The Senior Project

Chapter Twenty Five | Evilly Masterminded Plans

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE~
EVILLY MASTERMINDED PLANS

I had a plan.

Okay, not really. But I did have a goal to achieve before graduation in a few short weeks. I wanted to get James' forgiveness before I graduated high school. I didn't think I could graduate without resolving everything.

When I had told Soraya, she'd said my first step should be to 'find a gorgeous dress so he wouldn't be able to take his eyes off me'. I didn't agree. I knew she just wanted to go shopping with me but I did owe her for sticking around with me. So here I was, at the nearby mall with Soraya, shopping for a dress to wear at prom.

"How about this one?" Soraya asked with impatience, holding out a pale blue dress.

It had been an hour since we started shopping and Soraya was understandably frustrated. So was I. It was hard to find one because all the dresses had such low necklines or they were too tight. Then again, maybe it was just me.

"You know what Cee? Get black. Seriously, just use a black dress!" Soraya groaned I'm annoyance as we rejected yet another dress. "Like... that one!" She ran over to a rack and pulled out a random black dress with a green stripe running around the fabric a few inches below my knees.

I extracted it from her hands and held it up to my body as I looked in the mirror. It looked like it would fit.

"Go try it on so we can relax."

"Yes ma'am!" I saluted and marched loudly to the change rooms.

Once inside, I slumped tiredly against the bench. I was so worn out from all the recent activity. Between my early study habits and all the drama, I was mentally exhausted. I heaved a sigh, shoving myself up. I changed out of my plaid button down and jeans and into the dress.

It was actually okay. The dress was simple and modest enough with its sweetheart neckline, and a hem that brushed the tops of my toes. The fabric hugged my body without strangling me and attached to the dividing green stripe of patterned fabric, was a light flowy material that rippled with the movement of my feet. I gave a little twirl, something I'd never do in public. The ruffled skirt swooshed out a little bit and I laughed, deciding this was the one I was buying. I checked the price with bated breath, realizing I should have looked at that first. Thankfully, it was on sale- an added bonus for me.

I changed back into my normal clothes and ambled out into the shop. Soraya was waiting there impatiently.

"So? How did it go?" she demanded the moment I appeared. She scanned my hands for the dress but it was tucked under my arm. "Why are you folding it?" she shrieked. "Don't fold a dress you dummy!"

"Great. Let's pretend I knew that."

"And why did you take it off? I wanted to see, you know? Have that typical gushy moment? Go back! We're trying this again!"

"What? No! I don't want to! It's fine!"

"Too bad! No offence but your sense of style is really... odd sometimes," she added. "C'mon Cee, humour me?"

"You do realize that you chose the dress right?" I clarified.

She shot me a glare, wordlessly yelling at me to shut up and put the dress on again. I sighed but relented, heading back into the changing room with the dress still clutched under my arm. Quickly locking the door and spinning around, I pulled it out in front of me and it unfolded with a delicate flutter.

When I slipped into the dress, I couldn't help but marvel at its simplicity some more. I've always found simple things to be better. More often than not, extravagance made things seem overdone. Once again, unable to help myself, I twirled around, enjoying the feel of the fabric against my toes.