Lost! (OPEN)

[Amazing Admin!]

Lizzie had managed to destroy two pairs of jeans to the point where they couldn't be fixed, even by an expert sewer. She saw no harm in this, she'd been allowed to play soccer at school. She usually would be told to go away, that she wasn't cool enough to play but everyday at school the past week she had been allowed to join in to the big game of soccer that happened at lunch every single school day. She wasn't going to say no to that, she also wasn't going to play soft. She was good at soccer and she played like the boys, getting covered in mud and destroying her clothes.

By Friday, there had been large holes in the knees of her jeans, the knees of both pairs, that were large enough that she couldn't continue to wear them. When Joel had seen the jeans, his face had been so shocked, Lizzie couldn't help but laugh. She'd laughed and made her big brother angry. He'd lifted his hand as if he was about to hit her but dropped it again as he had worked out what he was doing. Lizzie had stayed quiet after that and now she was with her brother, at the shopping center to go and buy a new pair of jeans. They didn't have enough money to buy another two pairs so Joel had told Lizzie that she was not allowed to play anymore soccer unless she was very careful not to destroy another pair of jeans.

Lizzie was going to be more careful from now on. She would not ever refuse the chance to play in the big soccer game at lunchtime at school.

The shopping center was large and truthfully, it was quite scary. Lizzie was not the biggest fan of shopping and she held onto her brother's hand tight to make sure she wouldn't get lost in the thick crowd that walk in both directions, getting smaller and larger as people walked in and out of stores. Even with the large crowd, Lizzie and Joel still were looked at with annoyed and sad eyes. They always got this, two kids walking around a shopping center alone was something that gained attention. Lizzie knew that attention was stupid though, her brother was far from the child he looked like.

Her brother was ten years old but he acted like he was at least in his mid-teens. He'd been looking after Lizzie since she had been a new born baby so it was expected that he wouldn't act like a kid. he'd been forced to grow up when he'd had to learn to feed Lizzie formula and change her diapers.

Lizzie was pulled into the second hand shop that sat at the back of the shopping center. The shop was old, run down but it was cheap so that was where both Lizzie and Joel got their clothing. Lizzie kept her head down, pretending that the old worn down carpet on the shops floor was interesting. She had a feeling she knew who was working in the shop today. The lady that liked to pinch Lizzie's cheeks. Lizzie shivered at the thought, she hated having her cheeks pinched like she was a baby.

She kept her head down still as Joel picked out a pair of jeans. She quickly tried them on and them came back out, giving them to her brother so he could pay for them. They fit, just a bit loose but she didn't want to spend anymore time in the run down shop. He paid for them then walked out the shop. Lizzie didn't get a chance to take hold of her brother's hand and very quickly he disappeared into the crowd.

She sat down on the bench just outside the second hand shop. A frown on her face but she knew Joel would find her soon. If she stayed near the shop she would be found. She would just have to wait until her brother noticed she wasn't following him.