Stuck in the Middle

Dress Shopping

(*Mariah's POV*)

"Bye mom, bye dad, love you!" I called as I hopped into Jade's car.

"You ready?" Jade asked, smiling big.

"Yes! Let's go!" I screamed, excited.

We headed to the mall to go check out some prom dresses for a low price.

Jade tried on a light blue, knee length dress. It had ruffles at the bottom and a flower sewed on, right above her heart. It was a Strapless.

"Cute!" I commented, inspecting her.

"Agree." A girl said, walking up to Jade and kissing her on the cheek.

"Mariah, Sammy. Sammy, Mariah." Jade introduced me to her girlfriend.

It was awkward seeing two girls act like a boy, girl couple. But as long as Jade is happy, I'll try my best to understand, and to respect her choices.

Sammy was pretty, in a boyish way.

She had a cap on, but her pink bangs were peaking out.

"So... Yes or no?" Jade asked us.

"Yes!" Me and Sammy said in unison.

We all laughed.

"My turn!" I called as I went into the changing room.

It took a couples tries but I finally found the perfect dress.

It was gorgeous.

I twirled around so I could see all angles of it in the mirror.

It was a soft pink color. Spaghetti straps that crisscrossed in the back. From my chest to my waist it was snug, then when it reaches my hips it poofs out so that when I spin, it catches air. It was simple, yet elegant. I smiled at my reflection.

"Hurry up!" Jade yelled, tapping on the door.

I walked out and showed her the dress.

"Wow!" She gasped, putting her hand over her mouth.

Sammy whistled.

I laughed.

"You look gorgeous!" Jade said, running up and hugging me.

"Thank you!" I told her.

"No girl will be able to compete." She said, radiant.

I scoffed. "Yeah Right."

"Yeah I am right." She said.

"Let me get changed and we'll go grab some masks!" I said excited.

We paid for the dresses and walked to the costume outlet.

Jade and I were trying to look for ones that match our dresses.

"Found one for you." I said, holding up the mask to Jade.

"It matches the flower!" She squealed.

Jade's mask was beige, it was shaped like sunglasses except you could see her eyes. There were two hearts embedded on either side of it.

I kept looking for one while Jade paid for hers.

I dug under some masks and found a black one.

It was similar to Jade's except instead of two hearts on each side, it had soft pink sequins bordering the edges.

I paid for it and met Jade outside.

"Ready to go home?" I asked.

"Not quite." She said, smirking.

"Here you go babe." It was Sammy, she had a brown paper bag in her hand and gave it to Jade.

"Thank you!" Jade told her, kissing her quickly on the lips.

"It was nice meeting you." I said, as Jade and I walked away.

"You too!" She called back.

We headed to Jade's house and put all our stuff on her couch.

"Ready?" She asked, excited.

"For what?"

"For this." She answered, grabbing hair dye and colored contacts out of the brown bag.

"Whoa! What's that for?" I asked.

"So people don't recognize you at prom." She said, coming closer to me.

I stepped back.

"Come on Mariah, do you want to get caught?" She asked.

"Are you doing this to?" I asked.

She laughed.

"Of course not!" She answered.

I gave her a questioning look.

"Please?" She said, giving me a puppy face.

If I do this, it'll help me with my plan for when we get to prom.

Tyler, Caleb or Justin won't recognize me, and that's what I need.

"Ok." I said reluctantly.

"Yay!!! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!" She said, getting me prepared for the horror.

"Ok, so just close your eyes, I want to surprise you." She said, as I laid my head down and let her do her thing.

I woke up to a ringing of a timer.

"Done!" Jade said, pulling the towel away from my hair.

"Perfect!" She said, turning me so I'm facing the mirror.

I didn't even recognize myself.

My hair was as black as my mask, which is pretty dark.

"What do you think?!?" Jade asked, happy.

"I love it!" I shouted, hoping she couldn't hear the disappointment in my voice.

"Great!" She answered, too busy to catch the tone of my voice.

"What's next?" I asked, reluctantly.

"Colored contacts." She said holding up the case.

The contacts were hard to put on, and it felt weird whenever I blinked, but I finally got used to it.

I looked in the mirror again, not recognizing the girl staring back. Jet black hair, and stormy gray eyes.

I frowned. Can I really go through with my plan? Do I really want to?

"You ok?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, just thinking." I whispered.

If I do this, I could find out more about Caleb, Tyler, and Justin and there reasons.

"I'll go with it." I finally told Jade.

"Thank you!" She said, clapping her hands.

I took off my contacts and fell asleep, dreaming of my plan, and how it'll go...