Truly Elected (Book Two of The Next Selection Series)

Chapter 9

"Are you excited Miss?" Juliana asked as she pulled the curling iron from my hair. 

I shrugged, popping a chip into my mouth. A gift basket full of snack foods had been brought to each of the Pre-Elite's rooms, my guess is because there would be a lot of very fancy food that wouldn't appeal to our tastes.

 "You'll have a wonderful time Sol." Cassia said as she finished sewing the final stitches into my ball gown. Standing from the chair, allowing loose needles and thread to fall to the floor, she held up the glimmering finished product for the world to see. I gasped in awe, it was gorgeous. 

The dress was a gorgeous grayish-blue with tiny baby pink flowers cascading up and down the thick texture. The top was strapless, taking a small v-shape around my chest ares. A ruffle layer of the same color, texture, and flowers encircled my hips, and a huge skirt, larger than any I had previously worn, shot out. The skirt matched the rest of the dress. There was a lot of extra fabric in the back, leaving a wide half-circular train flowing behind me. More flowers ran down in narrow triangular shaped clumps, decorating nearly all of the bottom of the gown. There was a break in the ruffle layer that the back of my gown, filled in by more flowers. But, even with all of this, these things were not the most impressive features of the ball gown. The back was completely open save for three rows of loosely hanging diamond chains. 

"Oh my." My hand covered my mouth to hide my amazement. "Can I put it on?"

 "But your hair isn't finished yet." Juliana kvetched as she waved the curling wand by circling her wrist.

 I held my hand up to her. "Please don't do that." She looked down in shame. 

"Jules, the curls are done, we just need to pin them up into a bun, no biggie, right?" She nodded her head, not meeting my eyes.

 "Yeah, you're right my lady."

 I gulped hard, I had hurt her feelings. I didn't like the discomfort that sat in my stomach, but it was just hair.

 "Okay, Cassia, Starlet, please help me." 

The two women giggled as they bundled the large amount of fabric and allowed me to step in the center of the heap. Letting go, they came to the sides, Starlet spreading the fabric across my flat stomach so Cassia could get a better grip and zipper the gown. Once they were done, I felt like I could barely move; it was that heavy! But looking in the mirror, it was totally worth it. The gown was stunning, heck it was princess-worthy. 

"You guys," tears welled in my eyes. "This is the most beautiful gift you could have ever given me. Thank you." I looked to each and everyone of them. "All of you." 

Juliana peeked up at me from her trance on the floor, a small smile on her face. "We've got several tricks up our sleeves Sol," she said softly. "Expect more and better, I guarantee you that."

 I blushed as I picked up the front of the gown between my fingertips and raced over to Juliana. Upon reaching her, I flung my arms around her shoulders, squeezing tightly. "YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!" 

"Uh, miss, I wouldn't stand so close. The curling wand is on, remember?" 

My eyes widened in a second of terror and I backed up, bashfully laughing and placing my hand on my forehead in embarrassment. 

"Oh...yeah, right." I smiled shyly and giggled. "Well, we may as well finish me up, right ladies? Because honestly, I don't know if I'll be able to finish getting myself ready with this dress on." 

The three of them giggled as they continued working on my hair and makeup, while at the same time taking out my earring studs for long long dangling earrings and a baby pink chocker around my throat.