Exhale

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

I had absolutely nothing to wear.

Monday hit like a brick, and it was my first day of being at a new school. The first impression was everything, and I was being so very hopeful to impress the drill team and the cheer squad. I knew cheer-leading tryouts were already passed, but I had been told by the school previously that once I arrived the Drill team will give me a chance because of my dance background.

I couldn't mess this up.

Many of my clothes were still in various boxes strewn all across my room. Saturday morning when Leslie brought me home from our sleepover, our truck had arrived with all our things, including our mattresses, bed frames, and my many, many boxes of clothing. You'd think that I'd been able to just reach into a box and magically pull out a piece of clothing to wear.

If only I'd had it that easy.

I'd dug through one of my boxes on Saturday to try and sort some things out, but I hadn't gotten very far because Mom had demanded that I help her assemble the bed frames so at least we could sleep comfortably at night.

And I still had my things in my suitcase, but all that were there, clothing-wise, were my t-shirts, yoga pants, and flip flops. If only I had thought further ahead.

Sunday I had been too busy helping my mom rearrange the furniture and installing the appliances that I'd only managed to get through one box of clothing, and that was my underwear. I couldn't exactly go streaking through the hall in a pair of lace panties and a push-up bra. The boys would've enjoyed that a little too much, and I'd probably get suspended for under dressing.

I blew a blonde strand of hair out of my eyes and peered into my floor mirror at my reflection. I caught sight of the white dress draped on one of my boxes in the background and frowned.

I mean, it was cute, but as far as I knew it was cursed, figuratively speaking. I reflected on what Leslie had said about it. It was short enough to say oops, low enough to purr meow, and the sleeves tied it all in with an elegant flow. I released a huff. I could try and see if it would look good with my brown knee high boots I'd managed to dig out, but I was secretly hoping it looked terrible on me so I wouldn't have to wear it. I stripped out of my sleep shorts and tank top, and threw the white dress on over my head. The sleeves fell halfway down my arm before flaring out at the elbow. The hem of the skirt landed about three inches above my knees, and the collar scooped down, my cleavage barely being exposed, but there was enough to get the mind going. I stared at my reflection and grimaced. This was unbelievable. I actually looked good. It was as if the dress was made for me. The fabric clung to all the right parts of me, while extenuating all the right places. I pulled on my boots and grimaced even more. Things were working out with this outfit a little too perfectly. I wanted to cry. No, what I wanted to do was burn it. I glanced quickly at the time on my phone and figured that, burning my dress would have to wait, because I had twenty minutes before Leslie was supposed to pick me up. I and hadn't even eaten breakfast yet.

I rummaged through my purse, where I always kept a spare necklace and my favorite hoop earrings, just in case of emergencies. This was one emergency.

I wouldn't consider myself a girly girl, but I definitely was not a tomboy. I liked to consider myself a good balance between both. I had the best of both worlds, by being a sporty girl who loved to play tackle football growing up with all the boys in the neighborhood, but someone who found time to do my makeup and put on a nice dress. Just, not the one I was wearing.

I dug into my makeup bag and pulled out some black, scandal-eyes mascara, a nude color eye shadow ballet, and some lip gloss.

As I was finishing my look with a cute half-up do, my phone vibrated with a text from Leslie.