CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
a summer
The sound of laughter drifted prettily through the air, covering the sound of the record player. Celia looked like an angel- sounded like an angel- with her red-coated lips and perfectly glittered face. She was singling along to the music, a song that Violet had picked out, a silvery white dress gathering by her heels, the cutout lace glamorous against her dark skin. Violet wished she could capture the image of her best friend and memorise every single detail, never forgetting it.
She would miss these days when their cares were few in far between and their thoughts were taken up by minor things like the words of other people. Violet would be leaving soon after the summer, off to a new city that she wasn't sure she was going to like. The people there, she thought, would be nothing like Celia, or her dad... or even Rosalie Hale.
The laughter died and Celia lifted her head from against the bed frame, capturing her deep into her stare. "What?"
"Nothing," Violet sighed as she sat beside her, head leaning on her shoulder. She would make this comfort last. "I wish you could see yourself how I see you."
Celia only smiled. "Come on. Up!" She tugged under her arms and Violet stood up from the bed. "You asked me to make you look 'like you haven't just rolled out of bed' in your own words. Now we both know why you're so bothered about what you look like tonight-"
"Celia!"
"I'm just being honest," she said, a mischievous grin etched on her face. "Now let me do my job."
Violet's own dress was red with a beaded collar, borrowed from her dad's girlfriend. She felt different in it, but it was the hair that Violet cared about. Celia curled it and decorated it with a jewelled pin, matching the colour of the glitter she painted on her eyelids. It took only an hour before they were rushing down the stairs, purses in hand, to where Robbie Green stood in the doorway.
"You look beautiful," he said, placing a kiss on her forehead.
Violet would miss this too. Her dad was a place of comfort and soon she wouldn't have that so readily. She was supposed to cringe away at his compliments as any girl would do because he was her dad and he had to say that. But he was always sincere, always supportive. It was why she was able to go away.
"Thanks, dad."
"Any girl you dance with will be lucky." Violet blushed, but before she could complain, he was rushing them into the living room. "Now let me get pictures."
"Be quick, we're already going to be late!"
The two tucked in together, smiling as he snapped a picture with the old camera. It was a picture worth framing, she thought, as they crowded around to look back at it on the tiny screen.
"Let me take one, Robbie, and you get in with the girls," Ally said, pushing him their way.
It took too long for them to pile into the truck on the driveway, finding a stern Jacob in the driver's seat. "What took you so long? You'll be late at this rate."
"Not with the way you speed," Violet laughed, planting a kiss on his cheek as he swiftly pulled away.
"Besides, you can't put a time restraint on perfection," Celia said, only to earn a roll of the eyes.
With Jake's speeding, they arrived at the dance with plenty of time. Cars were still pulling into the car park outside of the school and as Jacob swung the truck around to sit under the tree, they spotted Bella slipping from one of the Cullens' sleek black cars. There was a cast on her broken leg, revealed by the shorter length of her purple dress.
