Chapter 1 Mia and I had never been in the shop before--it was one of those places you just passed by. We knew there was nothing either of us could afford: they had the kind of stuff you saw in the magazines my mom bought, with price tags in the thousands. Inside, dresses arranged by color hung on iron rods suspended from the ceiling by invisible wires. It was supposed to look classy, but to me it was contrived and pretentious. "Well?" She looked at me expectantly. I watched people entering and leaving through a timber-paneled arched doorway--attracted, no doubt, by the tiny SALE sign stuck to the front window. It was weird, but I was nervous. I always was.

We were shoppers, we had money--nowhere near enough, but it wasn''t against the law to browse. They couldn''t arrest us for looking, could they? Really though, it had nothing to do with any of that. It was because I knew we were going in to do the wrong thing. "Yeah," I said, smiling to hide my nervousness, "but remember, you have to try on whatever I give you." She grinned wickedly. "And that goes for you too." Mia headed straight for the rack of orange. Bitch, I thought, until my eyes landed on the purples.

I walked past the shop assistants without making eye contact. I figured if I acted like I had every right to be there nobody would say a word. "Soph, I''ve found it," Mia shouted. "It''ll go perfect with your pointy-toed, red patent stilettos." The shoes were fictitious of course; this was just Mia''s attempt at embarrassing me totally. In her hand hung an orange dress that I wouldn''t be caught dead in. "Yeah, beautiful," I said, thrusting a mauve-and-yellow paisley at her, "and isn''t this exactly the dress you fell in love with in Vogue? " One of the assistants was trying not to hover, and I couldn''t help feeling sorry for her. Mia watched her with barely hidden delight.

This was part of the dare too--not just who could embarrass the other the most but who could make the biggest impact. In this respect, Mia usually outperformed me. Flicking the tag on the orange dress made me gasp. Some sale! No wonder the assistant was trying not to have a heart attack. At half-price it was still thirteen hundred dollars. That was as much as my brother''s car! The brocade curtain swung on its wrought-iron rod as I slid out of my jeans and T-shirt and wriggled into the dress. "Is it on?" Mia shouted from behind the other curtain, another of her strategies. Usually she''s quite softspoken.

I stifled my laughter. "Yep, it''s gorgeous. What about you?" "Oh yeah, you''re gonna die." I ripped open my curtain at the same time she whipped hers back. "Oh my God, Sophie," Mia exclaimed, so loudly all heads in the shop turned our way. "You look like Barbie." I looked at my reflection. The dress had given me cartoonlike proportions--my boobs jutted out like pointy cones and the dress hugged me tightly around the waist.

Mia pretended to sound concerned. "Soph, are you all right? Oh my God, can you breathe?" I couldn''t, because I was laughing so hard. The shiny satin of the paisley dress stopped above her knees, and she''d left her boots on and hauled her socks up. The dress was the ugliest thing I''d ever seen in my life. I lost it. I hung on to the curtain laughing so hard I thought I''d split the dress. But Mia wasn''t finished. "Good God, girl, you''re a danger to society," she said.

"You could take someone''s eye out with those." "And you look like someone''s grandma on acid," I shot back. We clutched each other, laughing hysterically. "They''re weapons of mass destruction." "Shut up," I choked. "So, girls, how are you doing for sizes?" The assistant''s face was clear--she wanted us out. "Fine," I said, trying to compose myself. "Just perfect," Mia said, and I don''t know how she does it, but she went from laughter to serious in the blink of an eye.

"So, Sophie, what do you think? Would you wear it to the party tonight?" "Hmm." I rubbed my chin. "It would go with the shoes, but maybe it''s too dressy?" "We''ll think about it," Mia said, going back into her changeroom. Mia figured I''d won that one, but I didn''t agree. I could''ve peed my pants--probably would have if I hadn''t been wearing orange silk. I could just imagine the sales woman pointing to a sign--"If you pee in it, you pay for it." We ended up finding some great clothes on sale, real clothes that normal people can afford. And it was fun getting ready for Dom''s party, even though every time I thought about seeing him I felt like throwing up.

But Mia was so excited. And when she was dressed, and had made me re-do her hair fifty times, she looked amazing. She knew it too. I could tell by the way she smiled to herself. It was hard not to let her excitement infect me. By the time we walked out the front door of my house, I couldn''t wait to get there either.