Chapter 10
By Samantha Jenkins

I looked at Mom, not believing what was happening. it was less than twenty four hours ago that the issue had been brought up for the first time.

“Which one is your daughter?” Arika asked, walking toward us. Mom looked at the three of us.

“The one in the blue and white plaid skirt.” Mom said.

Arika smiled at me and patted the chair where I would be sitting when I would get tortured by two little sharp pointy objects. Arika opened a drawer and pulled out a plastic container that had each of what the piercing ear rings looked like and handed it to mom who was standing next to me.

“Ok,” Arika looked at me. “What is your name, sweetie?” She asked me, after I had sat in the chair.

“My name is Morgan.” I said, taking a seat in the chair. I watched as Mom handed the container that had all of the ear rings to Katie. I watched as Mom and Katie looked over their choices.

“How many holes?” Katie asked mom. Mom glanced at me and smiled.

“How many do you think Katie?” Mom asked. Katie looked at me with a grin that told me that I was in trouble.

“I think,” Katie said, pausing and drawing out her answer. “Two in each ear.”

“Ok, since Katie is picking out the studs that are going to go in your ears, I’m going to start with some basic care instructions, you will want to clean your ears at least three times a day with the antiseptic that we will give you for the first 6 weeks. You will need to keep the piercing studs in for the first six weeks, and after that you have to keep some form of stud in for a total of six months after that. You shouldn’t wear dangly ear rings or hoops until after that six month period. Now I’m going to mark your ears so that you can see where your new ear rings will be.” Arika said, picking up a purple felt tipped pen. Katie looked over at us.

“I picked out the ones that I think would look nice.” Katie spun the plastic thing that held a single of each earring stuck through cardboard. “In one hole, the ruby birthstone studs, because ruby is Morgan’s birth stone, and in the other this one.” Katie pointed to the white gold crystal rose daisy studs that were mounted in the in the case. I just looked at Katie, who smiled. She had picked the second one mainly because it was girly.

“Ok,” Arika said pulling them out of a drawer that she unlocked with a key hanging off of her wrist.

I just kind of sat there as she prepared to pierce my ears. I watched, everything happening in slow motion and she called another employee over and they both picked up piercing guns, held one on each side of my head and counted to three. I felt a small pinch, and just like that, I had a set of newly pierced ears. I sat there and watched as Arika and her coworker reloaded the guns with the daisy studs. Once Arika and her partner in torture were back in place they started counting again. I felt the same pinching sensation and then I was handed a mirror so I could see my ears. I liked the way my new earrings looked in my ears.

Mom, Katie and Jen had all browsed the store while I was getting sharp pointy things stuck in my ears. They had selected a bunch of jewelry that I could wear after my holes had healed enough to switch out the earrings, plus some necklaces. I watched as mom paid close to $100 for every thing that had been bought, plus the piercings. I was handed the bright pink bag that said “Just got My ears Pierced!” and we walked out of the store.

Katie and Jen headed for the JC Penny store that was close to Claires. Mom and I followed, with me resisting the urge to reach up and play with my new earrings, because I didn’t want to get them infected. Jen and Katie just went into the juniors section and started looking at dresses. Mom had steered me toward the intimates department. Apparently she didn’t think I had enough in the way of bras and panties, which I probably didn’t. Mom started grabbing some plain white cotton panties when I saw the pretty colored satin panties and walked over to them. I picked up several pair in my size in various colors. Mom just looked at me and smiled.

“I like that choice,” She said. Jennifer was about sixteen when she started to wear satin panties. I remembered that because I remember taking a pair of baby pink satin panties and keeping ahold of them for quite a while before they got lost somewhere. I took my selections back over to the juniors department where Katie was pretty much hiding behind a stack of dresses in her arms.

“We found some dresses for you.” was all that she said, I still was able to hear the smile in her voice. All of the dresses that she was holding were pastel colors, my favorite being the pastel pink, blue, yellow, and green striped one that was on the top of the stack. Mom liked each one of the dresses and had me try on every one, electing to buy all of them, plus the intimates that we had selected. We walked out to the car and dropped the bags in mom’s trunk, and then went back into the mall for a late lunch.