High; I'd already selected some to request when I went to register, but that was before Anna. I had to take English, math--trigonometry this semester and precalculus in the spring, and history, the parents were demanding chemistry this year, four semesters of a language (I was thinking about petitioning this since I spoke pretty fluent archaic Greek, the legacy of the summers spent on Themyscira) and a year of gym, but I got credit for my ballet classes and that requirement was already taken care of. There were so many electives. Mythology? Ha, no. Journalism? Well, Anna might be interested, but we needed to work with my skill set and I didn't like poking around in other people's business. Business, no. I had a family full of people I could consult if I needed advice, and it wasn't something I was interested in, career-wise. Anna might be interested in IT. I read course descriptions. There was one on designing, building, securing, and maintaining networks that sounded interesting. This photography class that I'd already decided on would fulfill the cultural education requirements, which was performing or applied arts. I needed one more. International relations sounded interesting.
I went to bed really looking forward to the shopping trip.
Deri was grumpy the next morning, but I didn't pay attention. She'd be distracted with the activities she had planned soon enough. Mom and I also left at the same time Deri went to meet Van and Alan on the driveway, and we took Mom's sleek little two-seat pod in. While I adored my pod, I was anticipating being able to take the driver's class when I was eighteen that would enable me to drive myself. Maybe Uncle Tony could convert my pod to a standard system that permitted either driver mode or AI controlled mode at that time. Then I could borrow a family car and take passengers with me. By then I'd have friends. "I spoke to Alex yesterday," Mom said unexpectedly. "She said she bumped into you in the orchard." I nodded. "She said she'd recommended that you might select a new nickname for school. Are you thinking about that?"
"Yeah," I said, a little warily. "I thought maybe Anna. It's part of my middle name, so it's not entirely different. It still belongs to me, just... new. A fresh start in a new school."
"Anna." She rolled that around in her head. "I like it, and actually, your father and I feel that it might be a good idea to play down your family in light of the kidnapping risk. Your school has good security, but it's also true that it fronts the street, which is unsecured. So a little confusion as to your identity could be beneficial." Well, smack me over with a feather. Actually, with Grandma Alex's feather, that wouldn't even be hard. We arrived at the school and went in. This was registration day for new students, and it turned out that I was the first one to show up. Mom showed my birth certificate and gave the registrar a file that had my vaccination record. There was a momentary wait while my academic records were transferred, then the registrar scanned my classes from last year.
"Ok. Lysippe Wayne. Do you want your teachers to call you Lysippe or is there a nickname you prefer?" Here it goes.
"I'd like to be called Anna," I said, and just like that, Anna Wayne became a reality.
"Ok. Do you have preferences for electives? You've been placed in Honors English and Honors history, trigonometry, and chemistry."
"I was hoping for networking, photography, and international relations, sir," I said tentatively. He looked at his screen and frowned.
"Networking and photography fit in your schedule, but IR meets during your English class. Do you have another preference?" He turned the screen so that we could see available classes. Nothing looked particularly interesting, darn it.
"Look, dear, comparative world religions." I could hear her tone warm, which meant that she was smiling. "You could do well there."
"It's not a religious study, if that's what you're worried about, Anna," the registrar said, mistaking my being done with gods with hesitation. "You'd be learning about different pantheons and monotheistic religions, the tenants of faith, but it's not an attempt to convert anybody, just increase knowledge, understanding, and tolerance. It's actually one of the most popular classes in the school." Well, there were aspects of that that I'd already know, so maybe it would be an easy A. I agreed, Mom paid my fees, I got my student ID and my fingerprint recorded, and I was given my locker number along with a map of campus, a list of school supplies, and my schedule. After thanking the man for his help, we located my locker, which I opened using my fingerprint. Standard locker, two coat hangers and a shelf with ventilation slits top and bottom. It was on the second floor, across from some windows, and fairly centrally located between my classes, so that was good. Then it was shopping time. We were meeting Aunt Amy at the first store, not the Macy's and Saks that we usually went to, but Flip, an upper end store focused on teens and their money.
Aunt Amy was early, and we followed her ping to a display of blouses. "Man, I feel old," she said wistfully. "These are so cute." And they were. An hour later, we had two pairs of jeans that felt amazingly good and looked almost as good, two short skirts (not minis, but a few inches above my knee) several shirts and a few sweaters, a couple pairs of shoes, boots, socks, and some underwear. The only real benefit from not having boobs was that I could wear bralettes, dainty fine fabrics and lace. A couple of new nightgowns because my room was upgraded. Then we went to Whiplash, the other similar-quality teen-driven store, and got three more pairs of jeans, three pairs of slacks in black, gray, and navy, a couple of longer skirts, a few more blouses and sweaters, a leather jacket in a soft green, a few more pairs of cute shoes. We dumped everything in the pod before going to a restaurant for a late lunch.
"How did registration go, Lys?" Aunt Amy asked after we ordered.
"Good," I said, feeling positive about it. "I got most of the classes I wanted, and the other class I ended up with is comparative world religion, which shouldn't be too bad. My locker is in a good place."
"She's changing her identity a bit," Mom said. "She's asked them to call her Anna in class."
Aunt Amy smiled at me. "Anna. Huh. I like it. It's kind of a blank canvas name. Do you want to be called that all the time?"
"Not necessarily. I just don't want the baggage of being Lys at school. I'll be answering to both." I was hoping to keep Anna kind of a pristine identity until my new classmates knew me as that and Lys, with all her issues, just wouldn't be a problem. "I just really don't want Deri knowing about it yet. I want to establish myself, not be the dumpster fire. Hopefully my new friends will understand the reasons and not feel like I'm being deceptive. She'd spread the word, not really knowing" or caring, probably "why I want this."
"Your sister is being a little... willful," Mom allowed, and Aunt Amy's eyes opened wide at this criticism too. "She needs a little time to remember that she's not free to act however she wants." And with that, the subject was dropped but I felt even better. The final stop was just a couple blocks away, so we walked.
To Uncle Steve's atelier. Where we were expected. "Thanks for the sketchbook and pencils, Lys," he said. "That was an unexpected pleasure, but I enjoyed helping you with the draperies. How'd they turn out?" So I showed him pictures of the room and he was kindly complimentary. And then I was taken to a small room where I undressed and was scanned for the creation of a personal dress form, and measured precisely by one of the craftswomen working there. Then I dressed again and went out, where Uncle Steve was talking to Mom and Aunt Amy. When I joined them, he showed me samples of beautiful, lustrous fabrics, and dress patterns, and we decided on a peacock blue raw silk for a dress with a straight skirt, shawl collar, v-neck, and three quarter length sleeves, and a rich silk and wool blend in black for an A-line skirt with two elegant silk blouses, one in raspberry and one in a peridot green.
"That looks like the earrings that Aunt Emma has," I said involuntarily, and mentioned that I'd gotten the enamel earrings.
"Good eye, Lys," Uncle Steve said, and after a little more chatting, hugged him goodbye. But we didn't return to the car. We went upstairs.
"You had a point when you said that you weren't equipped like a typical teenager, and it's also true that Lysippe Wayne has social expectations," Mom said. "So a couple of pairs of earrings that are pretty but not too precious that are appropriate for a young woman should get you started."
We left Aunt Emma's with the peridot earrings in gold, small octagonal rhodolite garnet earrings in silver; their rich deep pink color would look good with my new blouse, some thin stackable silver rings, some with texture and some plain, a narrow gold Byzantine chain, and a small diamond pendant on a white gold chain. I could wear the chain with or without the diamond. I was dazed when we left. Aunt Amy thanked Mom for letting her come along, and there were hugs all around before she departed.
"Thanks, Mom," I said once we got back into the pod.
"I realized that you were correct, in fact, that your father and I don't acknowledge you equally with your sister," she said after a few moments. "It isn't because we don't love you, it's more that Deri demands interaction and you don't. But we are very proud of your accomplishments and your drive. I can't make up for the party, but I can address your complaints now. And make sure that you have what you need and want for school that's appropriate for someone your age." She sighed. "It seems like just a few years ago that you were starting school, but here you are in high school. I haven't paid enough attention to the passage of time."
"I appreciate it, I really do," I said. "And I know people are sick of hearing me harp about the party, and yeah, in the great scheme of things it's not a big deal, but it kind of devastated me and it's not something that just disappears after a couple of months."
"I am realizing just how profoundly it affected you. And again, I am sorry for not taking it more seriously. I didn't realize you had to quit your social media accounts."
"Well, people probably would have unfriended me after the fun of.... teasing me wore off, so I just got ahead of everything." She nodded, and we stopped at a store to get my school supplies and the bank so that I could deposit the funds Dad had given me. I stuffed the receipt in my purse and we set off again. The thing about the decorator still rankled me, but I was also feeling diverted by my new clothes. I couldn't wait to get them home, try them on, play with combinations. And Deri was at her sleepover, so she couldn't burst in and ruin it. I could play in peace.
"Anything else, Lys?" Mom asked, and I hesitated. But why not push my luck a little?
"Do you think I could get a couple new leotards? Mr. Cal allows any color in class, he's not as strict as Ms Kerry, and I'm awfully tired of pale pink." Mom smiled, and we stopped at a dance store. I came out with a mid-purple one with a solid body and sleeves with sheer fabric over the shoulders and two bands on the arms, a green sleeveless halter top leo with cutouts on the back, a black cap sleeved one with twin clusters of straps gathered together at the center of the back in two places, and a second black tank style that had the back made of a geometric flower patterned mesh. I also had a couple of colorful shrugs to wear during warmups and a couple new dance skirts.
Most amazing day. Ever.
Mom helped me carry things into my room. "This is such a pleasant room," she said. "I know that you're upset with Deri getting a designer to do her room, but I can't imagine that you'd want to do this over."
"No," I said, a little grudgingly, because I had really enjoyed doing it. And told her that Grandpa Henry was coming over next week to convert my window seat.
"Clever," she said, then patted my shoulder and left me to sort my stuff out. I started with the school stuff, it was pretty much the same stuff I'd gotten for freshman year, and put all that away neatly. Three weeks before school started, I didn't want to think about it more than I had to, with or without the armor of Anna. I smiled as I put my new jewelry in their boxes neatly in the drawer of my vanity, rearranging the bottle of perfume and the atomizer on the mirrored tray just a little, brushing my hair smooth with the silver-backed brush, then putting it back in its place. Then I dove into everything else, snapping off tags with reckless abandon, taking shoes out of boxes, stuffing the trash into the bags before taking them down to the recycle bins. I found Alan in the kitchen, working on dinner. I hadn't realized that it was so late.
"How was your shopping, Miss Lys?" he asked as I dumped the bags.
"It was awesome, thank you for asking." I hesitated. "Alan, I'd like to apologize if I hurt your feelings. I do want to learn how to take care of myself, I won't always have an ace butler around, but I think I was kind of mean about it. It's just that you always seem to take my mom's side."
He stopped his preparation and turned to look at me. "It is not my intention to take sides, Miss Lys, but I can see where you would feel like I do. I am a parent myself and I find myself responding in that manner without perhaps making it clear to you that I am also here for you. And your point about not always having a butler to hand is well taken." He smiled at me. "You certainly seem to have a talent for creating and maintaining a calm, but interesting and cozy space for yourself. Perhaps the next thing you could tackle would be clothing and shoe maintenance. I could show you how I do things." I smiled.
"I'd like that. Thank you." He smiled back.
"We'll make sure you're well prepared for your next steps once you've graduated from high school, Miss Lys. And thank you for explaining your concerns with me. I would hate to be at odds with you." Then he gave me a cookie and shooed me off.