Another Day Another Dress

[Olivia Anne Forster]

It was amazing how much Livvy knew she could get away with. She had her absences counted out on a sheet in her room. She could have up to ten in each class without failing. She went to the two classes she had trouble with and handed the teacher a forged note to get out of the other class. It was down to an art form. She even got one of the older boys to drive her downtown since he got out of class and she would do what she did best with her lunch money: shop. The best part of the whole thing was that no one was ever the wiser. She would stash whatever she bought into her backpack and come home using a combination of whatever transportation she needed to get home the same time as the bus. She hadn't failed and hadn't been caught yet. If she was late she would simply say she was talking things over with Ian because she was having trouble in his class. He would cover for her and if he got mad at him well, she knew how to get rid of that mood quickly and efficently enough. After all, besides shoping Livvy had the welcome talent of being able to easily deal with the opposite sex; one thing her sisters were less fortunate in as made so apparent with their track records: two marriage prospects chased off, rich ones none the less. If they hadn't been so quickly gone or so disagreeable she would have tried to catch them. They could have started up her fashion empire.

The mere thought of having that kind of money and power to hold over her elder sister made Livvy smile brightly as she walked through the rows of old unsavory dresses in the second hand thrift shop that she frequented. She had been lucky today: two vintage flapper style shifts, one hat from the sixties, and a very fashionable corset style top she could add some trim to. This would be profitable and perfect if she could just find a decent skirt. She looked down at her watch and sighed. Fifteen minutes before she had to leave. She had to work fast.

[Nora Leigh Forster]

Having a longer break than normal in between two of her classes, Nora had decided that she would use an opportunity to indulge herself a bit. Normally, she would have spent the time practicing or engaging in some other practical, useful pursuit, but today she had her entire afternoon free until 4:00, and she wanted to do something more with it than she usually did, something different. And that was how she found herself in a small thrift shop in downtown Meryton. Nora didn't have too much money with her, but it was enough to buy one or two things, depending on the cost. She could use a dress or maybe a blouse. Something along those lines. If she had any extra money left over, she'd likely just save it, recognizing that having money to spend in the future was more important than having one more bracelet or necklace.

Lifting a blue dress that looked to be from the early sixties off of a rack, Nora was surprised at the person whose eyes she met. "Livvy?" she queried. She knew that her sister was supposed to be in school, but it wasn't like she could do anything about her skipping. Even if she told their parents, Livvy would undoubtedly be able to sweet-talk their mother into forgetting about the whole thing. Nora sighed, frustrated by it all. Her father doted on her two older sisters, and her mother did the same for the two younger ones; but what about herself?

[Olivia Anne Forster]

Ooooohhh! Damn it all! Why did this always have to happen to her! It was like a bloody curse or something. No matter what she did, how well she did it, or how much care she took to cover her tracks, she always was found by one of her sister. It always felt like they caught her at the worst times to. And Nora of all of them to find her! It had to be Nora; the studious one, the smart one, the one school was a breeze for. Olivia rolled her eyes and nonchalantly gave a smirk disguised lightly as a smile in Nora's direction. "No, just a look alike." She rolled her eyes again and grabbed a mini skirt off the rack and examined it carefully before putting it back. She almost couldn't wait to hear the lectures she would get now.

[Nora Leigh Forster]

What was Nora supposed to say now? Perhaps she should have just ignored her sister, pretended she didn't see her. But still... "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" she demanded, rifling through the rack of clothing in front of her. She spotted a pink skirt and pulled it out, but after holding it up to herself saw that it wouldn't fit. How to deal with her younger sisters? They could be so frivolous and vain, so hard to deal with. She didn't understand them, and she wasn't particularly fond of them either. But still, Livvy and Madeleine were her sisters, so she couldn't just totally ignore them; she felt a certain sense of responsibility for them, as strange as it may seem. "Why don't just come here afterwards? You can't just skip school whenever you feel like it. You'll get behind in your lessons and you might miss something important."

[Olivia Anne Forster]

And there it was! The lecture. How did she know it was coming. Nora wasn't that much older than her, besides, she didn't have a social life, there was nothing for her to gain by skipping out. Typical. Honestly it was. The girl didn't get the fact that this was more educational than school for Livvy. Nora just understood duty and booksmarts and figured that's all one needed. Wasn't the truth in the least of course, but Livvy didn't expect someone like her sister to know that. "i can in fact skip when I like to and I intend to do so. Besides, this is far less dreary and more educational than the hogwash they feed us in school."

She gave a malicious smirk and held up a dress from what looked to be the thirties. "See? History hands on. 1930's the world was in a depression and the abandon of the twenties became less chic and more conservative." Her smirk grew and she picked up a striped shirt. "Art class: contrasts and the use of negatives to create alternating images." She put the shit back and went on through the racks browsing casually wishing that the older sister would just lay off the superiority act.