Hey Mr Rockstar Meet Miss Trouble

Chapter 16

"Please wipe that evil smile off your face," Emily shivered, "It scares me."
I tried to make a poker face but failed miserably. "You what day it is today."
"It's the day of the dead," Melissa added gleefully.
"How I despise this day," Emily said grimly, "there's this feeling of doom which just hangs all around."

"Hey, there's a ball at Ivy," Melissa stated incredulously. "How can you not look forward to this night?"
Ivy was a fancy hall Kelson Academy had reserved for special school events. All events held at Ivy were apparently something to be super excited about. It wasn't really the party i was excited about. Halloween just had that kind of affect on me. It was a day I could let out my inner evil genius without getting into much trouble.

"What are you going to dress up like?" I asked my roomies. "I think I will dress up as some famous serial killer...i haven't decided which yet though.

"Ummm sweety..."Melissa said in worried tone. "We aren't supposed to dress up like that."

"We're supposed to dress up...but in formal gowns and tuxedos. We always have a masquerade ball on the Halloween night at Ivy, otherwise known as the Halloween ball." Emily explained.

"We aren't asked to bring along a date to dance with because we're given a number at the enterance. Which ever guy has the same number ends up as your date. Since everyone had their mask on usually no one comes to know who your date was all through the night. It is all pretty mysterious and romantic,' Melissa smiled.

"Mysterious and romantic my ass," I sputtered. "I don't want to wear a stupid gown and go on a stupid dance on HALLOWEEN of all days. I want to wear a scary costume and scare people. I don't even own a gown!" Actually I did own a couple of gowns but they were in the back of my closet. My parents had gifted me gowns on a few occassions praying I would wear them but I never really did. While packing my clothes for school Tiana had come across them and forced me pack them. "You might just need them sometime...just keep them in case you have an emergency," she had said. To which I had replied, "Yes Tee, there will be emergencies at times which will require for me to wear gowns. NOT." She didn't listened to me and arranged few of the gowns neatly in my bag.

"You can't skip the ball," Emily said after reading my expression. "Mrs Strange will see to that."

"We'll have fun Chas! You could always play pranks on people later at night," Melissa tried to cheer me up.

"Oh no don't give her any ideas," Emily grumbled. "And I've seen some gorgeous gowns in the depths of your closet. You can't hide something like that from teenage girls."

"I'll not wear a gown...Mrs Strange should be thankful that I'm going to the ball at all," I frowned.

Emily laughed, "Mrs Strange will dress you up herself if she sees you wearing anything else. And it won't be pretty...just a clue Chas...the drama class stocks up a lot of gowns. I'm betting you wouldn't want to be caught in those gowns.

***

"I have to wear a gown and now this?" I narrowed my eyes and examained my friends. It seemed they were going a little soft in the head.

"You need to have a proper hairstyle to go with the gown," Emily said. "This is so not going to go with that stunning red gown of yours," Emily looked at my cool spiky hair with disdain.

"It's nice no doubt," Melissa said all of a sudden after seeing how angry I seemed. "But it won't go with the dress."

We were lazing around in the school lawn after lunch. It seemed Emily and Melissa had already made plans for rest of the day. Couldn't a girl just get on a scary costume and roam around on Halloween? What was all this Masquerade thing all about? Trust Kelson Academy to take such a kickass holiday and make something totally boring aout of it.

"A stupid dress, a stupid dance and now a stupid hair salon! Is there anything else I should know about?" I asked irritated.

"We're going to get mani and pedi too, I think you should get them too," Emily said after taking a look at my nails. "All that nail biting isn't helping you know."

"You are worse than Tiana!" I grumbled. Wasn't I trying to be a model student? I had to keep my temper in check. I could always have fun later at night.

"Whatever...when do we have to go for this?" I asked grudgingly.

"In next ten minutes or so," Melissa streched herself.

"Ten minutes? Doesn't the ball start at seven?" I asked confused.

"Yes and it's three already...This stuff takes time."

"Oh God what have I got myself into," I smacked my hand on my face.

***

"When was the last time you got a manicure?" the lady at the salon asked me with a snooty expression as she did manicure mumbo jumbo on my hands.

"Hmmm let me think....I don't know...like never!" I was tired of the snarky salon people. They looked at me as if I had fallen off a strange far off planet.

The hairstylist clicked his tongue while exmaining my hair strands. Then he said, "I'll put your hair all up in a bun so that people will be able to see your pretty face.

"Yeah, yeah do whatever," I said in a disinterested voice and got involved in reading the Music Weekly magazine. I didn't really care about what he did with my hair.

"Wow! You look amazing!" Melissa exclaimed after the hairstylist was through me.

"You do look nice," Emily smiled pleased.

I mumbled an uncomfortable thanks and complimented them as they did look incredible. Melissa had got her hair curled and Emily had got then tied in a complicated looking braid adorned with hair accessories. I think it was called a fishtail braid because I had seen Tiana make one with her hair once.

"Now we girls just need a finishing touch," Emily's smile broadend.

"Yes Emily," the hairstylist, who's name I think was Ned said. "I will just send over Jenna, Kaylie and Mandy to do your make-up."

"I gave a sweet smile to the two conspirators, "You know I'm going to kill you don't you?"

***

"I can barely recognize you," Emily said astonished as I stepped into my red gown. My parents had gifted me that particular gown on my sixteenth birthday. This was the first time I was going to actually wear it.

"I hope that is a compliment," I scowled. I had been in a rotten moos since morning and had spent the whole day complaining about the injustice bestowed upon me.

"It so is a compilment," Melissa grinned while straightening her lacy sea green gown.

"Don't expect compliments from me in future but you both look fabulous," I said grudgingly.

"Well this means a lot," Melissa laughed.

Emily stopped checking her mauve gown in the mirror and walked towards me with something in her hand. "Take this."

"What's this?" I asked taking the mask from her hand."

"A mask Chas. You can't really go to a masquerade ball without a mask. No one should know who you really are except for us. That is the part of the mystery and charm," Melissa said dreamily.

"I don't know about the mystery and charm but I certainly don't anyone to know that this is me because Chas won't be caught dead in these clothes." With that I put the mask over my eyes.

***

Author's note: Get ready for the real fun to begin in the next chapter :D