Cristi is sixteen years old and is who you would consider a nerd, always reading and never really speaking up in class. All the girls at her school, Vista High School, make fun of her just because she won’t stick up for herself and just lets them do what they want. More than once Cristi has had disgusting ‘surprises’ in her locker and cafeteria food dumped down the front of her, all courtesy of the popular girls, aka the cheerleaders with their leader Jessica. Cristi has never done anything to make Jessica or anyone else hate her, yet they still pick on her. At home, Cristi locks herself in her room, only coming out if she is hungry. Even her parents don’t pay her much attention.
Secretly, Cristi has had a huge crush on the star football player, Chad, who also happens to be dating Jessica. Of course no one knows about her little crush, not even her only friend Melly, short for Mellisa. Melly and Cristi have been friends since freshman year, but Cristi still keeps her crush a secret from her. Chad is like a forbidden place, no one who isn’t worthy is allowed to even think about him. Cristi’s only ever talked to him when he comes by where she works, which is the local coffee shop where everyone hangs out. And even then, she only takes his order and then hands him a check. When Cristi is at home she is either doing homework, reading, or writing about what she wishes could be her reality. In her reality, all of the popular people are geeks and nerds while everyone else is more popular. And of course, Cristi gets Chad.
At school, Cristi and Melly try to stay away from any social gatherings, like sports games and dances. The only dance that Melly forces Cristi to attend is the spring fling. The past two years, Cristi has come with some excuse to get out of it, but this year Melly has made sure that Cristi can go. Melly goes every year and always comes back telling Cristi how much fun it was and what she missed out on, but to Cristi, she didn’t miss out on anything important. Each year, the spring fling is held on the last Friday before their spring break, which is only four days away. This year, the theme for the spring fling is modern masquerade. Everyone is required to wear a mask and wear formal attire. Melly is especially excited and each day, she gets more and more excited, while Cristi gets more and more nervous. Three days before the dance, Melly takes Cristi out dress shopping.
“Cristi, we have to find the perfect dress for us. I am not picky and nearly everything looks good on me, but you, you never wear dresses so I have no idea what looks good on you and what looks amazing on you. So today we are going to spend however long it takes for you to try on as many dresses, until we find the perfect one, and no arguing.”
“But Melly, why do I have to go to this dance? I hate any social occasion and it just gives Jessica and her posse to make fun of me. Please do not make me go.”
“Cristi, you promised you would go this year, and I promise you will have a blast, and if not I won’t make you go to anything else I promise. Now let’s find you your perfect dress.” After three long hours, they managed to find an amazing dress for both of them, along with matching shoes and masks. Now all that was left was for the day of the dance to arrive.
***
Today is the day of the spring fling and Cristi couldn’t be more nervous. Melly was coming over in half an hour to help Cristi get ready and then Melly was driving both of them to the dance, which was being held at a posh hotel overlooking the beach. Just as Cristi began to calm down, the doorbell rang, announcing that Melly was here and Cristi’s heart rate shot right back up. After two hours of hair doing, makeup applying, and accessorizing, Cristi and Melly were ready to go. Cristi’s parents were out for the night, so they didn’t have to worry about having their picture taken before they arrived at the dance. Once they got to the hotel and entered the ballroom, everyone stopped and stared at the two beautiful girls.
