Dreaming pleasantly for a change, Sydney subconsciously savored his temporary break from his nightmares.

Unfortunately the blissful peace was not meant to last.

Sydney groaned as he felt someone shake him awake, and a feeble attempt to swat his assaulter was made but the mysterious attacker dodged his groggy efforts.

Sydney groaned and pulled his sheets over his head to hide himself.

"Well, that won't do." The voice declared, and Sydney felt his sheets yanked out off and he curled in on himself in an attempt to gather some of the comforting warmth that had been so harshly removed.

"Adam warned me you were grumpy in the morning."

Sydney grudgingly sat up, a slight blush gracing cheeks, hesitantly cracked his eyes open, "Michelle?"

The teen laughed and ruffled his hair playfully, "The one and only, Syd."

Sydney flopped back into bed, burying his head in his pillow, his irritated response muffled, "What the heck are you doing in my room?"

Michelle gave him an affronted look, "You've forgotten so soon?"

"Forgotten what?" he moaned.

She tittered merrily "Today is our girls day." her tone shifted to demanding, "We have a very busy day so I suggest you get moving."

Michelle's eyes narrowed to slits when she heard Sydney say something that sounded very close to 'give me ten freaking minutes.'

As she headed out the door, she warned, "You can have seven. After that, I'll get one of the guys."

...ooo000OOO000ooo...

Sydney was barely able to snag a kiwi before she was shoved into the brunette's car and they sped off in her car at speeds that were questionably legal.

Once they arrived at the mall, the teen was hurried into the first store. Thankfully, the heart pounding pace set that morning slowed to allow her time to pick out some clothes.

Sydney carefully reviewed a wide range if outfits before selecting two she enjoyed. Then she went to find a clerk to ask where the fitting rooms were. As she politely posed her query, Michelle approached her with a large pile of clothes clutched in her hands.

"Are you really going to try all of those on?" Sydney asked incredulously.

"What?" Michelle blinked and frowned, before laughing and shoving the pile into Sydney's arms "Oh no. These are for you."

She glared at her companion, "Thanks a bundle" she retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm, before she was pushed into the dressing room.

Sydney heaved a deep sigh and began changing into the first outfit, a sweet pink, short sleeved blouse over a white camisole with brown corduroy pants with white stitching.

She stepped out to find Michelle sitting just outside the changing rooms. She grinned and gave an approving gesture before motioning for her to move on to another set. Gradually the outfits blended into another with just the memory of the thumbs up or a frown of disapproval to guide her through the tremendous pile of clothes.

The stores that followed passed in a hurried blur of pants, shorts, sweaters, jackets, shirts, capris, blouses, camisoles, and coats until Sydney was ready to collapse of exhaustion.

To her relief, Michelle seemed to be satisfied with the clothing purchases made when she declared they were ready for lunch.
After getting their food (and laughing at Sydney's excitement at finding a kiwi-themed restaurant) Michelle sat daintily down. Sydney flopped into her seat.

Michelle smirked. "You seem tired."

Sydney sighed, "I'm not used to 'power shopping', but at least we're finished."

"Oh we aren't done yet." The brunette added, bending over to rummage through her bag for a list.

"What?" Sydney gaped in disbelief.

"We still have accessories." Michelle explained. She looked back up to see the horror struck face of Sydney, staring bleakly at her tormentor.

"I'm sorry."

"No, you aren't." Sydney bitterly retorted, awakened from her shocked stupor and temper returning with a vengeance.

"True, but I can pretend I'm sorry if it wo-"

"No. It would not." Sydney insisted, crossing her arms.

Michelle sighed, face almost guilty, if it weren't terribly obvious that she was fighting down a smirk.

"Well, Lili is coming in thirty minutes and she's not big on long shopping sprees, if it makes you feel any better." Michelle offered hopefully.

"Not really." Sydney grumbled.

Despite her initial misgivings, Lili's arrival had speed up the shopping process significantly and they were able to conclude their shopping endeavors at a somewhat reasonable hour. Well, reasonable for Michelle. Sydney firmly believed that an additional four hours of shopping was unnecessarily excessive. Lili seemed to be neutral on just about everything which was somewhat frustrating, but when she did form an opinion, things moved much faster.

...ooo000OOO000ooo...

"So what do you do exactly, at sleepovers?" Sydney asked as he set his borrowed sleeping bag down, rolling it out.

"Well," Michelle tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Paint nails, watch movies and talk. Did I miss anything Lili?"

Lili smiled angelically, "I don't think so." she responded sweetly.

"What do you talk about?" Sydney inquired, still puzzled.

Michelle shrugged, "Girl stuff."

"Like?" Sydney questioned, an edge of annoyance creeping into his voice.

"Let's play truth or dare!" Lili suggested, chirpily.

The other two teens stared at the unusually assertive statement from Lili.

"Sure," They slowly responded in unison, suspicion tinting their reply.

"I don't like conflict." Lili responded, by way of explanation, "May I go first?"

Michelle shrugged and Sydney nodded.

"Excellent. Alright, Truth or Dare, Michelle?"

"Truth."

"What is your most embarrassing experience?"

...ooo000OOO000ooo...

The dares grew progressively sillier from singing 'Row your boat' in opera style to licking the Bonnefoy's cat. The three collapsed into a pile of giggles every time a new challenge was issued, and as everyone relaxed Michelle slipped in her strategic question.

"So Syd," Michelle began in a sly tone that would have made Sydney suspicious had it been earlier than two in the morning. "Are you ticklish?"

"Umm..." Sydney muttered nervously.

"You know you have to tell the truth," Lili added helpfully, subtly winking at Michelle.

Sydney sighed, mentally surrendering.

"Yes."

"Let's test that theory!" Michelle exclaimed enthusiastically, leaning over to attack her victim.

Sydney squeaked and tried to flee but Lili held her while Michelle tickled, much to the brunette's delight Sydney appeared to be ticklish pretty much everywhere.

They eventually let her go and the questions progressed, leaving the little incident forgotten. At least that's what Michelle hoped happened as she slipped away to uphold her part of the deal with Adam.