First LOVE (rewriting and major editing)

Chapter 1 (Picture of Drew)

Valentina's P.O.V

The final countdown to my birthday has begun, starting today. Twenty-four hours till I turn sixteen which means one thousand four hundred and forty minutes till I shift meaning eighty-six thousand four hundred seconds till I will be able to find my mate.

What's a birthday party without the perfect outfit? Yes, nothing. After nearly flipping my whole room upside down in search for the perfect outfit and still not being able to find it, my older brother's mates were so kind as to agree to help me out with shopping for clothes, getting my hair done, manicures and pedicures, makeup and all that stuff and also give me tips on all the important stuff when I meet my mate.

We are currently at the mall, which was probably the most happening place in our little town. There were many brands there and so we were shopping for clothes, a party dress to be exact.

After seven shops and almost twenty dresses, I still had not found the perfect dress. Nothing really seemed to catch my eye. We had queued up at many different stores' fitting rooms just so I could try on different dresses but still, no perfect dress, the my utter disappointment. There were many very pretty ones but they were just, not me.

After revisiting all the shops that we had previously gone to and looking through all the dresses they had, I felt like giving up. I sat down on the bench, quite tired after walking around. Was my idea of the perfect outfit really that unrealistic?

"It's okay Valentina. You'll find your perfect dress soon. I can feel it in my bones." Valerie reassured me.

"Is my idea of the perfect dress really that unrealistic that all these shops that we went to did not even meet up to my standard?" I sighed.

"No idea of a perfect dress is too unrealistic. You'll find it soon. We promise. Now let's go. Your dress is waiting for you somewhere." Savannah said and motioned for me to stand up.

We walked around the whole mall, again. We started at the first level where the shops started and went around. When we reached the third level, I needed to use the bathroom urgently so I rushed to the corner where the bathroom was. When I came out, I realised that there was actually a dress shop located right next to the bathroom. It was rather hidden, unlike the other shops, which faced outside.

We haven't gone into this particular dress shop so I hurried over to the other three girls and asked them to come over. We went in and ended up being the only people there. The dresses sold there were beautiful and the prices were reasonable. Quite cheap even.

I looked through all the dresses and I was spoilt for choice. This shop had the dresses, which actually met my somewhat unrealistic expectations of dresses.

After searching and searching, I finally found it. The dress. It was perfect. It was a strapless shimmery lilac dress, which was absolutely gorgeous. I was so excited about it I quickly found my size, which happened to be the last piece, and went over to the dressing rooms to try it on.

I slipped it on and zipped it up before looking at myself in the mirror. It ended mid thigh and hugged my curves in all the right places. It was the dress.

"Valentina! Come out and show us." Elise called me from outside the dressing room.

I admired myself and how I looked before finally opening the door to show my three sisters in laws to be how I looked in the dress.

Their jaws dropped once they saw me and I was worried that maybe it did not look as good as I thought it did. After all your brain makes you see yourself as five times more beautiful than you really are.