Work Text:
Because We're Best Friends
Ring-a-ling-a-ling! sounded the bell, signalling the end of Trixie's boring schoolday. Her teacher dismissed the class, so she haphazardly stuffed her History exercise book, planner and pencil case into her rucksack, and swung it onto her back. She waved goodbye to her friends in the classroom, and wriggling to get her bag comfortably on her back, she left the building. There was Stephanie, leaning against the gate, seeming to be waiting for someone. Trixie approached her.
"Heya Pinkie!" she greeted. "Who you waiting for?"
"Oh, waiting for you actually! I needed to ask you something." Stephanie giggled.
"Yeah?"
"I'm going shopping tomorrow, but Uncle Milford doesn't know a thing about clothes, so if you're free, could you come with me? We're leaving at about twelve I think." she requested.
"Oh, uh, yeah I'm pretty sure I can. But I don't know a thing about clothes either!" Trixie said worriedly.
"Well then, come with me because we're best friends?" Stephanie asked.
"Yeah, yeah. Can't say no to you, Pinkie." Trixie grinned happily.
"Okay, well, I've got a dentist appointment scheduled in fifteen minutes so I've gotta go find my uncle. See you tomorrow!" Stephanie said, waved, and scurried off down a road which Trixie could clearly see the bright red car that was obviously Milford's at the end of. She waved back, although she knew her friend couldn't see her, and headed down the opposite road to find her mom. She always parked in the exact same place, so it wasn't difficult, but Trixie often wished she could just walk on past it. She opened the back seat door and got in. Her mom turned around in her seat to face her.
"Homework?" she asked.
"Math and History." Trixie responded. Her mom revved the engine, turned out of the parking space and began driving down the road.
"Did you get into any trouble?" she asked.
"No, mom." Trixie lied. She had gotten into trouble, she'd kicked a kid in the shin playing soccer and he'd told a teacher. Which was unfair, to say the least, but her mom wasn't the one she'd complain about it to.
"Glad to hear." she replied, turning the car around a corner.
"Hey mom, can you drive me to Lazy Town at twelve tomorrow? I'm going shopping with my friend." Trixie asked, knowing that a shopping trip would take longer than she'd dare sneak out for.
"Tomorrow is Saturday, yes?" her mom checked.
"Yeah." Trixie confirmed.
"Since it will be a Saturday you may go if all of your homework is done." she answered bluntly.
"Uh, thanks." Trixie replied. They sat in silence for the rest of the short journey, and she jumped right out of the car as soon as it pulled up at their small house. Her mom strode up to the door and unlocked it, stepping in and leaving it open for Trixie to follow. She did so, and closed it firmly behind her.
"Going to do my homework now, mom." she said. "It'll probably take two or three hours." This wasn't in any way true, she just needed her mom to stay away from her room for enough time to do the homework, sneak out to Pixel's house, play some videogames, and get back.
"Good." Her mom nodded, and she went upstairs. She set her bag on her bed, took out pencil case and the books she needed to work from, and put them down on the table. History first. She opened the book, and took out the question sheet she was supposed to have glued to her page, but hadn't. She began on the extremely simple questions, and breezed through them in ten minutes. Onto the math. This was a little trickier, Trixie was far better with words than with numbers, but she still got through the twelve three-part questions that had been set in twenty minutes. All done. She stood up, pushed her desk chair behind her, and opened up the window. In a moment she was through, and sitting on the jutting-out piece of roof just under her window. She peered around. It seemed safe enough to drop.
~
"That one there." Trixie instructed, pointing to Stephanie's house. "You can just drop me off, it's fine."
"No, I will meet your friend before I let you run off with her." her mom said. Trixie sighed. She really didn't want to deal with this right now. Or ever. The car pulled up, and they both got out. Trixie went to knock at the door, but her mom got there first and knocked herself. Stephanie answered.
"Hi Trixie!" she chirped happily.
"They are calling you Trixie still, are they?" her mom asked her.
"They have been for two years, mom! You know I hate being called Bella!" she replied angrily. "Heya Steph! Uh, mom, this is Stephanie, Stephanie, this is my mom." she introduced.
"Hi Trixie's mom!" Stephanie replied. Trixie picked up a trace of cheek in her tone, she'd probably noticed her mom's dislike of the name Trixie and was using it like that deliberately.
"Hello, Stephanie. Are your parents home? I would like to talk to them before leaving Bella here with you." she asked. Stephanie bit her lip, eyes darting around nervously.
"She lives with her uncle right now." Trixie said, thinking quickly.
"Could I talk to your uncle then, Stephanie?" her mom asked.
"Y-yeah. He's in the living room, I think..." Stephanie mumbled, stepping back to allow Trixie and her mom to enter. She took a deep breath, probably to calm herself, before calling, "Uncle! Trixie's mom wants to talk to you!" Milford came bumbling out of the door, and up to them.
"Oh, hello there! I'm Stephanie's uncle! You must be Trixie's mother!" he introduced himself jovially.
Her mom glared at her slightly, and turned her attention back to Milford. "I'm Bella's mom, yes." she replied. "Could I talk to you for a moment?" Milford nodded, and headed with her into the kitchen.
"Your mom is kind of scary, Trixie!" Stephanie giggled when the two grown-ups were firmly out of earshot.
"Yeah, she can be." Trixie replied. "This is the first time you've met her, right?" she asked.
"Yep." Stephanie answered, adding "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, why does your mom call you Bella?"
"My full name is Trixibella, it's a stupid name I know, and my mom made me go by Bella until about two years ago when I finally just, I don't know, snapped, I guess." Trixie explained.
"That makes sense. But why did she call you that if she doesn't like the 'Trixie' bit?" Stephanie probed.
"It was my dad's idea. Or maybe my mom just says that because she doesn't want me to know she used to like it. It doesn't really matter." Trixie expanded further. Stephanie nodded. Just then, the adults stepped back out into the corridor from the kitchen.
"Right, girls, are we ready to go then?" Milford asked.
"I left my bag upstairs!" Stephanie exclaimed, "I'll go get it, one sec!" She sped up the stairs to her room.
"Since you will be shopping, I am giving you ten dollars spending money. Buy yourself a party dress or something like that, you have grown out of your old one." Trixie's mom told her sternly, pressing the money into her daughter's hand. She scowled slightly and closed her hand around the notes. Stephanie slid back down the stair banister just then, bag on one shoulder.
"Careful, Stephanie!" Milford called, but she had been, and cautiously lifted a leg over, exhilarated but unharmed. Trixie's mom looked at Stephanie a little disapprovingly, and said;
"Well, I will have to be off now. Have fun with your friend, and be back before dinner."
"I will. Bye mom." Trixie replied. Her mom opened the door and left, and she breathed a sigh of relief that she, along with all the pressure she brought with her had finally gone.
"Stephanie has requested we have a picnic for lunch, we've packed both ham and salad sandwiches, is that quite alright with you Trixie?" Milford asked her kindly.
"Oh, yeah. I'll have ham, thanks." she replied.
"Good, good. Let's go then!" he said. The three of them left the house, Milford closing the door behind him, and they got into the car. "Would you like to listen to some music, girls?" he asked.
"Oh yes, pop please!" Stephanie grinned, "Or do you want to listen to something else, Trixie? I don't mind."
"Yeah, pop's fine. I don't really have a taste in music." she responded. The mayor pressed a few buttons, and the radio turned on, playing a quirky pop song Trixie didn't recognise.
"I love this song!" giggled Stephanie cheerfully, bopping her head to the beat and humming along. "What's your favourite song, Trixie?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm not really that into music." she answered quickly.
"That's okay, just wondering." Stephanie replied and resumed her cutesy half-dancing and humming. The song was catchy, Trixie couldn't deny that, and as the chorus rolled around a third time she found her own head nodding along to the bubbly beat.
"This song's not half bad, actually," she found herself saying, "what's it called?"
Stephanie abruptly stopped humming. "Uh, Glitter Kisses I think." she told her dubiously.
"I like it less already. Sounds super girly." Trixie scoffed.
"Well, you shouldn't just change your mind on this just because it 'sounds girly'!" Stephanie protested. "Just because you're not a girly person, doesn't mean you can't like a girly song!"
"I guess..." Trixie trailed off, not wanting to spoil her tough reputation for a song she thought was just pretty good.
"It's up to you!" Stephanie encouraged.
"Okay, okay. It's not a big deal." Trixie said.
"We're almost there, children! You can see the mall and parking-lot out of Stephanie's window!" Milford told them, turning around in his seat to face them as best as he could whilst still driving. They both glanced out the window, and sure enough, a pale grey square-shaped building was coming into view and approaching rapidly. Within a minute they were at the base of the parking lot, and heading towards an opening a few rows of cars away. Milford parked the car and got out, saying, "Stay in here, girls, I'm just going to get a card to pay for the parking. I won't be a minute." and trotting towards the corner of the parking-lot ground floor.
"What else've you brought for the picnic Steph?" Trixie asked.
"Oh, um, there are carrot and cucumber sticks, and apples of course, and I think Uncle Milford might have snuck in some cookies!" Stephanie answered, adding, "There might be some stuff I've forgotten, but yeah."
"Cool." Trixie replied, and just then Milford returned from his trip, waving the parking card to show them. He put it on top of the dashboard, and the two girls got out of the car.
"Where to first, then?" he asked them cheerily.
"Let's see..." Stephanie said, drifting into thought. "Maybe we could go to whatever simple chain store this mall has? There's usually a pretty good range of stuff in places like that." she asked.
"I think there's one like that quite near the entrance, actually, should we go have a look?" Milford asked, confirming.
"Yeah!" Stephanie grinned, "Maybe we'll find something Trixie, too!"
"Mhm." agreed Trixie, and the mayor led the way out of the parking lot and into the brightly lit, off-white mall. They entered a smart looking, brighter white shop, full of sassily posed mannequins and racks of clothes. Milford pointed to some lettering by the stairwell.
"It says just there that children's clothing is upstairs." he let them know, already heading toward where he was pointing. The girls scurried after him, and up the stairs. The children's section was a haven of bright colours and funky patterns, which Trixie knew was right up Stephanie's street. She ran happily over to the feminine side and eagerly perused the dresses and t-shirts hung up by the wall. Trixie followed after her, slower as she wasn't near as interested, but still wanting to stick with her friend.
"This is cute!" Stephanie squealed, showing Trixie a white top with shiny pink lettering on it. "What does it say?" she asked.
"It says 'LIVE LIFE IN ALL CAPS!!', and yeah, it's pretty cute. It'd suit you!" Trixie said, smiling.
"Ooh! I like it!" Stephanie squealed again, and folded it over her arm to save it. She continued browsing the clothes nearby, and Trixie turned around to see if she could find anything she liked herself. She did have spending money after all, and it wasn't like she was actually going to buy a dress like her mom had suggested. She spotted a pair of pale-wash dungarees in the sale and picked it off the rack. She tapped Stephanie on the shoulder to get her attention.
"Hey, you think these would suit me?" she asked.
"Definitely!" Stephanie affirmed.
"And look, it's my size!" Trixie said, checking the tag.
"How much is it, though? It might be too much."
"Oh, um-" Trixie paused to scrutinise the tag, "Twelve dollars. Never mind." she said, motioning to put it back.
"But it's in the sale..." Stephanie pondered, stepping over to have a look herself, "Turn the tag over a sec?" she requested. Trixie did so, and sure enough, it said 'REDUCED TO $8.00' in big white letters, over the red side.
"There's a sale price, look!" Trixie told her.
"Knew it!" Stephanie exclaimed happily. She had two more t-shirts, and a pair of grey leggings over her arm, and proclaimed herself done to Milford, who had been standing awkwardly by them the entire time.
"Lovely!" he proclaimed, adding, "I think the changing-rooms are just over there, if you want to try your things on!" Stephanie nodded, and headed over, Trixie tagging close behind. They both went into separate stalls, since there were enough open, and Trixie put the dungarees on over the top she was already wearing. The legs were a little skinnier than she would have liked, but they still fit relatively well and she stepped out of the stall to show her friend.
"Yeah, they really do suit you!" Stephanie giggled. She had tried on the grey leggings, with a washed-out neon pink t-shirt herself. "Do you think this is a good top? I picked three, and uncle says I can get two of them, since next we're going to the accessories store."
"Yeah, it's nice," Trixie said, unsure, "but I don't know that much about clothes, or what's nice and what's not. Let's see the other two?"
"One sec, I left them in the stall-" Stephanie told her, taking a step back in, and a moment later, reemerging holding the same white t-shirt with pink lettering, and a pale blue blouse with pink and white flowers. "Here, these two. Which ones are best, d'you think?" she asked, holding them up to display them to Trixie.
"Hm. The one you're wearing, and the white one, I think would probably suit you better. But I don't know, you should probably choose for yourself." Trixie advised.
"Well, I'll try the white one on then!" Stephanie decided, and went back into the stall. Trixie did the same, and got back changed into the clothes she'd come in wearing. After a minute or so, Stephanie popped out of her stall, wearing the second t-shirt.
"Oh yeah, definitely this one." Trixie confirmed.
"Yeah, I really like it too!" Stephanie agreed, giving the outfit a twirl. "I'll try on the blouse now." she said, and went back into the stall again. Trixie waited one minute, two, and Stephanie finally stepped out of the stall a third time, blouse buttons all done up properly.
"Uhh-" Trixie mumbled, unsure of what to say. She didn't want to flat-out tell her friend that the pale blues and pinks looked plain terrible with her shock of bright pink hair, but it really did look plain terrible.
"Yup. It sucks, right? There is a mirror in there." Stephanie laughed, thumbing towards the stall.
"I know, I just didn't want to say it, in case you liked it..." Trixie mumbled.
"That doesn't sound like the Trixie I know!" Stephanie teased. "You're usually right on with the insults!"
"Yeah, but, well... you're my best friend, see, and I don't want to be mean to you or anything, that's all." Trixie explained nervously.
"Thank you!" Stephanie smiled. "I'll go get back changed, then, and we'll go find my uncle." she added, and went back into the stall a final time. After just more than a minute, she was back out, leggings and two t-shirts over one arm, and holding the blouse, on a hanger, in the other. They left the changing rooms, and standing just outside, waiting for them, was the mayor.
"Are we ready to pay then, children?" he asked.
"Oh, yeah. We're going to the accessories shop after this, right?" Stephanie asked back.
"Yes, of course Stephanie!" he told her. The three of them made their way over to the till, and handed the blouse Stephanie didn't like over to the cashier to put back. Trixie got out her $10, and paid for her dungarees, getting $2 change, then Milford and Stephanie paid for her t-shirts and leggings. They put it all into a bag, and left the store.
"Oh, that shop over there is accessories! There was one in the mall I used to go to." Stephanie exclaimed, pointing.
"We going in then, Pinkie, or are you just gonna stand there pointing?" Trixie joked.
"Of course not, let's go!" she replied. They approached the storefront, and pushed open the door. Trixie hated shops like these. The oppressive atmosphere of enforced femininity was choking, the normally just annoying boy-band music playing muddled with her thoughts. She pushed her eyes shut, calmed herself as best she could, and opened them again, cautiously. See? she told herself, Just a shop. No worse than anywhere you've been before. It's just a shop. Just a shop. She blinked again. It was just a shop.
"You okay, Trixie?" she heard Stephanie say, hand on her shoulder comfortingly.
Trixie took a deep breath out. "I-I'm fine." she told her, bravely.
"That's good. You looked a bit freaked out, is all." Stephanie said. "I know you don't really like makeup, but I'm going to go have a look at some, so if you want to help, you can!" she offered.
"Oh, sure." Trixie agreed, walking over to the wall covered in cheap kids' makeup. "It's not like I'm going to find anything to buy myself with the, what, two dollars I have left."
"Well, you could look in the sale!" Stephanie suggested.
"And buy what? Nail polish? A headband? I don't really need anything in here." Trixie replied.
Stephanie nodded. "Fair enough." she said, and resumed her browsing of the limited stock of makeup. Trixie picked up a blue-coloured eyeshadow palette from a selection that didn't look quite as tacky as the rest.
"This might be nice," she suggested, holding it up.
"Ooh!" Stephanie squealed. "I like it!" She took it from Trixie, and continued to browse. She ended up selecting, with a surprising amount of guidance from Trixie, two pots of nail-polish in shades of pale pink, a tacky 'bright pink' lip-gloss that Stephanie had her heart set on, although Trixie thought it would probably show up clear, a brown eyeshadow palette, and of course the blue one. The two scampered over to the mayor, who was waiting for them by the till, to show off their finds.
"That's lovely, Stephanie!" he said. "Aren't you going to get anything here, Trixie?"
"I doubt there will be anything two dollars or less, honestly." she replied.
"Look!" Stephanie piped from a few feet away, "Some badges, and they're only $1.50!"
"Let's see?" Trixie asked, walking over. She peered at them. Six badges, reading; 'Sweet!', 'PUNK ROCK', a little picture of a crown, 'Whatever', a cute cartoon kitten, and 'UNIQUE' respectively. "Huh! They aren't that bad, actually. Sure, I'll get them!" she decided.
"Great!" Stephanie said, and they went back to the till, paid, and in not very long at all, were back at the car. They put the bag inside, and took out the picnic basket.
"Where are we going?" Trixie asked her friend as they left the parking lot again, Stephanie carrying the basket.
"To a park near here, I've been once before, there's a picnic area. And a playground!" Stephanie explained excitedly.
"Oh, cool!" Trixie grinned. It only took about five or so minutes to get there, not near as long as Trixie would have expected, and they sat down on a designated picnic bench. Stephanie put the basket on the table, and took out the contents.
"You wanted ham, right Trixie?" she asked.
"Yup."
"How many?"
"Uhh... two?"
"Okay!" Stephanie confirmed, and delicately placed two ham sandwiches, a cookie, an apple and some carrot and cucumber sticks.
"I don't like cucumber," Trixie said quickly.
"Oh! Sorry, I didn't know!" Stephanie apologised.
"It's fine." Trixie reassured, and Stephanie put them back. She made her own plate, then the mayor's, and they began to eat. Trixie nibbled on a carrot speedily, wanting to finish fast and get to the playground she could see over Stephanie's shoulder. It seemed Stephanie was doing the same herself, or maybe she was just really, really enjoying the food. That seemed more likely, if Trixie was to be honest. No-one really said anything for the next few minutes, they were all too busy eating really, until Stephanie had finished.
"Do you want me to wait for you?" she asked.
"Hhh?" Trixie sounded, mouth full of sandwich, which she chewed a moment and swallowed, "Uh, if you want?" she said.
"Sure!" Stephanie grinned, and put her elbows on the table, taking a second bite of her apple. Trixie took a sip of water, ate the small cookie in two bites, and got up, clutching the apple.
"Let's go play!" she said, excited.
"I'm over here if you need anything, girls!" Milford called to them as they ran off, biting into their apples. There was a gate a few feet away, but Trixie didn't care, even with the apple in her hand she hopped the short wooden fence, and sprinted towards the luckily empty round-a-bout. Stephanie made it over just after, and they held onto the poles on the side, running, and turning it round and round. Once they had decided it was going fast enough, they hopped on, gripping the poles for what felt to Trixie like dear life, although in reality it probably wasn't going near that fast.
"Wheee!" Stephanie squealed, laughing excitedly. "That was really fast!" she exclaimed, as it began to slow. Trixie nodded, and jumped off, running towards the shiny silver slide, biting into her apple on the way. She could hear her friend dashing after her, and upped her pace to beat her to it.
"I win!" she laughed, breathing heavily.
"No fair!" Stephanie laughed too, "I didn't know it was a race!"
"Well, sucks to be you then!" Trixie teased, and stuck her tongue out. She climbed the steps up to the slide, and sped down feet first. "Your turn!" she called up to her friend once she had hopped off the bottom. Stephanie nodded, and slid down after her, toes pointed.
"Swings?" she asked when both feet were back on the ground.
"Yeah." Trixie agreed, and they walked over, slow enough to catch their breath. They sat down, and Trixie immediately began swinging as forcefully as she possibly could, to get as much height as she could manage.
"Wow, Trixie! Good job!" Stephanie congratulated. She was swinging herself, in a far lower arc, and picked up the pace to match. In under a minute she had brought her arc up to Trixie's and they were swinging in unison. It was pretty fun, swinging up and down alongside her best friend in the mostly empty, mostly quiet park, giggling and chatting but not really conversing, and biting on their apples, cool September sun shining down on her face. This continued for ten, twenty minutes, before Stephanie leapt off mid-swing, landing daintily and safely on the ground.
"Where you going, Pinkie?" Trixie asked, slowing down her swing.
"I got bored, I'm going to the climbing-wall." Stephanie explained, turning to face Trixie.
"I can come with you, I'll probably get bored myself if you weren't here." she said, and jumped off herself. They ran to the climbing-wall, and Stephanie quickly scaled it. Trixie followed, but she was nowhere near as sure-footed and agile as her friend, and thus significantly slower. By the time Trixie's hands reached the top footholds, Stephanie had already been sitting on top of the wall for a good ten seconds. She quickly pulled herself up, embarrassed at her comparative inadequacy, and sat down next to her friend.
"Hello there!" Stephanie giggled as Trixie struggled up to her position.
"Hey." Trixie panted. "Nice view."
"Yeah. I can't believe I still have some apple left!" Stephanie laughed, taking a bite.
"Careful!" Trixie warned. "You'll fall off!"
"I know, I know. I'm fine." Stephanie said, taking the last bite of apple.
"Wait, wait. Did you just... eat the apple core? How? Why?" Trixie questioned, shocked.
"I don't know, I just do. A lot of people tell me it's weird, so I know most people don't, but I don't mind eating the cores." Stephanie explained.
"Yeah it's weird!" Trixie laughed. "But whatever, I won't judge your apple habits. We staying up here, then?"
"Let's stay a bit. I like the view."
"Same here." Trixie agreed.
"So..." Stephanie pondered, "when we get back to Lazy Town, do you want to do something outside, or what?" she asked.
"Uh, I guess we could just play some sport with the boys, like normal? If they want to, of course." Trixie suggested.
"Sure!" Stephanie affirmed. "Maybe we could play tennis?"
"I suck at tennis..." Trixie responded.
"That's okay! So does Ziggy!" Stephanie told her, trying to be reassuring.
"That's a bit mean, isn't it? That's my job!" Trixie replied.
"Oh no! I'm mean to Ziggy without realising sometimes, I don't know why. Thanks for pointing that out." Stephanie said, "We don't have to do tennis though, if you don't want to."
"Mhm." Trixie nodded distractedly.
"Gonna climb down now, it's getting a little bit painful up here, haha." Stephanie told her, beginning the descent.
"And by that you mean, 'I'm bored, come down with me, Trixie!'! I'm coming." Trixie laughed.
"Maybe!" Stephanie grinned back, and jumped to the ground, missing the bottom few footholds. Trixie followed quickly, and stood by her friend.
"You alright?" Trixie asked, since Stephanie had just jumped a good two or three foot.
"Ouch- I guess, but I landed a bit funny on my ankle. Should be fine, but that probably wasn't the best idea." she told her.
"Well..." Trixie began, "it looked cool, when you were jumping I mean."
"Yup, 'cause looking cool for a second or so totally makes up for a possibly twisted ankle." Stephanie laughed sarcastically.
"Should we go, then?" Trixie asked.
"Maybe we could swing for a bit first? We haven't been here that long." Stephanie suggested.
"People on them." Trixie informed, thumbing towards a mom pushing two kids on the swings.
"Never mind." said Stephanie, "Yeah, let's go." They left the playground, and walked back over to the picnic bench. "We're ready to go now, Uncle Milford!"
~
"Ta-da!" Trixie giggled, "You can look in the mirror now!"
"Yay!" Stephanie smiled, standing up and stepping over to the mirror. She put a hand over her mouth as she caught sight of her reflection.
"You like it?" Trixie asked. She really, really hoped she did, she'd put a lot of effort into it.
"Trixie, I love it! You should be a make-up artist!" she exclaimed, turning to hug her.
"Hey, careful!" Trixie warned, "You'll smudge it!"
"Oh yeah.." Stephanie realised, and stepped away cautiously, checking back in the mirror to see if anything had been messed with. It was intact, thankfully. "We need to go show the others!"
"Yeah!" Trixie agreed, and they went downstairs.
"We're just going outside, Uncle!" Stephanie called to him.
"Yes, yes, very good." Milford replied distractedly. They left the house, and headed to the sports field, where their friends would likely be.
"Hello Stephanie and Trixie!" Sportacus greeted as they approached.
"Hi Sportacus! Do you like my makeup?" Stephanie asked, twirling to show it off.
"It's great, Stephanie!" Sportacus congratulated, "But you're a bit young to be wearing that much makeup as a daily look, what's the special occasion?"
"Oh, nothing really. Trixie and I went shopping, and I bought some makeup, so she put it on me!" Stephanie explained, "So there's no special occasion, but I'm sure if there was I'd get her to do it again!"
"Trixie did it on you? That's great, Trixie!" smiled Sportacus, turning to her.
"Yup!" Trixie said, nodding. "I've never even done makeup before now, so I must be kind of good at it." She laughed.
"I wouldn't expect you of all people to be good at makeup." Stingy butted in. He'd obviously noticed they'd come outside and had decided to say hello.
"I know! Not going to use it on myself though." Trixie agreed.
"Well, you can practice on me whenever you want, Trixie! We're best friends!" Stephanie offered.
"Maybe I will, that was pretty fun." Trixie grinned slyly.
"Yay!" Stephanie squealed.
"What're you talking about, huh?" Ziggy asked, running clumsily over.
"Stephanie is showing off her new makeup to us, Ziggy." Sportacus told him, "Trixie did it! Isn't it good!"
"Wow, yeah! It's great, huh!" Ziggy laughed, looking wide-eyed up at Stephanie.
"Thanks!" Trixie laughed. "I'm over here, Ziggy." she teased, since he was still looking at Stephanie, not having turned to face her.
"Oh, sorry!" Ziggy apologised, "Yeah, um, it's great! You did a good job, huh, Trixie!"
"That's fine." forgave Trixie.
"Let's go play soccer, guys!" Stephanie suggested to all the friends she had gathered around her.
"Yeah!" the kids chorused, and Sportacus nodded along with them. They ran off toward the setup the others had been playing with before the two girls had got there, and Trixie kicked the ball up in the air, passing it to Sportacus by hitting it with her head. She'd never done that before!
This was going to be fun.