Broken Hearts and Homework

Chapter 8: Dresses and Gossip

The Princesses' definition of 'bright and early' was very different from Punzie's. She was up at 7am, just in case, but it wasn't until 10 that Meg's voice came from the gallery downstairs.
"Hi, Ms. Tower," Punzie heard the older girl tell her mother, "I'm here to bring Punzie to our girls' day."
Gothel must have directed her to the apartment because, next minute, she appeared at the top of the stairs.
She seemed surprised to see Punzie already up and about. "Mavis was still asleep when we went by her house." She explained, "Are you ready?"
"Almost," Punzie swung her shoulder bag over her right shoulder, then paused with her hand over the blue reusable shopping bag. "Tink said that she had a dress I could use, but should I bring some of my own anyway?"
"Sure, we always try on about twenty of each others' dresses before deciding on which one to wear, so you never know who's dress you'll be wearing."
They went outside to where Meg's maroon convertible waited, with Mavis snoozing in the backseat. As Meg drove through the streets of Burgess, Punzie had a chance to actually look at her.
She was 18, as of the month before, she had reddish brown hair that curled slightly at the tips, she was tall and curvy in all the right places, and when she spoke, Punzie could hear a slight accent.
"It's rude to stare." Meg said without taking her eyes off the road.
"Are you European?" Punzie asked.
"My parents are Greek." Meg answered. "They moved here a year or so before I was born, so yes and no."
Punzie could see how even a guy like Herc -big, muscly, and totally gorgeous- would be attracted to her.
When they arrived at Jazz's house, where they'd be having their pamper day, at first Punzie just stood awkwardly on the edges and noticed things about the other girls.
Snowy's skin was as pale as snow, yet didn't seem unnatural, and though she only put on lipgloss, her lips were as red as blood.
Cindy's blonde hair was a lot longer than you would have thought, as she always put it up in a bun at school, and her feet were really small.
Elsa and Anna weren't quite so identical when you looked at them closely enough. Elsa was a little taller, and did look a little older, and Anna's eyes were a darker shade of a blue. Then , obviously, there was their hair, Elsa's platinum, and Anna's strawberry.
Jazz was an Arabian beauty, and even her house showed it, with design filled carpets and tapestries and rounded pillars. Jazz herself was petite from a distance, but up close she was tall for a girl, and her black hair was enviously luxurious, and that coming from the girl with floor-length golden locks.
Tink was a senior, but was the smallest girl there. She barely reached 5'3", which, matched with her blonde pixie-cut and petite figure, made her seem like a fairy. Until you got too close and realised she'd probably punch you if you said she looked like a fairy to her face.
Belle was the next girl Punzie noticed, she was graceful and tidy, she seemed to clean up after everyone, which would seem OCD with anyone else, but she made it work. She had brown hair, naturally straight but she expertly used a curling iron to make it wavy, she always wore yellow but Punzie thought rosy-pink would suit her too.
Aurora was another girl that would suit rosy-pink, or sky-blue, and those seemed to be the two colours she veered to most, despite joking about wearing a skintight, neon-green dress. She had dark, almost reddish blonde hair and eyes that were waaaay too blue.
Tiana was the darkest, and loudest girl there. She had brought her famous baked goods that Punzie couldn't remember the name of, except that it sounded French. Tiana had a New Orleans accent and take-no-crap attitude. Punzie admired her immediately.
Lottie was, in a word, a barbie. Blonde haired, blue hair, perfect body, and a head full of air. She was Tiana's best friend, but they didn't seem very alike, where Tiana was hardworking, Lottie was carefree, Tiana was loud in a kind of mom way, but Lottie was loud in an annoying younger sibling way.
That was all Punzie could notice before Snowy and Cindy whisked her away to give her a facial, or something.
The rest of the afternoon was filled with various girls doing her nails, her hair, her makeup, and making her try on different dresses to see which worked best. All the while hearing them gossip about how this person was caught doing that, and such and such was now dating that person. Punzie felt quite overwhelmed by the time Meg drove her and Mavis to the restaurant they were meeting everyone else at. Then it finally dawned on her.
I'm going on a date with Jack?! She couldn't quite believe it, it felt like she was waking up from a daze and she suddenly felt like throwing up Tiana's marvellous goodies.
A look to the backseat told her that Mavis had had the same revelation, or just got really carsick.
"Here we are," All too soon Meg pulled up in front of the restaurant, "good luck girls! I'll see you later!" And she was gone.
Punzie was so dizzy that she could barely make out the glowing letters that said the restaurant's name.
"Come on, Punzie." She had forgotten Mavis was there, "We'll get through this together."
Inside, the waitress directed them to a round table with eight seats. Three of which were already taken. Johnny stood up and smiled at Mavis, and Hiccup and Merida waved at Punzie.
"You look beautiful!" Johnny said.
"You look beautiful, too, Punzie." Hiccup said.
Punzie blushed. "You don't look too bad yourself, Gimpy."
"That's exactly what I said!" Merida laughed.
"Exactly." Hiccup muttered. Punzie took that to mean that Merida had also used the nickname.
"So, Johnny," Merida brought the attention away from Hiccup, "You were talking about your plans for after school?"
"Oh, yeah." Johnny and the new arrivals sat down. "I was planning to go hitchhiking around Europe! No money, just me and my backpack, all the way from London, to Portugal, to Transylvania, and back!"
"That sounds so cool!" Mavis said. "My family comes from Transylvania!"
"No way!" Johnny's orange curls bounced a little as his interest I the conversation grew, "I read an article about how there might be actual vampires living there to this very day!"
"I read the same article!" Mavis beamed.
"You know the part where-" Punzie stopped paying attention, having a pretty good idea where the conversation was going.
"So, Hiccup." She smiled at her friend, "How was your romantic drive with Merida?" They both rapidly started proving her wrong, and she couldn't understand a word either of them said.
"Looks like the party started without us." Pascal's voice came from behind them and Punzie turned. "I hope you didn't order the food!"
Jack couldn't speak, he just gaped at Punzie. "You look amazing!"
Punzie was surprised, she had assumed she looked a kid on Halloween who's face paint had stated to run.
"R-really? Thanks. You look reasonable, with your mouth hanging open." Punzie tried to sound sarcastic.
Jack collected himself and grinned, "Are you saying you didn't even notice the antique shirt that I nearly got asthma to find?"
"Dude, you didn't have to go through all the boxes in the attic." Hiccup argued.
"To reach perfection one must take risks." Jack sat next to Punzie, and Pascal and Sandy sat at the two remaining seats.

~~~~~~

Jack couldn't believe how beautiful Punzie looked. Don't get him wrong, she was beautiful before, but now, woah.
Her green eyes seemed even bigger than usual, and they were big anyway, her lips were a glossy pink, and her cheeks had glitter on them. Her hair was in an intricate braid, with smaller braids woven into the main braid, and little hair clips shaped like colourful flowers. He couldn't see her dress very well as she was sitting down, but he could tell it was purple and flattering.
Then, during the appetiser course, she accidentally spilled soup on the front of her dress, which just made her more adorable.
Jack felt like he could stare at her forever, but that would probably just make her uncomfortable and awkward.
Now that his attention was on Punzie alone, he noticed things he hadn't before. Like when Punzie ordered yet another no-meat option, and he realised she was vegetarian. And when she blushed, the tips of her ears would go red as well as her cheeks.
"What're you looking at?" She'd noticed him staring.
"You." That much was obvious, and he felt stupid saying it, but she giggled. She had a cute giggle. "It's quite a view."
"Mine isn't all that bad either." She batted her eyelashes at him.
"Hey! Lovebirds!" Hiccup waved his hand in between their faces. "Did you hear that?"
"Sorry, hear what?" Punzie turned to look at her friend.
"We're going to the ball now." Merida said, "But you two can stay and stare into each other's eyes if you want."
Jack seemed to think through the idea before saying, "We'll come." He got up and offered his hand to Punzie, who accepted it, and all eight of them walked to the cars.
"...And you know they found Bigfoot hair samples in Michigan!" Punzie heard Johnny tell Mavis, they hadn't been talking about mythical creatures the entire time, had they?
Pascal and Hiccup had a quick word about who would follow who and there was a flurry as everyone chose one of the two cars.
Punzie and Jack ended up in the backseat of Pascal's green Toyota, with Sandy in the shotgun seat.
"I had to suffer through their googly eyes for the whole way here!" Jack whispered to Punzie.

~~~~~~

Hiccup and Anna

AnnArendell: Where are you guys? Everyone else is here already!

HicHicHiccup411: On our way, just got a little lost with our navigator making lovey-dovey eyes at Mavis.

AnnArendell: If you need someone to drive out and meet you...

HicHicHiccup411: Nah, it's fine, I think I see can the place now anyway.

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A/N
Can I just share with you all (aka, no one) that this is the most I've written for a story since the stupid siblings book I tried to write when I was 13.
I am very proud of myself.