Lily stuck out a hand with perfectly manicured nails. Serena slowly took the dainty hand and shook it hesitantly.
“Great! I see that we will become great friends. Rose!” Lily turned to the girl next to her, oblivious to the fact that she had just teased the very girl she wanted to be friends with. “I’m sure this girl will be a great addition to our group!” she said cheerfully, passing a secret wink to Rose. “I’m sorry,” she said innocently, “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Serena,” she said slowly, “Serena Davis.” A look of disgust shadowed Lily’s face, but it was gone in a flash..
“Serena…” Lily repeated to herself. “We’re gonna have to do something about that…” she mumbled.
The rest of the math period flew by in a blur. Serena already knew everything Ms. Aguilera said, and she wondered if there was any other math level.
The bell rang for brunch. Serena scooped up her backpack and maneuvered her way out the door to find somewhere to sit.  “Uh…” said a short girl with long white-blond hair, “you can’t sit there. That’s the Queen’s table.” She leaned in, her hot breath blasting Serena’s face. “And no one. Takes the Queen’s table. Ever.” The girl got up and flounced away, casting a stern look over her shoulder to check that Serena wasn’t going to steal the spot while she was away.
“It’s okay.”
Serena turned around to see Lily approaching her table, with Rose following like a faithful puppy. She pulled her gray faux fur earmuffs lower over her ears. “You’re our bestie, remember?” she reminded Serena, linking their arms. “You do want to be my friend,  right?” she implored, her expression giving Serena the impression that she didn’t really have a choice.
“Of… Of course,” Serena stammered, smiling weakly. She was not sure how great an idea it was to accept, but she wouldn’t have any friends otherwise, right?
“Oh,” Lily said, smiling too widely, “and just saying, but is it okay if you change your name to, I dunno, Jasmine or something? It fits our flower theme.” She stared at Serena expectantly. Serena looked at the girls, with their identical looks of carelessness.
“Er…” Serena said tentatively, “I’d rather not. I’ll just keep my own name.” Lily suppressed an eye roll, but kept her “pleasant” smile on, pretending that it was okay with her.

“It’s okay, it’s right there!”
Lily and Serena stood in front of Perfectly Pink Cosmetic Shop. Lily was trying to convince Serena to steal a tube of lipstick.
“Uh, no!” Serena said stubbornly. “There is no way I am swiping something. It’s not like I’m a toddler who will get a ‘get out of jail free’ card for shoplifting!” She crossed her arms for emphasis. This first day as Lily’s friend was not going well – at all. First Lily makes fun of me, she thought angrily, and now she wants me to steal!
“Come on!” Lily implored, widening her eyes. “If something happens, I’ll be there for you.” She made sad puppy-dog eyes at Serena. Serena sighed.
“Fine. But you have to promise you’ll help me out,” Serena requested. Lily nodded.
The pair headed into the interior of the store, which was excruciatingly bright. The walls were lined with hundreds of shades of lipstick, blush, eyeliner, and other cosmetics.
“There it is.” Lily pointed to a rack of particularly expensive-looking pink pigment in many shades of red. In a glass case was a vivid pink tube of lipstick. Lily gave Serena a little push forwards. “Come on,” she whispered, “go. Get it.”
Serena strode towards the case, opened it, and nabbed the cosmetic. “Let’s go… quick!” Serena whispered to Lily, pocketing the fuschia cylinder, and they both fast-walked out the door. As soon as Serena crossed the threshold, they heard a worker shout in surprise.
“Hey!” she called out, “The Lipstick is missing!” Immediately, everybody broke into panic, even people who didn’t know what The Lipstick was. Serena sped up to a run, until she found shelter at a McDonald's. Lily stopped next to her, grinning broadly.
  “We did it,” she said breathlessly. “We got The Lipstick!” She held up her hand. Serena gave her the high-five.
“But what is The Lipstick?” Serena asked curiously. Her heart thudded in her ears from the adrenaline. She let out an exhilarated breath despite herself.
“It’s the most expensive, highest quality cosmetic in the entire store.” Lily lowered her voice, excited. “It costs fifty bucks and can last an entire year — straight. Plus, it won’t smear or come off unless you want to.” She rubbed her hands together. “Basically, the best thing in the world! Can I see?” She held out her hand for the loot. Serena removed it from her pocket and placed it in Lily’s outstretched palm. Lily’s eyes grew as large as dinner plates. “Wow…” she murmured, entranced. “It really is the actual thing!”
BEEP! BEEP!
  “Attention all shoppers of Walmartopia!” a booming voice announced over the loudspeakers. “An important item has been stolen from our very own Perfectly Pink Cosmetic Shop. We are now under lockdown until we catch our criminal!” A click resonated across the entire mall. The shoppers abruptly broke into whispers and murmurs. Lily shoved the tube into Serena’s pocket.
“We gotta go! Now!” she whispered frantically. 
The partners-in-crime sprinted to the automatic doors right as they slid shut. Serena pushed on the emergency bar, but it would not budge. They were trapped.

Heavy boots clunked against the shiny linoleum floor, towards Lily and Serena. The two girls pushed harder on the door. It still did not move an inch. Serena’s pulse quickened. What will happen if I get caught? she thought nervously. Her hands began to shake. She prodded the door again, to no avail.
Suddenly, two serious-looking guards dressed all in black stomped around the corner. “Halt!” one cried, like a medieval castle warden. He lowered his shades to assess the girls. “What are you doing?” he accused coldly. “We told you we would be under lockdown!” He crossed his heavyset arms. His name tag proclaimed “Jake”. While this guard was buff and mean-looking, the other one was… not. He had a friendly face and was a little bit wider. A smile played on his lips, even though nothing amusing was going on. His name appeared to be “Norman”. Serena hoped that he was their ticket out of trouble.
Serena turned her head. Lily was trembling, a wide eyed vision of terror. “Is there a problem… officer?” she inquired, unnerved. 
“Yes,” replied the buff officer, giving the girls a distrusting look. “A certain cosmetic has gone missing. And we are supposed to find it. Now, have you seen it?”
“Why, of course, officer,” Lily said coolly, her demeanor shifting instantly. “She has it.” She pointed an accusing finger straight at Serena.
“What?” Serena exclaimed, bewildered. Lily was throwing her under the bus! “No I do not,” she said, her teeth gritted, elbowing Lily in the ribs.
“Yup,” Lily replied. “And I can prove it.” She reached into Serena’s left pocket and brandished the cosmetic.
“Here,” she said cattily, handing it to Norman. “And she,” Lily said, jabbing a finger at Serena, “stole it.”
  The guards’ faces darkened as they closed in on Serena. “I… I didn’t do it!” Serena squeaked. “She made me!”
Lily scoffed.“Yeah right,” she snickered, “like I would do that. Even if I told you to, you didn’t have to do it. You could’ve refused.” She smirked at Serena, knowing full well that she wouldn’t be able to defend herself.
“But…” Serena croaked, staring pleadingly at Lily. “You promised you would be there for me if something happened! I thought you were my friend!” She quickly felt anger blossom within her. She glared daggers at her pseudo-friend.
“Yeah, yeah,” Lily spat nastily. “So? People break promises all the time.” She turned to the guards. “Er…” she began, “Is it okay if I can go? My mother will get worried waiting.” She flashed them a brilliant smile. The men looked at each other, and nodded. They unlocked the doors and let Lily through.
  Just as Serena make a move to leave too, the two guards sidestepped in front of her, barring her path.
“Nuh uh,” said Jake. “You aren’t getting off so easy.” He grabbed her arm and roughly hauled her off to an office.
“This is Jake on line two,” he said gruffly into a walkie talkie. “We intercepted the culprit.” He looked at Serena accusingly. “So, young miss,” he said sternly, “why did you steal this?”
“Well…” Serena opened her mouth to tell him about Lily, then thought better of it. “Well… I… I don’t know,” she fibbed, unable to keep eye contact. “I guess it’s because I wanted it so badly, but I didn’t have enough money.” Her eyes felt moist, and her face burned. A plump tear pushed its way from her tear ducts and somersaulted softly down her cheeks, followed by more. Soon she was full-on sobbing. Jake stoically handed her a tissue that was quickly soaked.
“Hmph,” he grunted. “Well, we got it back, I guess.  Just don’t ever do that again.” He gave her a fiery glare for emphasis. “And I will have to call your parents. What’s your parents’ number?” His face softened a little, but the difference was barely visible.
“213-555-1127,” she whispered, her throat swollen. It was difficult to swallow. Jake dialed it in.
“Hello?” came a voice from the other line.
“Hello Ma’am, this is a security guard from Walmartopia.”
“Oh, that place! Serena went there with her friend. Is something wrong?”
“About that…” he cleared his throat. “Well… Something happened.”
“Yes?” The voice grew uneasy. Jake looked at Serena. He handed her the phone.
“Hi mom,” she said timidly into the speaker.
“Honey? What happened?”
“Well…” Serena hesitated, not sure what to tell her. She decided on going with the truth. “You see, Lily wanted this really expensive lipstick, so she had me steal it.” As she said the words, more tears spilled out and her voice choked. “I… I did it for her. I’m not proud of it either, but I thought she was my friend. Turns out, she was using me as a puppet so she wouldn’t get in trouble.”
“Oh, honey…” Her mom’s voice grew sad, and she sighed. Serena wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
“Mom?” she asked. “Mom, are you mad at me?”
“I don’t know what to say...” Another sigh. “I’m not mad at you. I’m more concerned about that girl…”
“I don’t know what to do either. I don’t think I want to be her friend anymore.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
Serena’s tears had stopped, and a tiny smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She was amazed that her mom wasn’t that mad at her. At least she believed Serena’s account of what had happened. “Okay,” she said sadly into the phone. “See you at home.” She hung up and handed the phone back to Jake. He pursed his lips, displeased that Serena’s mother had let her go, but he brought Serena back to her house safely.

The next day at brunch, Serena caught several girls staring at her. As soon as she turned around, they would look away and whisper into their friends’ ears. The closer she got to Lily’s bench, the more girls gawked.
As she approached the bench, she saw Lily, her back to Serena. She was talking to a girl with twin black braids, a stylish gray sweater, and dark blue jeans. This must be Lily’s new target, Serena thought to herself in disgust. “Lily!” she called, her voice hard. Lily turned around, an innocent expression pasted on her perfect face.
“Ah,” she said with an aura of indifference. “It’s you. You know, I heard from Rose, Ella, Audrey, and Alexandra that you stole.” She smirked. “Criminal,” she accused.
“You jerk!” yelled Serena in frustration, glaring at Lily. It took every ounce of willpower not to slap her. Lily just looked back, bored.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, using parentese. “Is little Serenakins getting upset? Awww, poor little Serena.” She smirked.
Serena just shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re friends with this… evil girl!” she spat at the other girl. She stuck her hands on her hips and glared. The girl looked from Serena to Lily then back again.
“Well…” she said quietly, “Serena’s right. You aren’t as nice as I thought.” Lily swung around to face her newest target, fuming. 
“What?!” she exclaimed, her face turning a blotchy tomato-red. “How could you say that? You know I started the rumor!” Her hand shot to her mouth. “Rrrgh… I hate you!” she yelled at Serena, taking her by surprise. “I never wanted to be your friend in the first place! I just wanted you to do things for me!” She balled her hands in frustration and punched Serena, before stalking away angrily.
Serena recoiled slightly, a dark red hand imprinted on her cheek.  The other girl looked at Serena, but didn’t make a move to follow Lily. “I can’t believe I was almost her friend either,” she said sadly. “Are you okay? Do you want to go to the office?”
“Ow,” Serena said, her cheek reverberating with a sharp pain, but shook her head. “It’s okay. I can take it.” She sighed. “Let’s just ignore Lily for now.” The girl nodded in agreement.
“My name’s Sara.” She stuck out her hand. Serena stared at it, feeling a strong sense of déjà vu. This was just like the day that she had met Lily. But she took the pale hand and shook it firmly.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, smiling.