Pippa Park Crush at First Sight by Erin Yun

Author:Erin Yun
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fabled Films Press
Published: 2022-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The next afternoon, Jung-Hwa dropped me off at the mall. Helen said she would meet me at the entrance, but now that people were Christmas shopping in full force, it was like playing Where’s Waldo? in real time. I wandered in through the front door and immediately started to sweat from the sheer number of bodies packed in around me.

“Pips!” Helen waved. She stood by a cluster of vending machines. At the sight of her smiling face, relief washed over me. I ran to her side, and she pulled me into a hug. Filled with happiness, I squeezed her back. It felt like months since I had last hung out with her outside of Lakeview, just the two of us. I almost felt like busting out one of Marvel’s corny dance moves.

“I missed you,” I said as she steered us through the crowds.

“Same.” Helen squeezed my hand. “I’m so glad you texted me! Buddy had a last-minute family thing, so I was just going to be hanging around my house.”

“Oh,” I said, letting the syllable hang there.

Of course Buddy had a family thing. How else could the two of them be separated for this long?

As soon as the sour thought passed through my mind, I shoved it back into a corner. It didn’t matter why Helen was hanging out with me—it only mattered that she was. We started laughing and gossiping like we always did. We bought a cup filled with mini cookies from the food court and snacked on them as we wandered from store to store, trying on bedazzled skirts and flowy dresses.

“These outfits are cute but not party-worthy. I think it’s time for my secret weapon.” Helen waggled her eyebrows at me.

She led me to a small shop tucked behind the food court—it was in such a tiny, discreet location that I had never noticed it before. The window display was not very exciting—just a mannequin in a dress that looked like something Mina might wear.

“None of the other Royals shop here,” Helen confided to me. “But they have real treasures. Just between you and me.”

My heart fluttered with excitement. This, I thought, was what being best friends was supposed to be—eating cookies warm from the oven while shopping at secret stores no one else knew about.

“Come on.” Helen grabbed my hand and tugged me into the boutique.

Immediately, I knew why she loved it so much. Unlike the window display, the clothes all looked like they came right out of Teen Vogue, and the whole place smelled absolutely incredible. Like fresh freesia with a hint of vanilla. Curious, I glanced at the price tag on a striped jumpsuit close to me—and swallowed a gasp. One fifty? Like one hundred and fifty? Dollars?

“What do you think about this?” Helen asked, holding up a buttercup-yellow dress.

“I love the color!” I said enthusiastically, trying not to think about the fact that I probably couldn’t afford the socks from this store. “And the tiny bows on the side are so cute.

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