Miss Make-Believe

Chapter 9

You’re going to lose Whitney, my subconscious warned me.

The beat of my heart quickened and I started sweating like a pig. I looked around me frantically. A throng of people was dressed formally. Girls were dressed in beautiful evening gowns and boys were robed in expensive tuxedos. Everyone looked gorgeous. Half of the crowd was dancing and grinding their sweaty bodies against each other while the others were enjoying champagne and bogus laughter. The atmosphere was obnoxiously high profile.

Then, I looked at myself. I was dressed in a superb, red, knee-length dress. Some of my hair was clutched back by a crocodile clip and my face was painted with make-up. I didn’t look half bad, to be honest. But that didn’t stop me from hyperventilating till the point where I thought I was going to faint.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen!” My eyes drifted toward Noel who was standing behind a podium. He was also dressed in a grey tuxedo and looked quiet handsome like always.

Out of nowhere, my best friend’s chirpy voice met my ear drums, startling me. “Hey Tiny!” Suzanne put a hand on my shoulder and smiled sweetly.

I looked at her dainty features with a dazed expression. “What’s going on?”

She shrugged her bare shoulders and I eyed her strapless, violet coloured gown in awe. She looked as attractive as an Aphrodite. “You will have to stay tuned to find out.” My eyes widened when I observed a bright streak of mischief in her grey orbs but didn’t dare to say a word. Swallowing hardly anything in a parched mouth, I nodded my head and looked back at Noel who was grinning specifically at me.

I beamed back at him uncertainly but my smile faded as soon as I witnessed the same mischievous smudge in his brown eyes too.

Get ready to lose; my subconscious repeated that ominous warning.

I willed my legs to stop trembling and closed my eyes quickly as my sixth sense sniffed danger in the air. Noel’s thick, French accent permeated the air like room freshener and shudders of threat crawled through my entire body. “I’m glad you all could make it today. This party is special. Today is the mark of an official relationship.” His neck turned to his left and the smile broadened and softened. I frowned, confused.

The fog of perplexity vanished when May Sanders appeared through it. She looked impeccable in a short, black dress with her brown hair loosely curled. Chills ran through me again as I noted a grin dripping malevolence plastered on her good-looking face. She embraced Noel in a warming hug and stayed put like that for a long while. Jealousy flared through me and was soon extinguished when Noel pulled back and adjusted the black tie hanging around his neck before taking two steps to stand up to the podium again. The smiles on both of their faces were disconcerting.

I looked at May, only to find that she was glaring at me. The look in her eyes turned into a deadly one and for the very first time in my life, I felt scared. Her hand came against her neck and she staged a dramatic slit of the throat by running the hand across her neck. An odd sense of déjà vu surged over me with slight modifications and I broke our irking eye contact.

“For those of you who don’t know; this is an important announcement.” My ears perked up but my eyes didn’t stray from the granite floors of the expansive ballroom. “May is my step sister.”

I gasped and trailed my eyeballs up. Suz’s face was twisted into a scowl and she was throwing me an accusing look my way. “You lied to me!”

I resisted the want to throw up and tried to explain. “Suzanne, I didn’t…”

“Save it! You’ve lost the bet. No prom for you.” Tears welled up in my enlarged eyes and claustrophobia seemed to pay a visit all of a sudden. “And as for our friendship, we’re done.” She smiled sardonically in my face and finally, a tear leaked out of my stinging eyes at the horrible declaration.