It was supposed to be a normal Saturday, well, as normal as it could be when you're six inches tall and stuck in a ridiculous Barbie-branded cheerleader outfit your mom thought was “just adorable.”
Lucy stood on the centre of the food court table, arms crossed, trying to act all confidence like she was when she was captain of the cheer squad.
The other girls, Ava, Brooke, and Dani crowded around the her and pretending like this wasn’t totally awkward. Lucy hated there dumb sideways looks at her, then at each other, barely holding in giggles.
She had begged her mom for an afternoon with her friends... Just a few hours where she can try and forget that she's basically a mouse now! Just a few hours of normal... Whatever that was!
Why did she have to come too! Like she needed a chaperone! Um, hello... These girls are my friends, I'll be fine without Mommy tagging along!
And then there was the outfit! God, the outfit. Her mom had found it online, thinking it would make Lucy feel “included” since the rest of the girls were still cheerleaders. The plastic dress rubbed against her skin and was way too big for her!
Lucy tried not to squirm as the girls continued their conversation like she wasn’t the centre of attention, feeling as conspicuous as a person could feel on a massive table. She adjusted her miniature pleated skirt, her cheeks already glowing red when she heard the unmistakable voice:
“There’s my little peanut!”
Lucy froze.
No. No, no, no. Not now.
Her mom, bright-eyed and oblivious as ever, bustled up to the table with her giant mom-purse slung over one shoulder and that same overcompensating smile she used whenever Lucy got “moody.”
“Hi girls!” her mom chirped at the towering teens. “Thanks so much for keeping an eye on her! Was she good?”
Lucy groaned. “Mom, please..." memories of bossing these girls around at cheer practice flashed through her mind in a dizzying blur of embarrassment. "...Can you not?”
“Oh, don’t be grumpy, sweetheart. It’s almost four... You know your energy levels dip. We don’t want another incident like last week at Target, do we?”
Ava bit her lip. Brooke actually looked away to keep from laughing. Dani was full-on grinning.
“I’m fine, Mom,” Lucy snapped, trying to forget the incident last week where a stupid kid had 'played' with her until she had cried for her Mom! Ugh, so humiliating! “I told you, I'm fine...!”
“Well,” her mom replied, bending down with that patronizing lilt Lucy had come to dread, “you said a lot of things before you were the size of a paperweight, didn’t you?”
The laughter wasn’t even hidden this time.
“Mom... Just go away...” Lucy grumbled.
But her mom’s hand was already swooping in, two fingers pinching the back of her collar like she was a misbehaving kitten. Lucy’s tiny body flailed as her feet left the table, her tiny sneakers kicking at air.
“Mom! Let go! I’m not a doll!”
“Oh hush, you’re squirming. You’ll wrinkle your outfit.”
The other girls were practically doubled over, choking on their drinks as Lucy’s mom casually unzipped her enormous purse. With a practiced motion, she dropped her daughter inside.
“Be good in there,” She casually flicked a tiny leg back in as the shrunken teenager tried to climb free. "Ah ah ah... Not so fast..." her mom said cheerily, giving the girls a parting smile. “Teenagers, right?”
A faint, high-pitched “Let me out!” squeaked from inside the purse just after the zipper sealed shut and the whole group of girls to burst into uncontrollable laughter.