One of the (many) benefits of mothers

One of the benefits to having a mother constantly worrying over you is that it does not go unnoticed when clothing gets too small. On the first chilly evening that inspired Katrina to change into pants so she could enjoy the outdoors without her legs freezing, her mother had noticed even before Katrina that the pants were several inches too short.

To Katrina's annoyance, she was then forced to try on every article of clothing and every shoe she owned. Having worn dresses and gone barefoot all summer, she hadn't realized how much she had grown. Her mother had then insisted on taking her “back to school” shopping. At the time Katrina had rolled her eyes and said that classes had already started and she couldn't very well go back to school when they already lived at the school, but in the end she actually ended up having a good time.

They had gone to Macy's and spent hours laughing in the dressing rooms, trying on anything that caught their attention from practical soft black pants to an outrageously glamorous (and expensive) evening gown that should have been worn by someone at least six feet tall. The sales associate had been very patient with them, and they had ended up taking home what seemed like an entire wardrobe's worth of clothing and several pairs of shoes.

Katrina was certain she wouldn't get much use out of the shoes, though. She preferred to go barefoot and avoided freezing her toes off by not going outside. The clothes, though, were all very comfortable. She had managed to avoid getting anything with uncomfortable seams, rough fabrics, or itchy lace that bothered her sometimes overly sensitive skin.

She'd also found a set of earrings. There were seven pairs that were identical in size and shape, but were all different colors. The small round balls had swirls on them that reminded Katrina of the different planets. Like a red one that looked just like Mars and a Blue one that reminded her of Neptune.

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Back in her room at the school, Katrina finished putting away her new clothes and sat down at her desk with the new earrings to begin an experiment that involved clear nail polish, her hairbrush, and lots of perseverance, patience, and concentration.