i want it all - gg

𝟮𝟳 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨

"So, explain why you're going to this Cotillion thing if you think it's totally lame," Allegra Thorpe asked Scarlett as they sat on a park bench in double photography. Allegra was sat cross legged on one side of the bench taking photos of Scarlett smoking one of her imported French cigarettes.

"It's really important to my grandma," Scarlett said weakly. "Also, my mom and dad went to Cotillion together and my mom keeps telling me how it was the best night ever."

Behind the camera, Allegra let out a cynical laugh. Over the past few weeks of double photography classes, the two girls had formed an unlikely friendship.

"So explain the process to me,"Allegra said.

"It's stupid," Scarlett said for about the hundredth time. A small to large part of her really didn't want cool, edgy Allegra to think she was some sort of square for going. "I get escorted to a dance by some young eligible bachelor, and I say all the bullshit things they want me to say about my life goals and what charities or committees I want to be a part of, and then we waltz."

"I think it sounds fun," Allegra said.

Scarlett raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, back in Chicago me and my friends would always go to these dumb mandatory functions, but we would always sneak off and drink and have fun," Allegra explained as she snapped more pictures of Scarlett. She was the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen, and was now the main focus of her photography project.

Does everybody that meets Scarlett fall in love with her, or what?

"You should totally come then," Scarlett said. "Please, it would make my night so much better."

"Maybe I will," Allegra said, putting down her camera.

Scarlett beamed. "We need to find escorts, then!"

xoxo

"Wow, Hadley, you look gorgeous," Azaria Muniz gaped as Hadley stepped out of the Barney's dressing rooms in a Narciso Rodriguez black and blue silk gown.

"Yeah, I think this is the one," Agnes Swanson nodded, even though she'd said that to the last three dresses. She and Azaria were sat on a loveseat outside the changing rooms in their Constance uniforms, Agnes holding a shimmering J. Mendel Plissé gown and Azaria had a folded up blood-orange coloured Ozman draped crepe one shoulder gown.

"I don't know," Hadley said. "I need something more daring, more racy. And this doesn't even reach the floor."

Agnes and Azaria suppressed sighs. They'd settled on their dresses for the upcoming debutante ball almost half an hour, but Hadley was in an especially picky mood.

I wonder if that has anything to do with the many disastrous aspects of her life right now. Namely Gabriel, Scarlett and the impending wedding of hell. Come on girls, let our little control freak have control over something in her life.

"I'm trying to ditch the preppy thing," she said, sifting through the tonnes of gowns she'd picked out. "At least for the ball."

"Go with the Gucci then," Azaria suggested, fiddling mindlessly with a piece of her perfectly shiny dark brown hair.

Hadley shut her eyes for a moment and sighed dramatically, before opening them again. "Are you insane?" She asked calmly. "This is cotillion, not a high class brothel!"

The girls stared blankly back at Hadley, who groaned and slammed the dressing room door.

Azaria and Agnes exchanged a look, before turning back to their phones.

She rifled through the pile of dresses, until she found something exciting at the bottom. A dreamy Champagne coloured satin Ciré slip gown by Philosophy Di Lorenzo Serafini that she'd grabbed mindlessly earlier off the new arrivals rack.

Hastily pulling the black dress over her head, Hadley changed into the mesmerising gown and admired herself in the mirror. The satin clung to her thin frame as if it was made for her, and she loved the way her long hair tumbled down her back effortlessly. Maybe she wouldn't cut it back to her classic shoulder length cut. She liked this new Hadley. A sexier, more sophisticated Hadley.

I must say, so do I.

Hadley imagined Gabriel seeing her in this dress, and she knew she had to buy it. The girl immediately cursed herself for caring what he thought so much, but she couldn't help it. She was tied to him in some way, whether she liked it or not.

She stepped out of the dressing room and both Azaria and Agnes gaped. "Yes," they both said in unison. And this time they really meant it.

xoxo

"Okay, but I refuse to go to Barney's," Allegra said after Scarlett had spent a full ten minutes persuading her to skip last period and go dress shopping for Cotillion with her.

Scarlett's face lit up in a smile. "I wasn't thinking Barney's anyway," she said as she hailed a cab. "My Aunt is a designer, I think you'd like her stuff."

The two girls climbed into a cab. As the taxi raced through the city, Scarlett gushed to Allegra about how cool her aunt's designs were.

Allegra was pleasantly surprised by J. Humphrey designs, even just from looking through the front window. The shop was closed, but there was a young woman with platinum blonde hair tied in a top knot, wearing a pair of large holographic ski goggles, a punky tartan school girl skirt with a white t shirt stood at the till going through papers. She looked like Avril Lavigne mixed with Chalet Girl.

Scarlett drummed on the glass door with her french-manicured nails and grinned as she caught her aunt's attention. The woman trotted over in her platform boots and unlocked the door, pulling Scarlett into a bear hug.

"Where have you been all summer Scar?!" Jenny grinned and lifted her ski goggles onto her forehead to reveal her big blue eyes.

"Missing youuu," Scarlett giggled in response.

"What brings you here, not that you ever need an excuse," she said.

"My friend Allegra needs a dress for Cotillion," she told her.

"Hold on, are you not getting one too?" Allegra asked.

"I can't, I've gotta wear my mom's," Scarlett said.

"Well come on in, any friend of Scar's is a friend of mine, which means discount!"

Looks like I've got a friend to make - if I ever want to break into my J. Humphrey wishlist, that is.