When In Doubt - Freshman Year

Chapter 30

It was Jenna's turn, and Matt and Madison both grinned like kids on Christmas morning at how she'd worked the runway. Wearing Alex's masterpiece of a costume, she was perfectly pompous and absolutely fabulous as she'd remained in character; she'd hilariously looked down her nose at just about everyone in the first row.

"Since Jenna's so short, she'll probably never get to do that ever again," Matt joked.

"I gotta hand it to Alex, he can really design a gown," Madison admitted as she'd laughed to Matt's line.

"Seriously though."

Matt wondered how many spoons they'd used to make a dress fit for a certain infamous queen of France known for her glamour with gigantic hair and even more impressive gowns. The audience absolutely ate Jenna up, especially two parents who'd stood up in the middle of the crowd to applaud who were obviously her parents.

Eden had come out not too long afterwards; her and Peter had chosen the Presidential theme that switched into "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado, so to start, she'd timidly walked from behind the curtains with her envelope skirt with a large glittery-red "A" in her hands, and her rose-gold highlighted caramel hair in a first lady-esque updo. As she'd made her way further down the catwalk, her character had gained confidence, and she'd began to strut and throw some attitude into the sway of her hips with a mischievous gleam in her feline eyes.

The lights went down as a catchy, thumping beat had begun, and both Madison and Matt marveled as Heather slowly made her way onto the runway in a whole new costume.

Heather

"You're up next," Mandy had informed Heather as she'd watched Eden walk off the opposite side of the stage. "You got this?"

"Yep, I think so." Heather had taken a deep breath, but it'd done nothing to drop her heartbeat back to normal. They, along with Alex's group, had scrambled last weekend to create another last-minute costume, and they'd all come up with a brilliant idea: Heather wore a strapless translucent top that'd left a ton of bare midriff matched with a long, flowing skirt with a revealing slit up one of the sides, very much like Angeline Jolie at the Oscars. To anyone else, her costume gave the impression that you'd see all of her underneath the material, but not really. Markings littered across the material: personal information like her phone number, social media usernames, a social security number—that was fake, at least for her—and her home address. It was all about complete exposure; private information to be seen by everyone, even her outfit revealing more than some would care to see, but that was the whole point. heather had her hair up in a ponytail with intricate Grecian braids and metallic contouring with dramatic eyeshadow, she'd felt like a warrior goddess.

"Alex knows his shit, I'll give him that," Mandy ruefully admitted as she'd taken in the final look.

Ali nodded her agreement, and Heather took a giant swig of her mixed drink inside a camelback water bottle, and walked out past the curtain on her cue.

Heather didn't think, she'd simply acted. She'd looked out past the dark, crowded room as everyone's eyes landed on her, the many flashing lights, the gasps of shock or appreciation or both, and the whispers. Heather had never felt so open and exposed before that moment, but something about it had felt empowering.

Before Heather fully realized it, she was at the end of the catwalk, where a panel of judges sat and observed her. She did an iconic pose by making sure her slit leg stuck out and gave a tight-lipped smile that'd said: I still have at least one secret left. She'd savored the crowd's cheers as she'd sexily danced to the beat until she was back behind the curtain, and then she was finally able to once again breathe.