Almost Famous: The Next Phase

Chapter 22

"Girl! Sit still a minute before you get burned!" Mama said to me as she took the hot comb from the stove and attempted to get to my curly scalp.

"Mama it's hot!" I shrieked as the scolding teeth tapped my skin on my head slightly.

"Well you said straight hair so that's what I'm doing! Now hush and let me finish!"

The sound of sizzling from my hair made be think that my mom was burning my hair at the roots. If I show up and the fall formal bald tonight I'll never be able to show my face in school for the rest of my high school life. Rachel who was sitting pretty in a blush pink dress with black shoes and her hair in tight pin curls sat at the table eating out of the fruit bowl in front of her smacking her lips every time the hot comb snapped and sizzled against my damp moisturized hair.

  "I'm glad I don't have that problem Regs. I thought you said that you were part Korean! Don't they have pencil straight hair?" She asked taking a bite of her apple.

  "My father's family is from the Philippines. Not all of us got the blessings of the hair." My mom giggled as she took the hot comb away from my hair and placed it on the stove.

  "Mama! Rude!" I snapped.

  "Oh stop it girl I'm just kidding. Now that it's straightened don't sweat through it too much tonight."

  "I think that's gonna be hard to do since me and Peter are going to be dancing all night long." I said still sitting in the chair as my mom curled my ends for me in rollers.

  "Just be careful anyway. I don't wanna hear any complaints come Monday morning." Mama said with a smile.

As she placed the last roller in Rachel grabbed my dress from the living room and took it upstairs. Once my mom finished she sprayed it with a sting holding spray and sent me off to get dressed. I went up to my room and Rachel was grinning from ear to ear.

  "What's with you?" I asked as she held my dress in her hands.

  "You are gonna kill tonight in this dress. My mom made sure that it was going to fit you like a glove!" She exclaimed.

  "Why are you so over the moon about this dress? It's not prom or a wedding."

  "No but I bet this will make Prince think twice before trying to make you jealous by kissing....that tramp." Rachel sneered.

  "That tramps name is Denise and Prince can do what he wants. I don't care anymore." I replied taking the dress from her.

  "No girl you care. Otherwise it wouldn't have bothered you that he kissed her. Prince has been all goo goo eyes about you since last year. The whole class knows he's been secretly crushing on you. Especially now since Wilson is out of the picture."

Just the idea of Prince having feelings for me made my skin crawl. I bet he's just saying that as a ploy to make me feel better about what's been happening between us. He can keep his feelings. I don't want them as badly as I thought. I took the dress from Rachel and unzipped that bag that it's was in. My eyes widened as the bag fell to the floor and the deep blue with very little sequins sparkles in front of me.

  "Oh wow! Rachel! This is.....this is beautiful!" I gasped.

  "Told ya! That dress is killer!" Rachel said happily.

Taking the dress off the hanger and placing it at my body I looked in the mirror and smiled.

  "Rachel tell your mom I said thank you! I owe you Big time!"

  "Don't worry about it! It was the least I can do to change your mind about going to the formal anyway. Now I'm going to step outside and wait in the hall. Don't take too long because we still have to get you to makeup."

Rachel shook me gently by the shoulders and then left my room closing the door behind her. I turned back to see myself in the mirror and smiled at the blue flowing fabric in front of me.

  "Alright Regan. Time to look pretty." I said to myself.

I changed into the dress and took the rollers out of my hair revealing the light curls. I slipped on a pair of shiny black heels and gave myself a once over one more time in the mirror. My face was very plain but my curves showed gently in the dress. It was like I was transformed into a different person. This was a different version of myself that I could possibly be in the future. The new me looked confident and strong. She was nothing like the shy quiet me that I am now. The knock on the door brought me out of my daydream and I blinked to clear up the blur in my eyes. 

  "Regs! Come on! We're going to be late for the formal and you still need your makeup done!" Rachel called from the hallway.

  "Coming!" I shouted to her as I grabbed my clutch from the bed and ran to the door.

I opened the door and was met with my mom and the bright flash of the camera.

  "Ahh! MA!!!! STOP!!!" I shrieked out trying to block the light from my eyes.

  "If your daddy could see you now! He'd be so proud!" My mom announced as she took another picture.

Surprisingly she's not blubbering her eyes out like I was getting married or something. Good. She's already embarrassing enough and when Peter gets here its going to be more of a nightmare when she decides to camera happy.

  "Ma it's just a dance! Stop being crazy!"

  "It's not crazy to see your only child look like a lady and not like a tomboy for once."

  "Ma it's only a dress and some shoes! What's the big deal????"

  "The big deal is that I might not see you like this ever again now stand still while I capture what just could be the final time I see you like this."

Rachel jumped in the picture wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

  "SMILE!" My mom said to us.

We smiled as big as we could as the flash and the shutter clicked at the same time.

  "Alright! Makeup time!" Rachel said.

  "Actually.....just.....the eyes tonight. I don't want to look overdone. Okay?" I asked Rachel nervously.

  "You sure?" She replied.

  "Yeah. I don't need anything else. Just some eyeliner will be fine."

Rachel sighed and shook her head. We headed downstairs to the living room and she did my eye liner and a little bit of mascara just like I asked as the doorbell rang.

  "Do I look ok?" I asked as the fear of Peter seeing me this way made me want to run and hide.

  "You look fine! Now go to your date and I'll see you there."

I tried my best to swallow the huge lump in my throat as I walked slowly to the back door to meet with my date. The look on his face was as blank as mine. Peter just walked in and placed my white corsage on my arm and we walked out to the car together in silence but with smiles on our faces. The night had just begun.