PICTURED: Asha's formal dress
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The girls and I all sat in different chairs around the room, some of us getting our hair done, some makeup, and some waiting for both. There were nine girls and only four makeup & hair artists, so we all took turns.
"Pre-formal cocktails!" Heidi sang from the doorway, bringing in a tray with several delicious looking cocktails.
"Sex on the beach, my favourite!" Casey chimes in, jumping up from her spot and grabbing a glass from the tray.
I sat in my chair getting my makeup done, extending my hand out and wriggling my fingers, begging for Heidi to hand me a glass of the alcoholic beverage.
"Ahh, thank you!" I sighed when she placed the drink in my hand. I placed the straw between my lips and sipped the cold liquid. The alcohol calmed my jittery nerves. Why was I nervous? No idea.
"Your hair looks so good, Asha!" Chelsea said excitedly.
"Is it finished?" I asked her.
"Almost, just a few more bobby pins and then you're done!" the hair stylist told me.
I felt her digging more and more pins into my head and I tried my best not to grimace at the pain.
"Done!" she said happily, and I swung around in my chair to look in the mirror. It looked better than I had imagined it to me and a huge smile crept onto my face.
"Wow..." I whispered, angling my head to see as much of my hair as I could.
She held up a mirror behind me so I could examine the back of my hair. It looked perfect, exactly what I had wanted.
"I love it. It's perfect! Thank you so much!" I exclaimed, hugging the woman tightly.
"You're so welcome, I loved working with your hair!" she complimented me, hugging me back.
After waiting for an hour and downing a few more cocktails, it was finally my turn to get my makeup done. I sat in front of Heidi's cousin as she examined my face.
"You have the perfect face for a makeup look I learnt in college!" she said, more to herself than to me.
"You can do whatever you want, I don't know what I want for makeup. My dress is burgundy and I'm wearing nude heels so as long as it doesn't clash I'm happy," I told her, and she smiled excitedly.
"Yes, I love being given free reign to do what I want!" she gushed, clapping her hands excitedly before diving into her makeup case and pulling out products.
Half the things she put on my face I had no idea even existed, and after fifteen minutes she was finally applying foundation.
"This is the perfect colour for you!" Sammy said, dabbing the product lightly onto my skin.
Once she was finished with my foundation and concealer, she moved into powdering, contouring and highlighting.
"Do you want a sharp contour?" she asked me curiously.
"Is that even a question?" I laughed, and she laughed with me.
She showed me her work once she had finished and my cheekbones were sculpted beautifully. The highlight was bouncing off my cheek in the light and I'd be surprised if you couldn't see it from space, it was that intense.
"I love it!" I gasped, and she smiled.
"Perfect! So far so good," she said, "Now close your eyes."
For twenty minutes she worked her magic on my eyebrows and eyelids, and I felt her applying a winged liner to my lid. Perfect.
"Okay, you're done!" she finally said, and I opened my eyes.
I was unrecognisable, and for the first time in a long time...I felt beautiful. The eyeshadow she had applied matched my dress perfectly. It was a beautiful deep burgundy, and my lips were the perfect neutral. It was exactly what I would've wanted.
"Thank you so much, it's perfect!" I told her.
"You're so welcome!" she smiled.
I hopped off the makeup chair and made my way out and into Heidi's room where the girls were waiting. Most of them had finished their hair and makeup and were lying on Heidi's bed watching Netflix. I walked in quietly, not wanting to disturb them, but when Casey turned and saw me she practically screamed.
"Holy fuck, Asha!"
The girls all jumped and turned on the bed to look at me and I could feel my face heating up.
"You look so fucking good!" Casey continued.
"Oh my god, Asha! You look so beautiful!" Amanda said, jumping off the bed and giving me a hug.
They all looked so gorgeous too. Amanda had a beautiful brown smokey eye and a red lip, which would look stunning with her pale blue dress. Mollie had a beautiful gold cut crease and a nude lip, not wanting to take the attention away from her bright yellow dress. Heidi also wore a bright red lip and simple eyeshadow with a large winged eyeliner. She reminded me of Marilyn Monroe, and she looked absolutely stunning.
"You all look so stunning!" I told them, awkwardly hugging them so we wouldn't smudge our makeup.
"Heidi, your cousin can work miracles!" Casey said.
"Are you saying me looking good is a miracle?" I joked, and her eyes widened.
"No! That's not what I meant! Fuck!" she quickly said, and I laughed loudly.
Once everyone had gotten their makeup and hair done, we thanked Sammy and her coworkers profusely. They left at 5pm, leaving us one and a half hours before we had to leave for the formal.
"Okay I can't handle the wait, I'm getting more alcohol!" Heidi said, and we all laughed.
"Thank god you suggested it, I didn't want to be the one to bring it up!" I laughed.
"We all know you're low key an alcoholic," Casey joked, and I laughed loudly.
"I prefer the term 'alcohol enthusiast'," I told her.
"Cheers to Amanda for organising tonight, cheers to us for being incredible, and cheers to alcohol, because without it we'd all be significantly less interesting!" Casey said as we raised our glasses into the air.
"Cheers!" we all said, drinking our cocktails.
"Okay, time to get dressed. It's all becoming so real!" Amanda squealed, and we all ran back to Heidi's room to change.
I was determined to forget about Bailey tonight. She wasn't going to be there and I had the entire night to have fun with the girls without having to worry about her. Tonight was going to be a good night.
I took the dress off the hanger and stepped into it, sliding it up my body. I reached around the back and zipped it up, admiring myself in the mirror. Although I may not have felt put together, I looked it. I was worried that with all of my running from stress I would've been too small for the dress, but it still fit me like a glove. The girls and I were taking turns going into Heidi's walk in wardrobe and getting dressed, then walking out for the big reveal as if we were on a runway show. It was my turn now, and I slipped on my nude heels and buckled them.
I waltzed out of Heidi's wardrobe with a smile on my face, blowing kisses and twirling as the girls all cheered and bowed graciously towards me.
"Yes Asha! I love it so much!" Casey exclaimed, running up to hug me.
She looked beautiful too, her hair was slicked back against her head and she had dark eyeshadow that enhanced her beautiful blue eyes. She wore a long sleeved tight fitting dress that came to her mid thigh. She looked gorgeous, and so did everyone else.
"Limo will be here in half an hour, we have time to take photos!" Heidi said, checking her phone for the time.
Heidi's mum came out with a large camera and we all stood on her driveway with her house in the background. Her house was the perfect backdrop. We stood in different poses and positions, taking so many photos my cheeks began to ache.
"I think my face is stuck like this forever!" Breanna said, pouting her face to stretch out her cheeks.
"Me too, why can't we just frown in photos?" Amanda joked. I agreed, I was in no mood to smile. I never was, not since...
"Limo's here!" Heidi squealed, snapping me out of my thoughts.
All of us walked down the long driveway as fast as our heels could take us. We climbed carefully into the limo, thanking the driver who held the door open for us. Once we were all sitting inside the limo we all looked around in awe. Lights lined each surface, flashing different colours. Music was blaring so loudly I had to shout to Mollie who was sitting next to me.
"This is so cool!" I yelled to her.
"I know!" she agreed, nodding dramatically incase I didn't hear her.
We drove off from Heidi's house, winding through the streets lined with mansion after mansion. 'Party In The USA' came on, and as shitty as I was feeling I couldn't help but sing along, dancing to the music with the other girls. I could see the driver in the front laughing at us as we screamed the lyrics, no doubt extremely off key. The school was a fair bit further away from Heidi's house than it was from mine, and it took about twenty minutes to drive there. The mini bar in the limo provided us with water, soft drink and orange juice, although we were all still slightly tipsy from the copious cocktails we had consumed back at Heidi's house.
We finally pulled up at the gates of Chadstone High, and being there at night took me back to the night of the recital - the only other time I had been there after dark. I remembered seeing Bailey there, not expecting her to have come...but I knew that wouldn't be the case tonight. She made it abundantly clear that she was definitely not going to be coming to the formal.
We thanked the limo driver as we all got out of the car, as he told us to have a spectacular night. We all walked slowly and carefully through the gates, so excited to see what the auditorium looked like.
"I hope you guys love it!" Amanda said nervously, taking my hand and squeezing it tightly.
"I'm sure we will!" I reassured her, "And if we don't...we'll lie and you'll never know."
"If you don't love it I'm finding myself some new friends," Amanda huffed, although not being able to hide her smile.
We made our way to the auditorium and saw the bright lights seeping through the cracks underneath the door. A long red carpet was rolled out in front of the door, stretching at least fifteen metres. There was a large banner hanging over the double doors, and in large writing it said:
'SENIOR SPRING FORMAL 2018'
"The banner looks awesome Amanda, who did it?" Breanna asked.
"One of the art students, I don't remember his name. He did a great job though!" she said, and we walked to the doors and pushed them open.
It took a moment for my eyes to adjust. The room was glowing a soft pink with lights dancing around the room. Shadows of flowers zig zagged across the floor from a projector screen attached to the ceiling. There were about fifteen tables scattered around the room surrounding a large dance floor. Each table had a gorgeous bouquet of flowers in the centre and the chairs had chiffon ribbons tied around the back. There were small name cards in front of each table, telling everyone where they could sit.
To the side of the auditorium stood a large feature wall full of flowers, it was breathtaking. It was the backdrop for everyone's photos, and the photographer was set up in front of it. There were towering pillars of flowers, and the famous flower arch that Amanda had told us about was directly in front of us.
In the corner of the room stood a small photo booth, no doubt a place that many people would be sharing a kiss or two tonight. The stage was covered in flowers and a table stood in the centre, a golden tiara and crown places on red velvet pillows.
"Amanda Wetherell, you have truly outdone yourself!" Lauren said loudly, her eyes darting around the room taking in her surroundings.
"She's right, this is incredible!" Mollie said, hugging Amanda tightly.
"I didn't realise there was a prom king and queen?" I said loudly to Amanda.
"There isn't, it's just the award for 'best dressed'. Obviously it wasn't on the voting card because it can only be tallied tonight. Casey is going to do it!" Amanda told me, and Casey gave me the thumbs up.
"When will we do the vote?" Lauren asked.
"After dinner," she explained, and we all nodded.
People were already on the dance floor, dancing to the songs that the DJ was playing. His booth was right below the stage, front and centre. He had an iPad on a stand next to him and a sign that said 'song requests'.
"I'm absolutely requesting 'Spice Girls' tonight!" Casey gushed, and I laughed loudly.
"Please do it!" I told her.
Casey and I made our way over to the drinks table, which was situated on the side of the auditorium near the photo booth. We both grabbed a cup and poured ourselves some punch.
"If only it was alcoholic," Casey sighed, taking a sip. I agreed, I needed alcohol to get through tonight. Especially if I wanted to forget about Bailey.
People slowly began filtering into the auditorium, their faces in awe of the beautiful scene that Amanda had created. I could see Amanda shake with excitement each time someone gasped as they walked into the room.
"Everyone loves it, Amanda!" I told her, hugging her tightly.
"I'm so relieved! I was so nervous!" she told me.
The DJ began playing some classic hits, and everyone began to dance. It seemed as if most people had arrived already, but Amanda kept checking her phone worriedly.
"What's wrong Amanda?" I asked, leaning over to her. We were sitting at the table drinking our punch together, not wanting to dance just yet.
"It's almost quarter to eight and Dylan isn't here yet!" Amanda said sadly.
"I'm sure he will come soon, don't worry!" I reassured her, and she gave me a small smile. As if by magic, the doors of the auditorium opened and Dylan and his friends poured in.
"Speak of the devil!" I smiled at her, and she ran over and threw herself into Dylan's arms. They walked over to our table hand in hand.
"Hey Ash, you look great!" he told me, bending down to give me a hug.
"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself!" I smiled.
"I just want to warn you, I saw Luke outside wearing a tux...and unless that's his usual attire, I think that means he intends on coming in..." Dylan said, and my heart dropped. I didn't feel safe with him around, not now that Bailey and I weren't talking anymore. When she was with me, I felt like nothing could touch me, like nothing could ever go wrong. But she'd left, and here I was...vulnerable once again.
"Oh...thanks for telling me," I tried to sound confident, but my smile didn't reach my eyes and I shakily brought my glass up to my lips, sipping my drink lightly.
"Don't let him ruin your night, let's go dance!" he said, grabbing mine and Amanda's hands and pulling us on to the dance floor.
As we were walking over to the dance floor I heard the doors opening once again. I whipped my head around, expecting my eyes to land on the person I was dreading to see, Luke. But it wasn't him. It was perhaps, someone I was dreading to see even more. It was Bailey.