When You Wish upon a Rat by Maureen McCarthy

it.
    Within minutes, they were all heading toward her with armfuls of clothes and shoes and pointing her toward the dressing room.
    â€œHere you go.”
    â€œThis goes with that,” Katy said, holding out a pair of bright red cutoffs and a tiny striped, frilly top. “And here are the shoes.”
    Ruth could see immediately that the things they were choosing were all wrong. Nice things, but not her style. They were trying to make her look like them! But she took the first pile of clothes and disappeared behind the curtain.
Relax,
shetold herself. Her friends were helping her choose her new wardrobe, that was all. Maybe she did need to loosen up a bit about what she thought was right for her.
    Ruth looked at herself in the mirror and tried to get the glum expression off her face.
    The first outfit she tried on was a long black T-shirt dress with a red belt. The other girls insisted that it went with shiny, flecked tights that Ruth didn’t much like, but she hardly dared to say so because when she came out of the dressing room they were all so admiring. Bonnie brought over a little pink jacket, to go over the top, and Lou started pinning Ruth’s hair back with some iridescent clips she’d found. Bonnie ran back for a different pair of shoes.
    â€œYou like it?” Katy wanted to know.
    â€œI guess so,” Ruth said uncomfortably. She looked fashionable, she supposed, and that was the point …
    â€¦
wasn’t it?
The trouble was that she could hear Mary Ellen’s voice in her head. She tried to push it away, but it kept butting in.
You have a natural inclination toward an interesting, arty look, so go with that, Ruthie. You have taste, so use it.
    â€œIt’s great,” Lou declared. “You’re so lucky to be tall. You look at least fifteen!”
    And so it went on. By the time Ruth was on to her tenth outfit, the changing cubicle was beginning to feel like a prison, cramped and claustrophobic and hot. She hated seeing all sidesof herself under such harsh light. Her thighs were too white and her undies were worn and grubby. Her face stared back at her, so serious and dour.
I’m ugly,
she thought.
I’m too skinny and my ears are too big.
“Thanks, but I’ve tried on enough,” she shouted when Katy pushed yet more clothes through to her.
    â€œPlease, I don’t want to do this anymore.”
    The excited chatter subsided into a sudden hushed silence.
    â€œAre you okay in there?” Lou’s voice was sharp.
    â€œYeah.” But Ruth didn’t feel okay at all. She felt as if she was going to be sick. “But I think I might have drunk too much Coke or something,” she mumbled feebly.
    â€œOne last top!” Bonnie pleaded. “You gotta try this!”
    A weird kind of anger surfaced inside Ruth, and before she could caution herself, the words jumped from her mouth.
    â€œNo!” she snapped. “I’ve had enough.”
    â€œOh, come on, you’ll love it.”
    â€œNo!”
    â€œBut why?”
    â€œI’ve had enough!” Ruth shouted.
    Trembling slightly, she climbed back into her own clothes and opened the door. The four of them were standing there waiting. They stared at her in unforgiving silence.
    â€œWhat is
up?
”
    â€œNothing.” Ruth was wretched with confusion.
    Lou rolled her eyes and sighed. “We’re only trying to help!”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œYou have all this money and—”
    â€œI know!” Ruth hardly dared speak. “But I …”
    â€œDo you want to shop on your own?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWe thought you
wanted
to do this!”
    â€œWe thought it would be fun!” Bonnie wailed.
    â€œI know …”
    â€œDo you want to do this with your
mother?
” Lou asked.
    â€œNo!”
    â€œSo what’s the problem?” she demanded.
    â€œNo problem.”
    The clothes were wrapped and bagged in heavy silence. Ruth