Brand New Eyes

14. Behind the Mask

14. BEHIND THE MASK

“Oh my god!” Violet squealed as I walked down the stairs in the dress that Asher had given me. I didn’t feel like myself in it and still hadn’t looked at the mirror. I had no idea what I looked like but I had this overwhelming sense of…nervousness within me. I literally held my breath as I climbed down the stairs.

“Do I look okay?” I asked her and her expression changed.

“Do you look okay? Are you friggin’ kidding me Scarlett? You look like you belong in some fairytale. You look absolutely beautiful!” she cooed – surely exaggerating as usual, as I took a deep breath and looked in the mirror at the bottom of the stairs.

After four hours of preparation, it had all come to this. I slowly opened my eyes, taking a deep breath and glanced at myself in the mirror.

Wow.

Okay, I didn’t do nearly as much justice as I hoped to the dress but the dress was just unbelievably and impeccably gorgeous. I may not look like a princess from a fairytale – as Violet said – but I sure as hell felt like one.

“Now that, is one hell of a dress!” Violet cried, ogling me in the mirror.

I sighed, “Yeah, shame I’m wearing it” I muttered, turning around and grabbing the matching mask from on top of the drawer.

“Puh-lease, that dress was made for you” she cooed, still eyeing me conspicuously.

I turned round and gave her a wary, nervous mile as she gave me an encouraging one.

“You ready to go?” I asked grabbing my clutch.

“Ready as I’ll ever be” she chimed, looked beyond cute in her peach coloured, a-line dress that ruffled endlessly at the bottom. It complimented her pale skin and to-die-for figure. Marcus was a lucky guy.

I already dreaded wearing such high heels as I walked out into Violet’s car. I’d been running around so much today, what with me being a member of the social events society meaning I had to help set up this crazy dance. Honestly, I just wanted it to be over with.

“So did you catch up with Marcus and Slater yesterday at lunch?” I asked her as she put her foot down on the freeway.

She hesitated, “Oh, er, no. Actually, I had to go to the library and catch up.” she said nervously.

"Oh” I replied, not saying anything more. I guessed as much with her faltering expression when I left both her and Asher at the reception yesterday. Their less than amicable mood swings an actions when they were in each others presence still had me wary.

We arrived at to the school. This year, we were using the new sports hall opposite the main campus meaning it was more of a lavish do. And since it was high school, this was treated as prom for many of the so called ‘cool’ and popular kids even though it was just an introductory dance to ease the new students in to their final year. But of course, there had to be the few privileged ones who had to hire the limousines and Bentleys and park them at the entrance, blocking the car park entirely.

“Fudge me!” Violet shrieked as she came to a sudden halt.

“Whoa!” I jumped, nearly jerking into the dashboard in front of me.

“Sorry Scar, it’s just some stupid, pathetic imbeciles jumping the queue for the car park” she was literally shouting and raised her voice even higher as she barked out of the window. “There’s a line douche bag – GET IN IT!” she screamed at Aaron Reynolds red Ferrari as it swerved past her, queue jumping; he just shrugged and laughed at her outburst, blowing her a kiss.