Jeremiah and Belly | You're my Best Friend

Chapter Ten: The Debutaunt Ball.

Finally. It's the day I have been waiting for for 2 months now. The day of the ball. I feel that it is healthy to talk about the things I am nervous about. I watched a TED-Talk about it. If you talk about the things stressing you out, they might not stress you out as much. So... Well really, the thing I am not looking forward to the most, is my dress. The dress Susannah insisted was the dress. I didn't think so, though. No, the dress I wanted was simpler. It was beautiful. But, Susannah knows best of course, so we went with what she wanted. Also, I'm nervous about the dancing. I picked Jeremiah as my escort pretty last minute, so he didnt get much of the dance lessons as the other escorts. Also, he was never much of a dancer anyway. No, that was always Conrad. Speaking of, Conrad and I have barely spoken since last week when he asked me out. I do feel bad about rejecting him, but really, I'm glad I did. Well, really, other than that, I'm pretty confident in today.

     Susannah wakes me up this morning. Normally it's Jeremiah who barges into my room with french toast, or muffins, or some other type of breakfast delacasy. But nope, today it's Susannah. "Good morning." She says to me as I sit up in bed. "Did I miss it?" I ask her Jokingly. "Not at all. It's only 9:00.". The ball doesn't start until 8:30 tonight, what am I supposed to do all day? "Come on, get downstairs. We have a surprise for you." Susannah smiles as she walks out. I follow her down reluctantly. A surprise? What could it be?

     I make my way into the living room to see the dress hanging up off of the hat rack. Not the dress Susannah wanted, but the dress I wanted. They got it for me. "You got me the dress?" I ask as I run up amd hug both Susannah and my Mom who are standing next to it proudly. "It was all your mom's idea." Susannah confesses. I smile at my Mom and thank them both before heading into the kitchen for breakfast. I plop down at the counter next to Jeremiah and he hands me a muffin. "Thank you." I smile as I bite into the muffin. He likes to do this thing, where he'll stare at me, I could be doing anything. Reading, swimming, sleeping, or in this case eating. I find it weird, but he says it's romantic. This time I stare back though. Not in a cute way, I make an effort to make the creepiest face possible to scare him away. My plan doesn't work, though. No, instead he just plants a small kiss on my lips and keeps staring, completely ignoring the gagging sounds coming from Steven across the room. "Shut up Steven." I yell at him. He mocks me before picking up his plate and walking out. "I gotta get out of here too." Jeremiah says. "I have to pick up my tux, and then there's some weird steaming thing my mom wants me to do." He kisses me quickly before standing up. "See ya Bells." He smirks. "Bye." I say. As soon as he is gone I shove the rest of my muffin down my face. If Jeremiah is starting to get ready now, I better as well. I rush to wear my dress is hanging and I slip it off the hat rack, bringing it out to Jeremiah's car, which obviously means he hasn't left the house yet. He comes by me and asks what I'm doing. "Why don't we ride over together?" I ask. He smiles and nods and as soon as we're both ready, I hop in the passenger seat and him the driver's. "You know we shouldn't ride together." He says as he pulls out. "Why not?" I ask him curiously. "Well isn't it bad luck if I see you before the ball?". I laugh so hard. He's so naive. "That's for weddings, Jere. You aren't supposed to see the bride in her dress before the wedding." I tell him. His face goes flush in embarrassment. "So I think we're okay." I add as we both laugh. This is why I love him. I came to terms with the fact that I was in love with him a few days ago when we were at the beach. We were splashing around in the water, laying in the sand. We watched the sun rise that morning. It was all so romantic. I knew I loved him that day. I haven't told him yet, though. Jeremiah and I have so much to talk about in such little time. He drops me off at the club before he heads to his tailor to pick up the tuxedo. "I'll see you later." I say as I pull him in once more for a hug, before hopping out with my dress and waltzing into the double doors of the Country Club.

     When I get in, everyone is hanging out in the tea room for a few hours before we have to start getting ready. We eat dinner at about 5:00. The club owner, (I forgot her name) made us a lobster dinner for our big night. I finish around 5:30, and now it's officially time to get ready. Honestly, I don't want to. I feel lame about it, but I wanna back out of all of this. The whole getitng up there in front of all of the families, dancing, I can't do it. I tell myself I need to, though. For myself. But still, I have doubts. I get into the green room and see a chaotic mess of at least 15 girls all doing hair, makeup, getting dressed, shaving, doing face masks, everything. Wow. Shayla runs up to me. "Belly! I saved you a seat!" She says to me. I follow her over to an empty vanity seat between her and Nicole. Nicole is a pro at this, and she gives me some tips. "You should start with your hair. And then your makeup. Oh and don't do too much for your makeup. Keep it simple." She has a lot more to say then that, but she shuts up after seeing my confused facial expressions. I do appreciate her advice, though. So I follow it. I straighten my hair flat and pin it into a princess bun on the back of my head. Shayla helps me with my makeup, just the basics. And finally, it is time to put on my dress. The dress. I slip it on in the bathrooms, because even though I'm friends with these girls, I don't know how bad I want to strip in front of them. I catch myself in one of the long floor mirrors back in the green room again. I stare for a minute. I look pretty. And best of all, I feel pretty. In the reflection of the mirror, I can see all of the other girls in their dresses. They're much more beautiful than I am... Shayla comes up behind me and sees the doubt in my eyes. She puts an arm around me. "You look perfect." She tells me. "Don't worry about everyone else. Just pretend it's only you and Jeremiah in the room.". I smile and she disappears. Was she right? Should I pretend it's only us...?