Jackie was surprised that her Mother, who worked in a newsagency, had yet to mention the missing children. Diana should be some of the first to get the news, considering they dealt out newspapers and had a notice board both outside and inside the shop. But throughout their dinner last night, it hadn’t been mentioned once. Nobody talked about it. Not any of the teachers. Not any of the students. No one. It was almost freaky.

“Jackie – what about this one?” Danielle called for Jackie’s attention, holding up a flowery dress that was probably a size too big for Danielle. “I could just put a belt on it to bring it in – it totes reminds me of a dress I saw in my magazine three issue’s ago.”

“Doesn’t that make it an old trend?” Sofia piped up, her arm strung with a few pairs of saucy underwear in her arms. She had styled her blonde hair into a high ponytail – less than a centimetre more and Jackie would have called it a pineapple.

“Vintage, duh,” Danielle responded, fiddling with the material to sell the idea. Jackie titled her head, observing the way the material reacted to Danielle’s touch.

“I like it – definitely wear a dark belt with it, or a dull, muted colour,” Jackie nodded in confirmation. All three girls rejoiced by squealing and pulling Jackie into a hug. Smiling, Jackie shifted through a few wracks, looking for herself and any of the other girls. She had a dress planned out already for the party, but it didn’t hurt to see if anything could change her mind. Not that anything could, it was her notorious and favoured party dress. Nothing could top it. “These look like some nice knock offs from my favourite shop,” she muttered to herself, pulling a baby blue crop top from where it had been tucked away in the wrack. “What about this?” she asked, holding it up for Danielle to see. The noise Danielle was not human, she raced across the store in a second and yanked it from Jackie.

“O-M-G,” she repeated, her hands shaking, as she held the fabric to her chest. “I’ve lived here for nearly seventeen years and have only found three crop tops in my entire life, you’re here for like… a second, and you pull one out.”

The other two girls had gathered around Danielle to see the tightfitting material. They were undoubtedly jealous and let it show.

“These would look so good with my black ripped skinny jeans, they’re high waisted,” Danielle gushed passionately. Jackie couldn’t help but laugh, her palms bared out in front of her as the three girls seemed almost animalistic at the clothing. Jackie had never shopped with people who were so… passionate. “I think we just found my party outfit.”

“Promise me you won’t feint,” Sally started, her mouth agape, she pointed a green painted nail to the back wall. “But that pencil skirt is the exact same colour as that top,” Jackie turned to see that, in fact, there was a tight skirt that matched the top.

“It’s your lucky day, Danny,” Jackie chuckled, walking across the room to check the sizing.

“I could scream,” Danielle whispered, as if in a trance. “Never have I ever been able to find something to match,” she plucked the skirt off the rack, holding it against her waist. “We are going to be amazing friends, Jackie, just amazing.”

***

The four girls sat together at a table, overcrowding it. It had been easy to settle on what to eat – the girls all had matching diaries that had scheduled outings with also what takeout or food they should have. Today just so happened to be sushi day. Jackie had never liked fish, especially raw, so she stuck with the basic chicken and avocado. Sally encouraged them to take a pre-sushi-selfie. Jackie couldn’t help but congratulate Sally’s creativeness on her wordplay. It had encouraged all the girls to have that as their caption. Jackie could tell they were sceptical about tagging Jackie at first – but as soon as the likes started rolling in, Jackie was the focus at the table.

“Hey – I’m going to get heavy for a sec,” Jackie interrupted while everyone had taken a break from their nonstop social media questioning. She had reclaimed their attention once again though. Almost instantly. “What is going on? With all the missing kid posters.” The wind picked up suddenly, disturbing their rubbish on the table and whipped their loose hair around. Jackie shivered as a few leaves scarped across the ground.

“This weather,” Sofia spat.

“Kids go missing all the time, it just happens,” Danielle shrugged, frowning slightly as she looked around, almost annoyed. Even more unsatisfied than before she had asked, Jackie took a bite of her food.

“Hey, Jackie,” Sal started by getting Jackie’s attention. “How can you hang out with… those two.”

“Oliver and Nia?” Jackie asked, taking a sip form her drink, watching Sally over the top of her cup.

“Yeah, them,” Sally cringed, her teeth baring in an almost snarl. “They’re like… you know they…” Sally tried to widen her eyes as if to hint to something.

“What Sal is trying to say is that you’re slumming it with them,” Sofia cut in, gliding her tongue across her front teeth. Jackie assumed that there was rice stuck there.

“Um, Jackie can totes hang with whoever she wants to babes,” Danielle cut in, not looking away from her compact mirror as she checked her teeth. “Oliver is my cousin’s lab partner and she has a thing for him. Plus, Henry is friends with Nia.”

The other two girls stayed silent for a long time after that, then they made an excuse to leave.