Nick and Charlie

Chapter 27

"Come on May! We need to go so that we can get the dresses!" Grace says, exasperated.

It's Tuesday afternoon, and we are meeting Chelsea at my house, to then go to the city and buy our formal dresses.

May is taking ages to put her books in her bag, and I want to be home so that Chelsea isn't waiting too long.

When May finally gets her books in her bag, we run out of school and begin the walk to my house.

...

"Dad, Chelsea? We're home!" I call out as I open the door, and I hear dad call out from the kitchen.

We walk down the hallway and into the kitchen, where dad and Chelsea are having a cup of tea.

"Hi Chelsea," I say, giving her a kiss on the cheek. The girls stand in the doorway awkwardly, waiting for me to introduce them.

"Chelsea, this is May, Grace and Jane. Girls, this is Chelsea," I say. I still don't think that I can call her 'mum'.

"Hi girls," Chelsea says, smiling at them, before her eyes land on Hannah.

"Hannah, my word, how you've grown up," Chelsea says, and Hannah turns a bit pink, looking at the ground and thanking her.

"Dad, the game is on," Aug says, walking out into the kitchen and seeing everyone.

"Oh, hey everyone," he says, then walks over to Hannah and pulls her in by the waist, kissing her gently.

I scrunch up my face in disgust, and Chelsea smiles. The girls all roll their eyes.

"Hey there, beautiful," Aug says, and Hannah smiles at him.

"Come on, let's GO!" I say, ushering everyone back up the hallway and outside. Good thing they dropped their bags when they arrived.

"If we don't go now, we won't have any dresses!" I say, and Grace giggles.

"Okay girls, pile in to my car," Chelsea says, and I sit in the front while the others sit in the back.

Chelsea starts the car, and I turn on the radio. 'History' by One Direction comes on, and everyone is screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs. I blast the music, and Chelsea starts laughing.

We head into the city, and Chelsea parks the car.

"Now, let's go!" She says excitedly, unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out of the car. The girls and I follow suit, and Chelsea leads us out of the car park and into a street full of Wedding Dress shops, salons and boutiques.

Chelsea turns the corner and shows us to a small shop full of beautiful dresses.

I finally learnt to never judge a book by its cover; the shop, from outside, looked tiny, but when you walked in it was huge. The shop was FULL of dresses, in every colour ever created.

"Hi, Sal," Mum says to an older woman behind the counter.

"Chelsea! How lovely it is to see you!" The woman says, with a strong Russian accent.

"You too, Sal. My daughter, Charlotte, and her friends, Hannah, Jane, Grace and May are here for their formal dresses," Chelsea says, and a huge grin graces Sal's face.

"You girls are beautiful! Sal will get you proper dresses right away!" Sal says, walking out to another room while the rest of us look around.

I see blues and pinks and purples, but I feel like none of them are really me. They're all bright and out there, something May or Dillon would wear, but I'm plain, simple, black-and-white.