ALL THAT GLITTERS...

18.

I couldn't move.

The thirty-minute nap had done absolutely nothing to relieve me of my exhaustion. My hands and feet were sore from all the scrubbing that my poor body had gone through at the hotel spa. I had gone through a full body waxing, a mani-padi, hot stone massage and other weird things I had never seen before.

My eyes darted to the bedside clock, it was already past 5 pm. I groaned as I rolled over the bed in my fluffy white robe and dragged my body to the bathroom to freshen up. It only took about ten minutes to take a shower and choose a decent pair of undergarments.

I cringed deeply as my hands picked up a black lacy thong and a matching strapless bra. I didn't have any beautiful lingerie anymore, the few that I owned got burnt in the fire and i never replaced them because I never felt the need for it till today. If I was going to get into a beautiful dress, I might as well get into a decent pair of underwear.

Moments later I was opening the door for a team of what Selene called "beauty experts". A short, tan guy with the shiniest hair I had ever seen; a pair of tall blonde twins. With them was were huge trays and boxes of makeup, gadgets, a huge rack of clothes, perhaps and other things I couldn't even recognize.

"Good evening Miss Marche, my name is Juan and these are my assistants Kara and Kira. Miss Blackwell sent me to be your fairy godfather."

He finished as he waved off his hands dramatically to his assistants. It felt just like in the movies, so cliché and yet so exciting.

"Hello. And please call me Lisa." I said as I greeted each one with a handshake.

My body was pushed into the chair and the work began. Juan talked my ear off the entire time, he couldn't stop talking about the different models he worked with during fashion week in Milan or the terrible sense of fashion all his ex-girlfriends had. His assistants were a different story, they worked like robots, only talking when spoken to.

"Do you know what you want to do with your hair?" Kira or Kara asked. How did one even tell them apart?

"Whatever works I guess."

I wasn't an expert in the beauty department. Back in high school, I never needed to do much to get ready for a party or something of sorts, a blower and a curling iron would have done the trick.

After a full makeup face beat and a hair trim, I was finally ready to get into my dress, the dress I hadn't seen yet. One of the twins volunteered to help me out in the bathroom to get into the dress after I plainly refused to get dressed in front of Juan who in his words had said in a dismissive manner "nothing I haven't seen before."

I couldn't stop a huge smile from spread across my face when the bag was opened and an emerald green dress was revealed. It was the same dress that I had tried the other night at Selene's house, the dress that I had fallen in love with.

"It looks absolutely amazing on you."

The twin smiled widely as she helped me zip it up. The dress had obviously gone under some tweaking and adjustments, it still fit absolutely perfectly but some straps of the same colour had been sewn in with tiny gold details. A box of gold studded heels was passed my way, the gold that matched some of the details on the dress. Even with the heels on, the dress still covered my entire body and touched the floor, it gave me a little princess feel.

It felt like prom again only better.

When we walked out, Juan and the other twin couldn't stop gushing about the dress and how his skills had made me and I quote "like a true goddess."

"Before I forget, whilst you were getting dressed, something came for you." The other twin passed me a black suede box with a note attached to it. It read:

Wear your hair up.
~ S

Inside the box was the most beautiful hairpiece I had ever seen, my eyes almost bulged out at the sight of it.

There were tiny emerald stones that matched my dress and other diamond and gold like detailing crafted beautifully onto the piece. Beside it was a pair of earrings of the same design, I had brought my own pair but there were nowhere close in comparison to these ones. Even though I tried hard not to think about it, I wondered if the stones were real emeralds, the idea of walking around in thousands of dollars on me freaked me out.

"Hmmm, your boyfriend sent you that?" Juan asked, his short form trying to peep into the little note I was holding. Nosy man.

"No, Selene did. She is too generous." I said, letting the twins lead me to the chair to help me with restyling my hair.

I watched in the mirror as Juan release a boisterous laugh.

"You're more clueless than a newborn baby. This is definitely the works of a man, an admirer maybe. A man who knows what he likes and he likes you with your hair up, and the initial there isn't something a friend of yours would put." He explained.

The only other S I knew was Seth, but it couldn't be him, it wasn't. Was it?

No. No way, he didn't even know what I was be wearing. Selene must have sent the note and Juan didn't know anything.

It wasn't long before I was ready to go. The hairpiece was sitting perfectly holding my hair at the back with only a few strands falling out, that had been Juan's idea, he said something about it making me look regal. I looked at the final result of my transformation in the mirror and I was in awe, they had done a great number on me. I wasn't caked up, I still looked like me but better, more alive, more expensive.

I was suddenly a ball of nerves when I realised that just a few minutes from now I would be attending a fancy ball with Seth Blackwell. Although it wasn't a date, I had the same nervous breakdown teens had on their first date with a crush.

"Here, drink this. You look like you're about to have a serious nervous breakdown." One of the blonde twins handed me a glass of some brown stuff.

"What's this?" I asked her as I eyed the glass in her hand suspiciously.

"Whiskey. You look like you need it, to deal with the nerves. Just chug it down in one go and you'll feel a whole lot better." She told me, pushing the glass in my hands before turning her back from me to resume with her packing.

Any other day I would have gladly turned her down, I wasn't of legal age yet but I wasn't a stranger to alcohol. I downed the contents of the glass in one sip and I regretted it almost immediately. It was the most disgusting thing I had ever had, the burning in my throat had me reaching for a bottle of water, I made a mental note to never drink whiskey again.

The twin must have been right because a few minutes later I felt myself get calmer. A text message from Selene popped up on my phone, telling me it was time to go. With a newfound boldness, I followed Juan and the twins out the door, praying to whatever god was out there that I would not embarrass myself tonight.

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