Twenty Candles (Part of the Tx3U Trilogy)

4. Day Two

Quincy woke up satisfied today. The very first birthday a success. Her eyes searched around the room. Lopez wasn't there. "Lopez?" She flipped the blanket off of her and slid off the bed when suddenly her eye caught a sheet of paper. Quincy strode over and read it aloud. "Hanging with Malcolm today, love you. Lopez." Quincy bit her lip then smiled, she strolled over to her purse and took out her phone. She texted the girls, 'guys are hanging out today. Wanna do the same?'.

"Someone pinch me! I'm in heaven!" Fiona melted. The girls met up at the mall and the first place they went to was Madison's. Madison's was the biggest retail clothing store out there up to date, a Daffi creation and Fiona had helped bring it to life. "How could this mall even afford this store?"

"How are the khakis here even expensive?" Alosa gulped, examining the price tags. Fiona was in her home, she skipped through the store like a fashion angel in her rightful spot. She roamed the clothing racks and shelves and shoes and mannequins, something she had a part in creating, was out there for the world to see.

"Well," Raven shrugged, "at least she's off her phone."

"What happened last night?" Lopez demanded. Malcolm shook at the question.

"Whattya mean?"

"I called you twice yesterday, never answered. And when Malcolm Cages doesn't answer his phone, something's happening," Lopez crossed his arms. Malcolm shrugged in reply.

"Nope. Just asleep," he lied.

They walked the halls of their old high school. "Check it out, my old locker," Malcolm exclaimed. Lopez stared closely at the lock. "Think you can still crack open locks?" Lopez shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands gently on the lock. In just a few minutes it popped open.

"Voila!"

"Nice!" Malcolm complimented. He opened the locker. "A girl's got my locker, sweet." On the side of a mirror attached to the locker was the girl's name.

"Betty Taylor," Lopez read.

"What is the meaning of this?" An elderly lady, thirty or forty, stormed toward Lopez and Malcolm. "Breaking into students' lockers, I could have you arrested!"

"Principal Latimer?" Lopez called. "It's us." Principal Latimer raised an eyebrow, as if she remembered them but wasn't completely sure. "Lopez Canning, Malcolm Cages."

"Uh, Lopez!" Latimer chanted. "And. Malcolm," you could hear the disgust in her voice when she mumbled Malcolm's name.

"Principal Latimer," Malcolm bowed sarcastically.

"So, what brings you two back to your past? Especially you?" she glared over at Malcolm.

"Well, we're in town these two weeks."

"And we wanted to remind ourselves how miserable high school was," Malcolm added with a grin. "Actually no, I personally didn't mind it, but," he sucked on his teeth, "the staff really did hate my ass for no reason." Latimer murmured curses under her breath. She patted Lopez's shoulder, ignoring Malcolm's remark.

"How's life treating you Lopez?"

"Extremely well actually. I'm attending law school, I can crack cases as well as I can crack locks."

"That's wonderful. Well if you need anything, just ask," Latimer implied.

"I need a rope to strangle myself," Malcolm stated. Latimer calmed herself down.

"Have a wonderful stay Lopez."

"Thanks Principal Latimer," Lopez gave Latimer a friendly hug. "And thank you again, it was a success," he whispered in Latimer's ear.

"Glad to hear Lopez. You're a good guy, see you around," Principal Latimer released from Lopez's hug and walked off.

"Ugh. You got Latimer cooties," Malcolm crossed his fingers. Lopez shot him a dirty look then rolled his eyes.

"Stop being a four year old."

"Would you like to try our newest perfume?" A girl behind a promotional counter in the middle of the mall asked Prius.

"Don't mind if I do!" Prius held out her arm and the girl spritz a splash of perfume on it. Prius sniffed. "Mmm. Cinnamony." Fiona snatched the perfume bottle out of the girls hand. She took a long whiff.

"Cinnamon," Fiona rubbed her chin. "Rose petals. Brown sugar." Fiona gasped and dropped the bottle, leaving it to shatter on the floor. "And thyme! This is my company's fall fragrance! It isn't suppose to come out for another three months!" She glared at the girl. "You! What company is this perfume from?" The girl handed Fiona another bottle to look at. Fiona's eyes widened and her heart started to pound.

"Well. Who's company is it from?" Raven demanded. Fiona could barely spit out the words.

"Mine." She briskly walked away from the counter.

The girls followed quickly behind her, Quincy pulled a twenty from her wallet and left it on the counter, apologizing for the broken bottle.

"I don't get it. Why would your company launch the fragrance three months early without telling you?" Masslie wondered. While Fiona sat down in the food court, Alosa brought her a Madison's scarf, Quincy handed her a chocolate fudge sundae, Prius didn't even bother to pretend and care, and Raven had received a pair of Chanel bags and showed them to Fiona. Nothing worked.

"I don't understand," Fiona finally said. "That's our fall fragrance."

"Don't worry Fi," Quincy finger combed Fiona's hair.

"How could they not inform me?" Fiona sobbed. "I am Junior V.P."

"Are you sure you didn't just miss their call?" Masslie suggested. Fiona shook her head and stroked a Chanel bag.

"I never miss a call." Alosa took Fiona's phone, her and Prius started searching through the last three months call history. "I am furious! I practically created that fragrance!" Fiona's fist made the table tremble. "That's it. I am gonna call my company, and see what the hell's going on." Fiona fetched the phone from Alosa and Prius's hands. She searched through her contacts and dialed her company's number, then walked in the ladies' room, through the food court.

"Put Margo Fischer on the line!" Fiona ordered the secretary as soon as there was a line.

"Hello?" Margo answered.

"Margo! What in the name of Prada happened?" Fiona demanded.

"What do you mean Miss Thresh?" Margo gulped. Fiona slammed her fist down on the bathroom counter. Her lips started to vibrate and her eyes twitched.

"The fragrance Margo! My fall fragrance is already released. How come I didn't know about it?"

"What do you mean Miss Thresh, the board sent you a memo four months ago telling you they were going to release it," Margo explained. "I asked you if you accepted, well, you didn't let me finish. But, you did say yes to make me shut up." Fiona gasped, her mouth started to water up. It became completely silent on her side of the phone call. It was unimaginable to Fiona, that she would just brush off Margo like that, saying something important, and forgot. "Miss Thresh. Miss Thresh?" Fiona hung up the phone. She checked her personal planner, opened her email and found a memo from four months ago.

Alosa walked in the washroom. "Hey, you find out what's up?" she wondered. Fiona nodded her head and took a deep breath.

"Whatever. So my fragrance is three months early, that means I have three more months to make something better." Fiona was back to her normal self, swiping away the mascara that was streaming down her cheeks, she strutted her way out of the washroom.

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