Metanoia: A Change of Heart

Chapter XXXII ~ Thonia

Make-up, hair spray and Elizabethan gown. Three major things I hated but had to wear for tonight. I had slept around three in the morning reading a book that I got hooked to that's why I just woke up with an empty stomach. The people at home seemed to forgot the party too because no one cared to wake me up.

"What time is it?" I yawned and saw my mother and Jude eating lunch.

"One-thirty," my mother answered. I cursed under my breath. "Why? Had a long dream, huh?"

I walked closer and set my own utensils to eat with them. "Nah, I have to go to a dance party tonight." I forked several slices of chicken fillets.

"Your gown was delivered here yesterday. Forgot to tell you," Jude said in his normal deep voice.

"Yeah, saw it last night." My stomach churned that's why I ate like a barbarian soldier.

"Did you call the parlor or salon that will fix your hair?" Mom checked. I cursed in my mind again and shook my head. Forgot to care about the dance. "Okay," she stood with her plate. "I'll call your Aunt. Maybe they can slip you a service schedule." She went to call in the living room.

"Will Jack be your date?" Jude asked.

"Nope," I said between chews. "My friend."

"Friend?" Jude sneered at me. "Is he that Joseph guy?"

I looked at him and knitted my brows."Joseph? It is Joshua. And he is not my date."

He finished his food and left his spoon and fork on the plate. "No? Well warn him that the next time I see him be prepared because he didn't become your date!"

I laughed to hide the pain again. "Seriously? It's no big deal." But in reality, it was.

Mom emerged in with the phone on one hand. "Sorry Thones, the salon is fully booked. Your Aunt said they couldn't reserve you an artist because most of them went to breaks. If you like we can search for available salons or I can do it myself."

"I can go there without make-up or simply tie my hair up." I was relieved by the message she delivered.

Jude cleared the table and washed the dishes. "Thonia, Grace is on her way here. She can make you up and fix your hair. She had a part-time job in a parlor last summer."

I nodded and went back to my room to take a bath. What would I do if I saw Josh and Christina?

Look away, of course.

But the pain could worsen every moment that it would be impossible for me to control even my disobedient heartbeat...

I washed my thoughts and imagined they were all drained down to the sewage system, away from me. Once I got out the bathroom, I checked my phone and saw Fredd's text and one missed call. Be there @ 5. See u! I wore a button-up shirt that could be easily removed later and shorts.

Grace came and fixed my hair first. Long wavy curls bounced as she knitted her eyebrows and leaned to study my hair do. She had a good hand that twirled and played all around my hair until it was fixed in a single bun with few loosed strands. Wow, she really had the ability like a professional.

"Your date will pick you up here?" She asked while adding final clips on my hair.

"Yes," I said.

"I remembered my supposedly first dance party. My mother wouldn't let me go because she said it would be hassle for her to pick my gown or fix my hair." I saw her faint smile from the mirror on my study desk. "That's why I swore to myself that I would study these things." She laughed lightly and reached for another compact mirror in her pouch to let me see my hair style.