LIRA: Book I

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: The Party

These past few mornings, Lira kept on having throbbing headaches every time she woke up. It was as if her head was being bludgeoned by a hammer. She started suffering the headaches the night she had those strange dreams. Like last night, she dreamed of the man in the forest. Only this time, he was sitting on a throne-like chair atop a dais like he was the lord of the land speaking in a language she couldn't comprehend to the men standing before him, who didn't share their lord's pale features. She tried to move, only to later realize her hands were bound behind her and she was kneeling in front of the dais. When the lord's pitch black eyes darted to her direction, and as a terrifying smile spread across his pale handsome face, Lira suddenly woke up with her head feeling so heavy and the constant blunt pain in her head wouldn't go away for several hours. It frustrated her that much that she was in a bad mood all morning

Lira spent the afternoon with Mari, Ian and Matt setting the music room for the party later that evening. Mari performed her best actress performance by ignoring Matt the entire time, to which matt didn't seem to mind at all. Everyone helped pushing the old grand piano to one side to provide a bigger space. When they finished making the arrangements, Mari handed Lira a black dress for her to wear.

"Why would I need to wear one? What I have on now is just fine," Lira said.

"But you need to wear this dress!" Mari insisted. "Besides, what would Matt think if he sees me all dolled up? He might think I'm trying to impress him."

Having no choice since Mari was so adamant about dressing her up, Lira complied with her friend and both of them changed their clothes inside the powder room across the music room. Lira hesitantly went out of the stall, looking and feeling uncertain with what she wore. It was a black sleeveless dress with green beads lining the V-neck. A thin brown belt was snugged on her waist; the sheer skirt flowed down almost past her ankles. The dress was beautiful beyond doubt. Only what made her uncomfortable were the slits on the sides, front and back that were thigh high. And although she was wearing a very short black skirt underneath the long see-through one, she still felt uneasy with her legs peeking out of the slits. "Are you sure this dress's okay?"

"Sure it is. Here try these shoes," Mari said, handing Lira a pair of black high heeled low boots. Mari then removed Lira's glasses. "You won't need this tonight."

"But I can't see clearly!"

"Yes you can." After Mari's fuss over Lira's hair ("We'll just twist it up loosely like this") and her squeaky clean face ("Really Lira, this is just light amount of make-up" and Lira retorting "Hey, red lipstick isn't light make-up"), Mari gave Lira a goofy grin.

"What? What did you do? I told you not to put make up on me," she grumbled.

Mari rolled her eyes and said, "Don't be such a grouch. Now turn around and look in the mirror."

She twirled around and her eyes went wide with surprise to see the girl in the mirror staring back at her. "Is that really me? I looked almost pretty," she said sheepishly.

"What are you talking about? You are pretty Lira, even without the make-up."

Lira smiled at her friend. "You look pretty yourself, too," she said, complimenting her Mari's royal blue chiffon tube dress with uneven hemline above the knees, accented by a thin gold band at the waist. Her light brown hair was flowing with soft curls spilling over her shoulders and back.

"We'll you better go to the party. I'll catch up with you guys after I do Yumi some extreme make over. Wonder what's her hair color is today?" Mari said before they parted ways.

Lira was equally flattered and embarrassed when Matt and Ian complimented her in their own way. Matt stood looking stunned, gawking at her only saying "wow" and Ian asking "Who are you and what did you do to my friend Lira?" Lira punched Ian lightly in his arm and pretended to look annoyed and said, "Cut it out you two. Jeez." But she couldn't help but to smile coyly before leaving the two.