Chanel Hastings & The Treasures of Aphrodite Book 1: The Magic Girdle

Chapter 3: I Get Wrecked In My First Street Fight

OOTD: Changed into my fuzzy baby blue pajamas after I took off my uniform.

Makeup: No makeup, just my nighttime skin routine. I'll probably wear some lilac eyeshadow for school tomorrow.

Hairstyle: I might wear my hair down in the morning...or maybe I should try a French braid?

Fragrance: Tomorrow, I'll wear 'Lola' by Marc Jacobs; it's the prettiest perfume bottle ever!

Dear Diary,

Ugh, what a crazy day. Between the scary bird and dog-headed men, I felt like I was slowly losing my mind.

I was alone on the ride home with Nigel since Gemma had ballet practice and Troy wouldn't finish school until about an hour later. Nigel must have thought that I had gone nuts because I kept looking around frantically like a weirdo. But I was fine with him judging me. I didn't want to get blindsided by anything weird again.

Thankfully, I made it home without any problems. When I stepped out of the elevator door into the penthouse, I came across my dad working in the living room. There were a bunch of sewing mannequins lined up in front of the couches, with a bunch of different ball gowns hanging off of them. Dad was in the middle of the mannequin army, happily humming 'Kiss From a Rose' by Seal as he worked on sewing the sleeve onto one gown.

When he noticed me walking in, he smiled warmly. "Welcome home, princess! How was school today?"

I dropped off my shoes in the coat closet by the elevator door before I walked over to the living room. I gave my dad a hug and a kiss on the cheek before I plopped down on a couch near him. "Oh gosh, Dad. You won't believe the day I've had."

"Oh yeah? What happened?" Without looking at me, he whipped the mannequin around on its wheels so he could work on the backside of the sleeve.

"It's so weird, Dad. I can't even explain it. It's like, I was being stalked or something."

"Stalked? By who?"

"I don't even know. It seemed like...it seemed like they were a bunch of supernatural creatures or something. "

Dad instantly stopped humming and turned around to glare at me. The look on his face was dead serious, which made me very uncomfortable.

"Supernatural creatures?" he asked, his voice full of horror.

"Yeah...something like that. There was this freaky bird that I saw in the morning, and then these guys that I thought were wearing masks. But their masks looked so much like real dogs..." I looked up at my dad with worry. "Sorry, Dad. I know I'm probably not making any sense."

My dad immediately dropped his things and hurried to take a seat beside me. He took my hands into his and focused on me with a serious expression. "Tell me everything that happened, word for word. What did you experience?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but then I hesitated. I still didn't really understand what had happened to me today, and I didn't want my dad to think that I had lost my marbles. But after the dog-dude that had tried to hurt me and Stephanie, I was getting kind of scared. What if all these things weren't just part of the New York experience? What if something strange was really going on?

Dad interrupted my thoughts when he grabbed my hand. "Chanel, please. Tell me about the creatures."

I took a deep breath and started talking. I began with the bird and the wave of panic I had felt as it stared into my soul. I moved on to the first dog-man-thing in the parking lot. And then I ended with the other dog-man-thing who had harassed me and Stephanie. I also mentioned all the questions about the girdle. When I was done with my story-time, my dad stayed quiet, with an expression on his face that was unreadable. I nervously gripped the edge of the couch, waiting for the part where he would suddenly bust out laughing and tell me that I was insane, but he just continued to sit quietly.