Tattered Beauty (Watty Awards 2011)

Chapter 11

            Laura. Crap. I wished I had not treated her so poorly, as she was now making the dress that would make or break my night. Karma, I know. Lily stood with a tape measure in hand. “I need to measure you.” We probably stood there for an hour, measuring and being measured.

            “Sorry,” I yawned. “But I think I am going to go to bed.”

            “Alright. You’ve had a long day. I’ll get you up in the morning so we can go look at fabric.”

            “Mkay. Night.”

            “Au revoir, ma fille.” She dismissed in French.

            In my room I tossed and turned. I felt guilty—really guilty. Kelsey was probably worried sick about me. No, maybe not. I had left her alone in the woods after all…I needed to apologize to her tomorrow.

            Daniel’s words rang in my head. “Bring whoever you want. My mom loves a good party.”  That was it! I could take Kelsey as a guest to the party as an apology! Knowing her, she’d be jumping up and down and apologizing to me. Very well, I’d do that in the morning after I went fabric shopping. I hoped she would forgive me…

***

            I found her in the bathroom the next day in the afternoon. Actually, I cornered her in the bathroom. “Come on Kelsey, I said I was sorry!” I cried.

            “I don’t know…” She grumbled. She was conflicted. I could practically see the angel and devil on her shoulders, products of her conscience. The angel whispering for her to forgive me, because I was truly sorry; the devil telling her to forget about me and move along. 

            “Do you want me to beg?” I asked, dropping to my knees. The bathroom floor hadn’t been mopped in God knows how long. Knowing how much of a germaphobe I was, she did not take long to forgive me.

            “Fine, you are forgiven.”

            I grinned like a kid in a candy store. “Awesome! Now, have I got a surprise for you!”

            With the few dollars I had leftover from yesterday we took a cab over to Smash. “Why are we here?” Kelsey asked. “This is a pretty shitty surprise, honestly, considering we can’t even buy anything!”

            I giggled, knowing she was in for a shock. “My aunt actually owns this place. I think she might be able to hook us up with some costumes.”

            Kelsey looked excruciatingly confused and a little agitated. “Why do we need costumes, Hailey? We aren’t, can’t are unable to, go anywhere! Where are you going with this?”

            “False. We are going to Daniel’s parent’s tenth annual Halloween Masquerade Ball.” I revealed.

            I waited for her response. I saw the wheels turning in her mind, trying to process this information. Before long, I got the reaction I was hoping for all along. She jumped up into the air whilst yelling and flailing her arms. “Are you serious? You scored us an invite? No way!”

            “Daniel’s girlfriends always get invited. I want my best friend there, too! I’d rather be hanging with you at a ritzy party than snobbish celebrities whom I don’t even know.” I admitted. “I already told my aunt to design you a costume as well. I helped her.”

            “What am I going to be?” Kelsey questioned.

            “An angel,” I answered. Her face fell a little. “I know it doesn’t sound particularly thrilling, but let me show you the drawing!”

            We waved hello to the cashier, who recognized me, and let us down into the bowels of Smash where all the clothing was made. I found our costumes side by side at the sewing machines, two girls working on making the heaps of fabric two beautiful gowns. “This is mine,” I pointed to the drawing. “And this is yours.”

            Kelsey’s costume was made of lace, feathers, and satin. Instead of the everyday, run-of-the-mill angel white, I selected a rose color. It was very subtle and would play nicely with her blonde hair and tanned skin. It would start in a corset-like top which laced up in the back, and was covered in the lace and had a few feathers woven in. Then it flared out into a skirt coated with rose feathers. A matching mask was going to be created, as well as small wings to be attached to the back later. It made quite the statement.

            “I have a suggestion.” Kelsey said. The girl sewing stopped and peered up at her. “I love it so for, it’s gorgeous. But, maybe, could you add sleeves—lace sleeves and a collar?”

            The girl picked up her pencil and sketched long sleeves and a scoop neckline. “Like this?”

            “Perfect!” Kelsey cooed. She looked at me with a serious expression. “Are you sure you want to simply give this to me? I can give you what money I have, but it certainly won’t be enough. I feel bad just letting you hand over an obviously expensive costume to me for good reason. I don’t have to go to the party.”

            “No, no! It’s fine, really. If you didn’t go, you’d be wasting all this fabric anyway.”

            The girl sewing stood with her measuring tape in hand. Kelsey was forced to stand still as a statue for half an hour; at least she could do this faster than my Aunt Lily. When she wrapped the tape around her chest, she made a funny exhaling noise. Kelsey looked at her curiously. “I am, obviously, going to need to put a little more room in the top.”

            “Good plan.” Kelsey agreed.

            Before we knew it, the day was done. We roamed the streets until there was nowhere left to go but back to the shelter. I promised to stay there until the party. After all, I had missed the quality time I used to have with her.

            We climbed up onto the roof—it was only a story high, so not too dangerous—of Hillcrest. Kelsey and I stared at the stars, most hidden under thick smog, but a few shone through. Through my tiredness, I saw the symbolism. The stars represented dreams and the smog represented obstacles.  It showed me that just because something was in the way of me achieving my dreams; it would eventually clear away with a little hard work. I would shoot for the moon, and hope to land amongst the stars.