Chapter 25
I stand in front of an oversized rectangular mirror but find someone else’s image. She’s a dozen-like better than me, though we have the same clothes and amethyst eyes. I walk closer to the mirror, and the girl walks towards me too. I touch the glass and find her reaching back until there’s nothing to separate us but the cold glass mirror.
“My efforts paid off.” Sighs Laura Daffodil behind my back, touching my waist with her delicate hands. Laura is a Mermaid and believe it or not, she’s the Scholars’ secretary. She’s been helping me, or to put it exactly she’s been repairing me to be presentable for the upcoming dance.
Luke’s right hand – well, that’s what he wants to call himself – Samuel Ybarra, told me a day after Luke invited me to be his date that the dance isn’t as ordinary as it sounds like. It is an annual event to commemorate the school’s foundation attended by all alumni including Czars and prominent business men all over Ezmer. And if I don’t act or look right during that night, it would harm Luke’s image as the future Czar of Ventus. ‘He can’t even choose a right lady, how can he run a district in the future?’- I remember him setting that example, and in order for him not to be embarrass, Samuel asked Laura’s help to do whatever she can to change me.
I’ve been secretly meeting Laura at the Scholars’ office every night for almost two weeks now – thirteen days in fact – just to do heavy ‘beauty repairs’ since according to her, effortless beauty is a lie. She started off by ripping every hair on my skin, followed by exfoliating my sand paper like skin and applying different creams all over my face and body, I take time to read each containers and found out that those were anti-scar, whitening, pore minimizer, and a lot more. Even my hair and nails didn’t escape from her judgmental eyes – she asked me how I live my life with such ugliness. I didn’t take it personally since she’s from Unda, I’ve manage to get used to them. It is their nature to be rude, though I find her words more contained than Amber’s foul mouth. Maybe it’s because of her almost five year stay in Whitehorn Academy - she’s a graduating student – her years here might have changed her a bit, polished her to be a better Mermaid. If that’s so, then Amber have a chance in getting better too. There’s a possibility that her rudeness will change in time.
Laura pulls something out of her closet. “I personally pick this for you.” She says, trying to be sweet. “Sire Luke didn’t ask what you prefer since he knew you wouldn’t accept it in the first place.”
I look away from the mirror, away from the better version of me and see a beautiful dress that shines like the sun – it’s a honey nude. There are sequences that look like fish scales at first sight embroidered on the upper half of the dress making it darker in colour – gold and silver. “I… I can’t” I start, I am stun by how elegant the dress looks like and I don’t think I can carry such beauty.
She pulls me closer and without my permission, she unzips my brother’s jacket. “Confidence is what makes a girl beautiful, Keesha.” She gives me a sweet smile like she read my mind, so sweet that for a second I thought she’s being friendly. “It’s either you go in that dress or dance naked.”
Immediately, I take the dress from her fearing she’ll really send me into the dance naked. I learned that students here never bluff about their threats. The dress feels soft and warm, like I’m envelope with my mother’s long hair. I stare at the mirror once again and realized that I’m not as ugly as I think I am. Tonight, I am not even an inch close to what Amber or Shane describes me. I want to claim it, just this one night; I am beautiful.
“I have to fix your hair and makeup too.” Informs Laura. I notice her eyes are shimmering with waters – tears. She sits me up in a cushioned lilac chair and begins to paint my face – smudged, smoky colour eye makeup paired with a peach lipstick. Since my hair is too short for any styles, she just tousled my pixie hair like it was blown by a great wind, or what she calls; windswept style. As soon as she finished with everything, she hands me over a pair of golden high heels to match my dress.
