99 Days of Kindness [Working Title]

Part 2

Day 1

I'm sitting in a dress shop watching Angie rummage through all the dresses on the rack. It's been about 20 minutes and she still hasn't picked one out yet. I get bored by just watching her and go to help her. 

"Angie, did you find one yet?" 

"Okay, here we go!" Angie exclaims excitedly. She pulls out a long, navy blue dress that flowed at bottom from the rack. She puts the dress against me and smiles in satisfaction. "Perfect."

"Finally..." I say. 

"Try it on."

She shoves the dress over to me and gives a sly smile.

"What?"

"Well, I picked it out for you. Why do you think I took so long?"

"This whole time you were picking out a dress for me?"

She just nods proudly like she just completed a mission appointed by the CIA. 

"Why would I need a dress as elegant as this?"

"Well, hello, Mila! If we want to complete our goal, we have to dress to impress to reach the target!" 

She shimmies in excitement. 

"What do you mean by target? Why would I need to dress up?" 

I raise my eyebrows questionably. 

"For Connor's friend, remember? They're throwing a fancy ball tonight and we're invited. Well, I'm invited, but you're my guest so you're invited too."

"And when did I agree to go?"

She grins and says, "Right now."

She shoves me towards one of the dressing room. 

"He'll fall in love instantly!"

"Just to let you know, this counts as day one!" I say before she pushes me into the dressing room. 

Night: The Ball 

My heart is racing. I am nervous. My breath tightens. I take a deep breath and let it out. I lightly clench the sheer fabric of my dress. The light shines brightly across the ballroom. Classical music blears all around the room. There are champagne bottles on each table in the room. 

Angie wraps her arm my shoulders and gives me soft squeeze on the shoulder.

"Are you nervous?"

I nod quickly like a bobblehead to her. 

"Don't be. You look gorgeous." 

"I don't belong here. This...is beyond anything I've ever attended."

"I don't either, but here I am. Just think of this as prom."

"Prom was not even close to this. It was held in a gym." 

She laughs, but then looks down and pushes my hand off my dress. 

"Hey, stop. You'll ruin your dress."

I look down and realized I have created a crease in my dress. I must have clenched it too hard. I pat down across the fabric to try to get rid of the crease. 

"Just breathe and have fun. Don't literally think of this as mission. We're not SPY kids, Mila. I'll go grab us drinks."

I scrunch my face at her before she walks away. I take another deep breath as Angie says. I take a scan around the venue. I've never been to such an elegant event like this. Everyone I  notice is beautifully dressed. Diamonds are wrapped around each lady's neck and wrists. Feeling out of place, I touch my own necklace which was not made of diamonds. The guys are all dressed in suits and tuxedos that probably cost thousands of dollars. I didn't even know Angie's boyfriend, Connor, was part of such an aristocratic class. I continue scanning the room of people when my eyes catch a glimpse of a man in an all-black suit. He stood alone with a glass of, I presume, champagne. He looks lonely as he stares down at the glass and twirls it around his fingers. Looking closely, he looked familiar. I scrunch my eyebrows together trying to figure out why. I tilt my head and analyze where I have seen his face before. Suddenly, he lifts his head and our eyes meet. I widen my eyes in embarrassment and quickly turn away. I scurry over to Angie.