Bastiana has a loving family, two amazing best friends, and a secret.
Over summer vacation, Bastiana and her besties do their best to focus on their bucket list in order to distract them from all the secrets they're keeping from one another. When a...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I'm just worried it won't read." I tell my mom as I adjust the fabric of my dress. "Like I know it says 'Greek Goddess', but can you tell I'm Athena, specifically?" I ask as I turn away from my vanity mirror to face her.
"Sweetheart, I think we've done everything we can to make it say 'Athena', short of giving you a name tag." She laughs softly from her spot on my bed.
I turn back to look in the mirror again, tilting my head as I examine my costume.
I found a simple white dress at Myra's for the base. It's strapless with a corset-style top and ends just above my knees. Mom helped me add some white tulle to it, by tucking and pinning it into the dress to give it a more flowy vibe. There's a piece tucked into the front that runs up over my left shoulder and down my back, and a few more pieces that fall down the front. The effect is something between toga and wedding dress.
We also found some ivy vines at Dollar Discount. Carter helped me spray paint some of the leaves gold, so that it would tie into my costume better. The vine is twisted and wrapped around my waist with one end tucked into my cleavage and the other dangling down my right side.
I was also lucky enough to find a gold-painted olive branch crown at the costume shop in Grants Pass last weekend, along with a gold arm cuff that looks like a snake wrapping around my bicep three times over. Along with those, I added a necklace with a bronze coin pendant with the silhouette of an owl on it that Myra had in her display case, and a plastic dagger leftover from a past Halloween costume.
I fidget with the dagger where it's carefully attached to the vine around my waist as I examine my reflection. I look down at my hands and adjust the dainty gold rings on my fingers. I look down at my feet and purse my lips at my shoes. They're the same strappy silver heels I wore to homecoming a few weeks ago. I sigh and turn back around.
"I guess you're right." I shrug. "I probably won't win any contests, but it looks fine."
"I think you look great, Bug!" Mom smiles warmly at me. Before I can respond, I hear a gasp from my bedroom door.
"Wow. You look pretty, Tiana!" Dillon says as he walks into my room. His eyes are wide as he smiles up at me.
"Aw. Thanks, Dil." He walks up to me and I bend down to give him a hug. "I think your dinosaur costume is way cooler, though!" I laugh and ruffle his hair.
"Really?" He giggles excitedly and looks down at his own costume. "It's a triceratops!"
I smile down at his adorable costume. It is pretty cool, I wasn't just being nice to him. Mom found it on Amazon and thought it was the funniest thing ever, so she bought it for Dillon months ago. When she showed it to him last week, he lost his mind.
His costume makes it look like he's riding a dinosaur. A triceratops, to be specific. His legs fit into the legs of the dinosaur and there are straps that hold it up over his shoulders that look like reigns. The head of the dinosaur bobs along in front of him when he moves, and we found him a safari hat and vest to wear with it. He looks freaking adorable and I can't help but smile.
