A week passed, and the day that I had been anticipating arrived. To say I was filled with so much excitement about the Winter Ball is an understatement. It was all I could talk about with my friends, and we had practically prepared ourselves for the day; we even made a to-do list so that we knew what needed to be done. Though school was over for the holidays, that sadly didn't mean the workload stopped. I swear, is it a teacher's job to make students' lives miserable?
I had ten different things to do, and all of them were giving me so much stress that I thought I was about to lose it. However, I refused to let my studies worry me. I did some of it for most of that morning, and by 2 pm I decided to stop and prepare for the ball. I had planned to get ready with the girls at Merida's dorm room, so I gathered all the things that I needed and headed over there. Thankfully she didn't live too far from where I was.
Once I'd arrived, we all spent the next four hours getting ourselves all glammed up while chatting and giggling away about our expectations for the night.
"This is going to be so much fun," Lucy squealed. "I always enjoy this time of year."
"Same here," Merida replied, blowing on her freshly painted nails. "I love seeing everyone all dressed up. Some people go all out for this, you know."
"Not naming any names," Isabel said.
I was almost done with curling my hair and shifted myself over to give Isabel her brush. "What? Does Gwen go overboard with her dress?"
"Overboard?" Merida scoffed. "The girl thinks she's getting married or something."
"But you have to admit," Lucy added. "Her dresses are amazing."
"Only because her family is super-rich," Merida said. "They buy and get her anything she wants."
"And because of that, she's a spoiled individual who looks down on everyone," Isabel groaned.
"I'm not going to let her ruin the ball for me," I announced. "This is my first one, and I want it to be perfect."
"And it will," Lucy smiled, handing me a hairpin. "Afterall, you need to look amazing for Artie."
The girls began to start bursting out with laughter, and I couldn't help but smirk and shake my head. They were still set on the idea that Artie and I would get together, and as much I didn't want to admit it, I kind of did want it to happen. I had been suppressing the concept of it for so long that whenever people brought it up, I shut it down immediately.
The truth is, the idea of ever being with someone scared me a little bit. The thought of anyone ever accepting me for was was tough to imagine. I mean, who would ever like someone like me? Let alone love. I'm just a misunderstood teenage girl who has been through a lot and only wants people to see her for who she is.
By 7 pm, we were all dressed up and ready to go. I had my hair down in long wavy curls, and thanks to Lucy, I had parts of it pined up with a sliver leaves hairpin.
My dress was a long blue gown with gold patterned prints on the front and parts of the sleeves. I remembered that Fiona had given me an emerald necklace and ring before I left Far Far Away, so I made sure to wear those with my outfit.
(I know the dress in the picture is red, but just imagine it being blue.)
We told Artie to be outside Merida's building by ten past seven, and sure enough, he came bang on time. The girls and I headed down the stairs to meet him towards him. When Artie saw me, his eyes widened, and a huge grin began to grow on his face. I can't lie, he looked great as well. He was wearing black trousers, brown boots, and a brown leather tunic coat, which had lace detailing up to the neck. He certainly looked like a prince, and a cute one at that if I may add.
"Woah, Katie, you look..." He stuttered.
"It's a lot I know," I laughed. " I'm not used to dressing up this elegantly."
"No, it's not a lot at all. You... you look beautiful."
I could then feel my throat drying up. He had called me beautiful. No one had ever complimented me this way before.
"I-I... thank you." I blushed. "You look... very handsome."
"Ok, you two, when you both have finished blushing your hearts out," Isabel exclaimed. "We have a ball to get to."
We all laughed as we proceeded to the ballroom, which was located just near the school grounds. I glanced over at Artie, who was talking with Lucy, and I couldn't help but smile to myself. I was going to my first ever school party with my best friends. Why wouldn't I smile at that?