Chapter 1 Gala:
That's Collette's dress -----> (:
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I stared at the mirror. A fair-skinned girl with black hair and big brown eyes stared back. My cheeks were pink, looking like I had applied blush, but I didn't wear make-up unless it was something very important. I liked to go Au Natural.
I plugged my headphones into my ears as I walked down the stairs. My steps echoed throughout the empty mansion. My mom had gone out early for a charity event, and my dad was preparing for tonight’s gala. It was going to be the biggest thing in this town since, well forever. Picking up an apple, I bit into it and left the house. I passed the security guard, there was a different one each day, he tipped his hat good morning and went back to his newspaper.
Once I got out the gates I stopped to survey my surroundings. It was a cold November day, each time I breathed a puff of smoke blew out. The ground was flecked with snow and the trees were dusted with white powder, creating a winter wonderland. I stood there for a little while longer, my jacket protecting me from the assaulting wind. Turning on my heels I began the walk towards school. Although my dad offered to buy me a car, I had rejected it, because I loved walking to school. The fresh air always able to clear my brain of problems and worries. I glance down at my watch. Realizing that I was late, I picked up my pace and began jogging towards the school gates.
As I approached the school, the majestic gate greeted me. I pulled out my student ID and swiped it. It took a moment before I heard the familiar clicks of the locks as the gate opened before me, inviting me into the school. I stepped in and the gates immediately slammed shut. It was amazing what technology could do these days. I took the last bite of my apple, before throwing it into the nearest garbage cans.
Jogging towards the entrance to escape the cold— I've been out there for too long — I ran into my best friend, Kiara. She smiled her bright smile and began to jump up and down. I rolled my eyes and I knew she was going to be gushing about the newest Vampire Diaries episode. I dragged her inside before she could talk my ears off in the cold. I rather she did that in the warmth.
The warmth from the school defrosted my frozen fingers. We barely got two steps into the building before Kiara began jumping up and down again. “Elena got back together with Damon.”She squealed, her ponytail bouncing from side to side. I tuned her out and nodded at the right moments. We were earning ourselves quite a lot of stares. I tugged at Kiara’s shirt to get her to quiet down before continuing down the hall towards our lockers.
“So are you going to the gala tonight?” I asked, desperate for a change in subject. I looked at her as she gave me a ‘duh’ look. “I’m going to your house afterschool remember? We’re doing each other's make-up.” I nodded. Right, we've been talking about this gala since about a month ago when my dad had announced it to me.
“Xavier asked me out.” I was so shocked.
“What? When? How? What?” I demanded, glaring at her for keeping this vital piece of information secret. I noticed as her face began to redden and a smile played at her lips. She was quiet for once, which rarely happened, and it only happened when she was really happy about something or really mad about something. I shed my jacket as she groped for words that could describe her excitement. I grabbed my textbooks from my locker. I continued to give her a questioning look; we had a few more moments until we went our separate ways to our classroom. Kiara continued to stall as the warning bell rang. I held her back before she could leave.
“You’re not getting away from this.” I smiled, as I turned on my heels to go to AP Chemistry.
I stepped into the classroom, just as the bell rang. I quickly found my seat and sat down. Our teacher began his lecture, the marker squeaking against the white board. I took out my notebook and started to take notes. The sound of the pencil scritch scratching against the paper always seemed to be able to sooth me. I took a deep breath as Mr. Horatio concluded his speech and we set upon doing some worksheets for the last few minutes of class. I was wondering about my dress that my mom had picked out for me, but refused to show me until tonight. I didn’t notice that the bell had rung, when Xavier came behind me and tapped on my shoulder.
“Oh hey, whatsup?” I smiled, if I couldn’t get the story out of Kiara, maybe I could get it out of her boyfriend. He smiled at me and began to blush, giving me the feeling that whatever he was going to ask was probably related to Kiara. He cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
“Um, what type of flower does Kiara like?” I smiled. I see, he just wanted to find out what type of corsage to get for her. That was so sweet.
“Freesia, she loves those.” Before Xavier could answer Brandon pulled me to the side. I gave an inward sigh, probably another guy wanting to go with me to the gala. I waved a quick ‘bye’to Xavier, and turned around to face Brandon.
“So… I know you don’t have a date yet for the gala. So I was wondering…” I knew it, guys are so predictable sometimes. I put my hands up to prevent him from saying anything else.
“Brandon, I don’t think I can do that, I’m flying solo for this gala.”
“But think about your image.” I stared at him. Inside I wanted to rip his face off, did he think I only cared about image? My parents had made sure that growing up I didn’t become too conceited with it .They always told me that happiness was more important than anything else. Heck they showed it with their lovey dovey ways. Without another word, I walked away from Brandon. Fuming. An arm looped around mine and Kiara pulled me to the side.
“So I saw you talking to Xavier, what was it about?” She asked in a singsong voice, trying to be casual.
“Whatever are you talking about?” I beamed innocently, while dragging her towards the gymnasium. We had P.E next and we were scrimmaging with the guys. Reaching the change room, I heard Kiara’s voice beside me.
“Fine, I’ll tell you!” I knew my silent treatment had done it's deed.
“So basically, we were just chatting over the phone when he was like ‘Hey, so do you have a date to the gala?’and I said no and then he said, ‘maybe you’d like to go with me?’ and yeah that’s basically it.” I huffed at the lack of description, but it was better than nothing. It was stuffy and warm inside the change room; I was already beginning to sweat. Striping out of my uniform and into my shorts and t-shirt, I listened to Kiara blab on about One Tree Hill. This girl had got to stop watching T.V shows, it was so not good for her. What was amazing was that she can still manage a G.P.A of 4.0. I wonder what this world was coming too.
We walked out into the gym. It was always such a breathtaking sight. One side of the wall was complete glass, giving us a view of the botanical garden that our school was famous for. A tree stood tall in the middle of the pond. We had an arboretum that held up to 7000 species of plants. The familiar cry of Ms. Adair’s whistle brought me out of my thoughts and pulled me back into P.E mode. The nets were already set up in the centre. Ready for our volleyball scrimmage.
“People, listen up, we’re scrimmaging today. Get into a group of five or six. At least two boys on each team. Alright let’s get going!”
“Hey Xavier, wanna be on a team with Kiara and me?” I shouted. He automatically turned his head at the sound of Kiara’s name and blushed brightly. He calmly sauntered over with one of his friend, I think it was Brent. I grabbed Cherry so we could complete our team. Ms. Adair came by and handed us a slip of paper with a letter on it. We had to come up with a team name that started with the letter J.
“Jumping Jellybeans.” Kiara said cheerfully.
“Okay, let me go register that in.” I said as I tried to contain my laughter. We were assigned court 7 and we walked over to warm up. The ball smacked against my arm and the ball sailed over the net, right towards Xavier’s face. He held up a hand just in time to defect the shot. I smiled innocently as he served the ball back. The whistle sounded and we met our opponent, Grumbling Gorillas. We began the game. I was sweat-drenched within minutes. Grumbling Gorilla was an even match.
The rest of the P.E class passed by in a blur of sweat, tear and laughter. When the bell finally went, we all scrambled towards the change room for a quick shower.
“Ugh, I smell so bad.” I said stepping into the shower. I let the water sooth my muscles and clean me of the sweat. I came out five minutes later all dressed. Picking up my books I called out for Kiara. Walking into the hallway we were pushed into the mix of students all heading towards the cafeteria. We stood in the line for our food. Looking at the selection, I defaulted to a sub sandwich and Kiara picked a potato salad. We took our trays and pushed through the doors into the botanical garden. Most of the seats were already taken, however we still managed to snatch one that was close to the water. The pond was a mirror today. Reflecting everything it was seeing. The only disturbance was the pond lilies.
“So apparently the principal is allowing us to go home right after lunch to prep for the gala.”
“Really? That’s great. So you’ll come to my house at 2? After you pick up your dress?”
“Yeah!” We went our separate ways then. I tucked the leftover sandwich into my backpack and threw away the garbage. I stood in the middle of the garden— looking one more time, inhaling the pleasant smell of tea— before beginning my journey home.
***
“C’mon you’ve got to at least wear mascara.” Kiara was waving the mascara wand back and forth in front of my face like a sword. We stared each other down, finally giving in, I sat down. While she attacked my eyelashes, I looked longingly at my dress. I couldn’t wait to put it on. After deeming my eyelashes perfect, Kiara left me to go put on her dress. I did the same. I grabbed my dress off the hangar and walked into my bathroom.
I glanced at myself in the mirror. The dress clung to all the right places. It was a light blue colour that complemented my skin tone. It was short in the front and it bellowed out in the back, trailing behind me. A necklace adorned my neck. Looking at my earring rack, I picked a butterfly one, one that I only wore on special occasions. My parents had gotten it for me on my tenth birthday. I then went about piling my wavy black hair onto my head, giving me an elegant look. Believing I was perfect, I stepped out into my bedroom.
“Wow, you’re gonna knock those boys out.” Kiara looked at me appreciatively. My eyes racked over her dress and gave an approving nod. She looked adorable. She was wearing a pink chiffon dress that had a white bow, giving her an innocent look. Her hair was braided in a princess style, and coiled ontop of her head.
“Dang girl, Xavier’s going to fall for you all over again.” I said in a preppy voice, trying to imitate those snobby girls that were on the T.V shows Kiara loved to watch. Her face turned a million shades of red. She was so cute and adorable sometimes. To spare her any more embarrassment, I grabbed our purses and her hand and half dragged her down the mahogany stairs. At the bottom of the stairs Xavier sat on the couch, as soon as he noticed us descending, he stood up. Noticing Kiara and her dress, his mouth dropped open slightly. He quickly wiped away his befuddled stare and approached us as we stepped down the last flight of stairs.
“Um, here’s your corsage.”Xavier grabbed Kiara’s hand and slipped it on. Both of them blushing like twelve year-olds. They were perfect for each other. I led the way to the limousine and we climbed in. Kiara and Xavier sat across from me. His hand clasped hers gently. Kiara leaned her head against his shoulder. Wanting to give them some space I turned my head to look at the view outside. The clouds were grey; snowflakes were smoothly drifting down from the sky. Dancing across the window. It was a magical sight. Lines of cars began appearing everywhere as we approached the grand hall.
We heard the orchestra before we even got inside. Their music lulling me as we picked our way towards the main entrance. The blast of heat greeted us, as we entered. There was an ocean of people, and many stood in clumps. We soon got separated by the sea of people. I drifted closer to my mom, who was gesturing for me to come to the stage. My dad was going to make an announcement. As soon as I ascended the last step, my dad gently tapped his wineglass to draw everyone’s attention.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I thank you for coming to this gala. We are here to support Children’s Literacy. Please kindly donate anything you deem appropriate to the donation box over there. Have a good evening.” Dad’s voice bellowed throughout the room, echoing through the four corners.
I was asked to dance right away. After twenty or so dances, I was exhausted. I grabbed a seat as I watched the endless dancers twirl their way through the room gracefully. It was entrancing.
I didn’t notice him approach. He stood out from everyone else was here. Brown eyes peeked out from the mask he wore.
“May I have this dance, my lady?”His voice was tinged with a French accent, luring me right away. I gave him my hand and smiled.
“Sure.” Even though I was tired a second ago, seeing this mysterious stranger suddenly charged my energy. I stood up and he pulled me towards the centre of the dance floor. Everyone stopping to watch this mysterious, handsome stranger with the rich heiress. The music slowed down into a waltz, and we began. He led me through the steps and twirled me. We danced until I was breathless and then he led me towards the punch table. He got us two glasses as I stood behind him. My wandering eyes surveying the surrounding. Everyone was so elegantly dressed, so different then their normal wears.
“Here’s your drink.” He handed me a wineglass. The punch was pink with specks of white, which was bizarre. Maybe it's part of the punch. I took a sip from the glass as we walked around the dance floor, watching the dancers.
“Are you new to this town? I’ve never seen you before.” I asked casually.
“Ahh, yes I’m new to town. I’ve just came from Paris.” The man smiled a secretive smile. He looked down at his watch and then looked back at me. My head began spinning, the temperature of the room shot up by twenty degrees. I couldn’t breathe properly. I stopped in my tracks as I tried to regain my breath.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m just kind of dizzy.”
“You want to step outside for fresh air to clear your mind?” I simply nodded my head, scared that if I opened my mouth I would puke.
I continued sipping my wineglass as we made our way to the double doors that led out onto the terrace. I shivered as the cold air made contact with my bare skin.
“Cold?” The stranger shed his jacket and draped it over my shoulder. What a gentleman. I continued sipping my punch, there was a burning sensation as it went down my throat, which was weird. He watched me with hawk eyes. Suddenly the world spun even more rapidly and I collapsed, right into his arms. He smiled a triumph smile. That was strange, maybe it was a trick of the light. My eyes began to droop. I felt the stranger jump from the balcony and land gracefully onto the grass. I knew something was wrong then. I tried screaming out for help, but my mouth wasn’t listening to me. My body wasn’t responding either. The wind picked up and I heard a car screech in front of us. I was thrown in and the door slammed behind me. I heard a voice say: “To Le Pays de la Sagouine,” before I passed out.
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Thanks to Lost_In_A_Dream for the awesome cover <3