I rolled over and woke Monday morning to the sound of the alarm on my new phone going off. The sound was annoying enough to wake me up, which I considered to be a good thing. As I picked up the phone to figure out how to shut the alarm off, mom knocked on my door.

“Morning Emma,” Mom said. “Abby will be here at ten so the two of you can go shopping… You know, like girls do. May I pick out something for you to wear?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled, pulling the covers up to cover my head to try to block out the light from the rising sun. I groaned as mom pulled the blankets off to reveal the white shirt and pink shorts that I had slept in.

"Come on, get up and go get a shower," Mom said, a smile on her face. It's too early to be smiling… I thought to myself as I stood and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I looked in the mirror and the face of a sleepy little girl looking back. Grabbing my white robe from the hook next to the mirror, I headed for the shower. Ten minutes later I was back in my room, still drying my hair. Mom had placed a dress with a blue paisley skirt and an almost denim colored bodice. There was a pair of white panties with little blue polka dots all over them laying on top of the dress. On the floor a pair of white sandals sat, waiting for a pair of feet to pop into them. I dressed and then looked at my self in the mirror, trying to decide if I should do something with my hair. In the end I grabbed a white headband and slipped it in my hair. It held my hair back out of my eyes, and I happened to think that I needed to get my bangs trimmed so that they hung just above my eyebrows. Leaving my room, I grabbed the little white purse that mom had hung on the door knob and slipped my phone into it. I skipped my way downstairs to the kitchen. Mom was standing in the kitchen waiting on the coffee pot to finish brewing. When my shoes clicked on the floor she turned to look at me.

“How do I look?” I asked, a smile crossing my face.

Mom smiled. “Beautiful, as always. That dress looks perfect on you and brings out your eyes.”

“Do you think that Abby will like it?”

“Yes, I do,” Mom said, pulling the pot out of the coffee maker and pouring herself a cup. I love the smell of the stuff but couldn’t stand the taste of it. I made a bowl of cereal and sat at the table to eat it. Mom brought her coffee over and sat at the table.

I paused my eating and looked up at mom. “Do you think that I could go to school as Emma?”

“I think that you should talk to Dr. Williams about it and see what she says about it.” Mom said, sipping her coffee. “I have no problems with it, but there will be some of your classmates that won’t understand.” Just at that moment the door bell rang. I smiled as I jumped up and scooted off toward the front door. I opened it to reveal Abby, standing there wearing a pair of tight jeans, a black and white striped tee shirt and a pair of sandals.

“Come in!” I said, not even trying to conceal the dimples that I knew were visible. Abby’s face turned to a smile as she saw the dimples. Abby came into the house and gave me a good look over.

“I feel over dressed…” Abby said, with a giggle.

“You look fine,” I replied, leading the way to the kitchen. “Mom felt that I should dress up a little bit.”

“No, You said I could pick out what you wore,” Mom said, a smile in her voice as Abby and I entered the kitchen. “I think you look nice.”

I smiled, but hey, a girl loves complements. “Thank you.”

“Abby, have you eaten?” Mom asked.

“Yes,” Abby replied. “Dad made waffles for Nicole and I before he would let me leave the house…”

“Ok, I wanted to make sure.” Mom said, after taking a sip of her coffee. “Emma, finish your cereal before I run you two to the mall.”

I sat down and finished my cereal, eating quickly. After I stood up, Abby held her hand out to take the empty bowl and spoon.

“Go grab a sweater or something, you’re gonna need it when we get to the mall,” Abby said, removing the bowl and spoon from my hand. I nodded dumbly and headed for Rachel’s room, knowing that I didn’t own a sweater that would go with the dress in either of my wardrobes. I knew that Rachel had a white button down cardigan hanging in her closet, or at least she did, it had been hanging next to the dress that mom had caught me wearing. After I had grabbed it, I headed back to the kitchen. I slipped my arms into the sleeves as I descended the stairs and buttoned the top button as I entered the kitchen. Abby looked at me and smiled.

“That makes the dress even cuter…” Abby said, “And you’ll stay warm when we are at the mall and the AC is trying to freeze us to death. Why do you think I’m wearing jeans?” She giggled.

Mom rinsed out her coffee cup, and sat it next to the coffee maker. “Alright, girls, if you both have your phones,” I patted the small white purse that I had carried down stairs, and Abby patted her back pocket. “Then out to the car, I’ll run you guys to the mall and will pick you up later.” Abby and I headed into garage and got in the back seat of the car. Mom came out a few minutes later and climbed into the drivers seat, opened the garage door and started the engine. She backed out and paused briefly to close the garage door and then we were off to the mall.