The Professor (Book 2)

9: Familiar Affairs

Against the odds, holidays and sheer stress, I did manage to find a dress in time. Albeit not one worth bragging about.

I sadly wasn't a millionaire, and due to the fact that my scholarship only covered my tuition and school supplies, I had been forced to dip into the fund I had set up for my fundamental needs, like food and hygiene products. It was a small fund, given that it was from back before the summer when I was working full-time as a barista at a coffee shop. Back then, it had been money I was saving up for college. With that taken care of now though, I had used that money to keep me afloat thus far, at least until I got settled in college and could find a new part-time job. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to eat for the remainder of my college life.

So, with that in mind, I had started my search for a dress in the thrift stores around town. I had biked from one place to the other, using google as my guide to various small stores that sold old coffee cups, smelly rags, broken shoes and strange looking paintings and knickknacks, hoping to find a decent dress hiding amongst them.

And on the day before the gala, luck finally struck me.

It looked like an old homecoming dress, with its simple black design. It was a slim fit with a tiny gown-like trim, falling in a cascade from the waist, down to the slightly frayed hem. The bust had a tiny silver embellishment on the left loop going up and tying at the back of the neck. It looked like a silver flower of some sort, and it was a bit cliché, but it would do. Other than a few loose threads and a frayed hem, the dress was in fine condition. At the mighty cost of 5 dollars, I had purchased it, brought it home and given it a quick wash.

Now, looking myself in my roommate's mirror, all dolled up and on my way to the gala, I reviewed my looks.

This actually wasn't half-bad.

Wearing a pair of black heels I had borrowed from my roommate, the dress looked complete. Having straightened my hair and slicked it back over my shoulders, it fell in a nice waterfall down my back, covering up the open back of the dress. Paired with some fake silver earrings, a little silver necklace looping into my cleavage, and finished with a simple makeup, yet bold red lips, I had to admit... I looked ready to kill.

"Damn, who are you trying to impress, girl?" My roommate burst into our room, just out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her hair and body. She gave me a thorough look-over, before plopping down on her bed and grabbing her lotion. 

I checked myself in the mirror one last time, biting my lip.

I wasn't trying to impress anyone. Because the only one there I might've wanted to impress didn't care about looks.

So why was I making so sure my dress didn't have any wrinkles or that my lipstick wasn't smeared?

~~~

I arrived at the Toronto campus main building about an hour later, just as a big load of other people seemed to be arriving as well. Everyone was dressed up in their finest tuxes and prettiest gowns, and here I was, trying to tuck away another loose thread I had just spotted poking out from one of the stitches.

Following the stream of people, we all sidled inside the main building, which for tonight's event had been dressed up as much as its guests; streamers and banners hung from the ceiling, whilst tables with black tablecloths and silver candles and white flowers stood spread around the room. A band was playing up at the main stage, jamming some soft jazz as the guests arrived and received their welcome drinks from waiters running around in bowties, holding trays filled with champagne flutes.

For a gala that was supposedly trying to raise money for a building in need, they sure had spent a lot of money to show it.

Rolling my eyes as the flamboyance already started to kick in, I accepted a champagne flute after handing over my coat at the front. I walked further in, exploring the rest of the grand setup.