Mass Collision

17. Ball?

The days blended together as they made their way back to their homes for the break, Natalia joining Blaise.

"So, what would you say if I told you I made a mistake?" Blaise asked slowly and apprehensively as the two were helping each other with homework.

Natalia laughed at him, "depends, what did you do?"

Blaise cringed, "I told my step-mom that you weren't having a ball because your family's dead." Natalia stopped writing and looked up.

"I'm scared."

Blaise nodded, reaching his hand over with a sympathetic, but also amused look, "it'll be okay, I'll help you. My step-mom and mother have already planned everything except your dress and your court, you need to figure that out right away so that they can learn the dance."

"Dance? There's a specific dance?" Natalia questioned, it sounded quite ridiculous. Blaise nodded apologetically.

"It can be simple, just a basic waltz," he explained, settling her nerves. She sighed and went back to her homework.

"So when's the dress try on?" Blaise cringed again. "Today." Natalia sat up quickly.

"WHAT!" Camilla ran in.

"Is everything okay?" Natalia's head snapped over to her.

"We're going dress shopping today?" Camilla nodded slowly before glancing at her step son.

"You just told her, you've known for months! He even already picked your court," Camilla explained and Natalia's head snapped to him.

"Okay, thanks for deciding for me, but– HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME?" She yelled at him. Blaise covered his ears and backed away from her, grabbing his pot of ink in case she would try to spill it on his homework.

"Well, I was just about to come get you to leave– unless you wish to wait?" Camilla asked, but Natalia just sighed.

"No, let's just go now," Natalia told her and Camilla grinned and grabbed her bag. The demi-god gave one more glare to her cousin before grabbing Camilla's arm and they diapperated.

When the feeling of apparting was over, Natalia opened her eyes and looked confused. The signs were in Italian. She gasped and looked at Camilla who smiled at her, she took her to Italy. "Now, I know it's not specifically made, but they have some amazing dresses here." Natalia let her pull her into the dress shop, still stunned.

The shop owner walked over immediately, "Welcome, how may I help you?"

Camilla smiled at her, "we're having a birthday ball for this girl and she needs a dress." Natalia was still looking around the shop, it had a calming and fancy feel, it was a light color that she couldn't quite pick out and had gold trimmings. It had light pink and gold couches and a stand with a mirror.

"Well, we can pull some options, what would you like?" The owner asked and Camilla looked towards Natalia.

"Black," she said. The owner looked stunned. "Or red's fine too, but preferably a dark color, not too frilly." The owner nodded and went to the back to pick a few. Natalia and Camilla sat down and the owner came back a few minutes later with a couple options. There were different kinds, mermaid, ball gowns, and short dresses. There was a dark blue mermaid. Dark green ball gown. A short dark purple and a long black dress.

"Let's start with blue," Camilla told her, she saw how she looked at the dress and knew it was an immediate no so she wanted to get it out of the way first. Natalia nodded and took the dress out of the lady's hands. She tried on the dress and it was tight, she wasn't sure she liked how tight it actually was, she normally wore pretty loose clothes.