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"Never have, never will," Brigit replied. "What's the big deal, anyway?"
"The big deal is you're a princess. Princesses wear heels," Kaitlynn replied, lifting a hand.
"Couldn't have put it better myself," Maria added, pointing her toe in a basic black Christian Louboutin stiletto.
"Besides, Brigit, look at all the beautiful shoes you're missing out on!" Soomie added, standing up and looking around, her palms up. "This place is roughly eighty--eight percent heels and only twelve percent flats."
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"It's practically a crime against fashion that you're excluding all these poor, poor shoes," Lexa said, holding the silver shoe up in front of her face and pouting at Brigit over the toe. "Come on, if you don't get these I'm going to have to buy them out from under you. I need a new pair of shoes for my date with Conrad tonight."
"You're going out with Conrad tonight?" Ariana asked, practically breathless.
Lexa blushed. "He's taking me to the opera," she said giddily. "How sophisticated are we?"
Ariana grinned. Lexa was clearly smitten. It was all she could do to keep from laughing in happiness.
"Good. Then you buy them," Brigit said, waving at the shoe dismissively.
"No way. I was only kidding," Lexa said. "You have to try them on."
"Ana? Help me out here," Brigit implored.
Ariana looked around at her friends--everyone but Kaitlynn-- their faces pleading.
"Why don't you just try them?" she suggested. "Let us see how bad the situation really is."
Brigit's shoulder's slumped. "Fine," she groused. "But if. . . no, when I break my leg, you guys are explaining it to my parents."
"Deal," Ana said.
"We need these in a six!" Lexa cried, corralling the nearest salesman before Brigit could change her mind.
Ten minutes later, Brigit was outfitted with the shoes. She sat on a leather chair and looked down at her feet.
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"My feet have never been so dressed up in their lives," she said with a smile.
"They are absolutely gorgeous," Kaitlynn said, hovering over her.
Brigit looked hopefully up at her. "You think?" she asked, moving her feet from side to side to inspect them from every angle.
"Without a doubt," Kaitlynn replied with a friendly smile. Ariana did her best not to gag.
"Okay. But you might want to stay out of my way," Brigit warned.
She raised her arms up to Lexa like a toddler asking to be picked up. Lexa clasped Brigit around her elbows and hoisted her from her seat. Immediately, Brigit's right ankle gave out. Her arms flailed, clipping Kaitlynn in the cheek, and she fell right back into her chair.
"Warned you," Brigit said moodily. Her face burned with frustration and embarrassment. "Sorry, Kaitlynn."
"It's fine. I'm fine. Don't give up on my account. You can do this, Brigit," Kaitlynn said, spreading it on a tad thick, in Ariana's opinion.
"Come on. Let's try it again," Ariana said, moving forward to help Brigit this time.
She tugged Brigit to her feet and together they walked slowly around the myriad shoe boxes and discarded heels to a more open area of the shop. Brigit picked her way along as if she were walking on tiptoe through a field of glass. Every few steps, her ankles wobbled as if they were made of marshmallow rather than bone and cartilage. But Ariana kept a firm grip on the girl, and they were able to traverse the store without anyone getting injured.
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