Going Shopping

Her eyes shone, 
bright with anticipation, 
fuelled by 
the wondrous thought 
of six perfect hours 
at the mall.

Proud and bouncing steps 
punctuated her chatter: 
makeup colours, 
heels and straps, 
trademark sensitive, 
and, "Did you see his hair? 
It's just, like, soooo academy." 
Or, "I'm so like, totally
not taking his Text.”

The thrill of belonging, 
with her own kind; 
the thought of being 
devastatingly witty; 
the certainty of being 
so understated, cool; 
the fact of “in”, so
absolutely now: 
foundation feelings 
for a fragile psyche.

She just totally detested 
the filth of the side street 
leading to the mall: 
she and her friends 
stepped carefully 
around the sidewalk urchins, 
and tiptoed gracefully, 
on fashionably shod feet, 
past the scattered detritus 
of a world she would not see.