THE CRYSTAL HOUSE

¶A game of balls¶

October 25th

Priya

Priya smiled at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and twirled, trying to picture herself wearing this at home. Mother would freak, and her father would smile and tell her how beautiful she looked. She loved how purple made her look sexy, and this particular shade certainly hit the spot. No doubt, everyone's eyes would be on her. She glanced at herself in the mirror and blushed, as a distant memory of her time in an underground club bubbled up.

Mumbai was chilly at the time but determined to be the star of the night, Priya wore a blue sheer dress with spaghetti straps and three-inch heels but it didn't stop there. She let her dyed hair out of its confines and put on silver contacts as well as a fake dollar sign tattoo on her exposed shoulder, before heading out to meet her mysterious date who took her to Ecstasy; a secret yet popular and always crowded club situated ten miles from her home.

The amount of alcohol and drugs she saw that night overwhelmed her, and after a long moment of hesitation fueled by her need to dance, she finally gave in and joined her hot date in exploration. She remembered trying a variety of spiked punch and weed, and the things that happened afterwards were still fuzzy but Priya was sure that she...

"You have two minutes to get ready for the fourth game." The intercom blared, cutting off her train of thoughts.

Priya quickly applied lipgloss and put on the converse shoes that came with the nice outfit. She stood up and twirled again, feeding her fascination for the pleated bottom of the short dress before stepping out of her room to meet the other housemates.

The remaining seven housemates were dressed in different colours, along with white shoes strung with laces matching the colour of the clothes each person wore. It was easy to spot the heads of her friends in the small crowd and she sashayed towards them, feeling her confidence rise with every step.

"Hey Chiara, Mareike. You guys look stunning."

"Chiara does, but I look like a blue pumpkin in this." Mareike muttered sadly.

Priya glanced at Chiara and a look of silent understanding passed between them.

"Mareike, you look really beautiful and you need to accept a well-meaning compliment and love your body more. Accept it and flaunt it proudly, no one else can do that for you, girl." Priya said with as much sincerity as she could muster.

She looked at her friends again, admiring the designer of the outfits. Mareike wore a blue dress which complemented her curves and brought out her sapphire eyes, while Chiara's red dress brought out the fire in her hazel eyes.

Chiara nodded. "We look like the three musketeers from Barbie. Remember them? It was also red, blue and purple. We look so good, I'm literally falling in love with myself."

At this Mareike smiled and linked her hands through that of her friends'. "Well then, I will try to be confident today."

She glanced at the large mirror in the lounge and added, "Blue really looks great on me, and this gown did bring out a few curves unlike the last outfit."

Priya nodded, the difference between both outfits was clearly obvious and she liked that her friend was trying to be confident in her own skin. As they watched her, she started to drag the gown down her thighs, with little success.

"But it is too short." She complained, and the other girls shook their heads.

"It's perfect, girl. Like Priya said, flaunt your body and own it. Now, let's go and join the line before everyone else enters and Mr. Han locks us outside." Chiara said, dragging the duo with her, their hands still linked and Priya let herself be dragged along.