Idealisms

Chapter 13 - The Ball, pt. 1

The first month of school passed by in a whirlwind. Somehow, it had never occurred to me how much work and effort needed to by put into my studies in order to succeed in them. Remember how Tom took me around the city? He may as well not have wasted his time (though I personally had a lovely time) since I literally never had the time to go out. Chemistry was not an easy major, and I needed my grades to stay high so I could keep my scholarships. None of my other friends were even part of the sciences faculty –well, Caroline was taking political sciences, but I'm not sure if that counted. She never had 3-hour long labs late at night.

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm a little bitter. It totally sucked to have to stay in every single weekend, whittling away at my mountain of schoolwork and watching my friends go out partying. I kind of admired that no matter how much work they had, somehow, they'd still make time for parties, and manage to get it all done in due time.

Caroline told me I shouldn't be surprised. Apparently, Tom had been a natural-born writer, and studying literature for a major was his life's dream, so its really no wonder he excelled in his studies with seemingly little effort. I didn't hesitate to express my jealousy.

Speaking of Tom, I'd barely even seen him since school started. As much as I liked him, there was no way I'd prioritize spending time with some boy over academic success. If only Margaret were here to roll her eyes at me. Margaret. I missed her tremendously. We made it a habit to write to each other at least once every two weeks, but so far, we'd been keeping up weekly. I also never realized just how much I actually talked to her until now that we're apart.

Sometimes I wondered if I'd made the right decision to attend school here.

One day, I woke up in a particularly grumpy mood; I was not looking forward to handing in my assignments not writing my quiz, and all I wanted to go was go back to sleep. The school day passed rather uneventfully, except for a rather bizarre interaction with Tom:

I was just walking down the corridors, until I suddenly felt hands cover my eyes. "Guess who!"

"Oh my goodness, Tom! Don't do that!" I protested in annoyance, shaking myself out of his grasp.

He ignored me and flung his arm around my shoulders. "So...... any plans for tonight, Harry?"

I couldn't help but chuckle. Followed by an eye roll. "Don't call me that! And no, I'm just going to be studying, I heard its supposed to rain tonight anyways."

"A bit of water never hurt anyone," he said mischievously. "Be ready at 9." He tousled my hair and jogged off.

"Wha... Hey!" I called out after him, but he just shook his head without even turning back.

--

It was a quintessential dark and gloomy October night, illuminated only by the moon's dim glow and the occasion crackle of lightning. Thunder boomed in the distance –I'd been right, it was indeed raining. Caroline was leaned back in her chair, feet kicked up on the desk, absorbed in course readings, I was sprawled out on the floor, papers all around me.

Suddenly Caroline got up, maneuvering around the candles about the room like they weren't even there, and threw open the doors of her closet. "Get up Harriet, you have to help me pick what to wear tonight!"

"You'll look gorgeous no matter what Caro." I mumbled without even turning around. It was true.

"Not for me, stupid! Harriet, what are you going to wear?"

Huh? "I'm not going to wear anything."

Caroline laughed. "As funny as that would be, I cannot let you attend this party in the nude. What would Tom say? Now seriously, get up and pick yourself a dress!"

"Wait, is this Tom's mysterious party? The one he was being so cryptic about earlier?" Caroline was already dragging me to stand up.

"Yes probably, but when isn't he like that, now come onn!!"

--

And that's how I ended up walking into an absolutely stunning banquet hall, arm in arm with Caroline, wearing a crème colored dress to complement her black one. To be honest, I hadn't needed much convincing to even come to the party. Caroline gave me a full debriefing on the way here; this event was classy. Like, to the highest degree. It was apparently a pretty exclusive event, invitation only, and some of Tom's father's friends/business partners were hosting it, ergo, that's how we got to be there as Tom's guests.

Caroline told me that the only rules for attendees were to dress classy (hence the reason I borrowed her dress) and to keep their face covered, to uphold the illusion and 'preserve the magic of the night'. Evidently, this masquerade gala was a big deal. Rumor had it that they'd rented out the Opera Garnier, but I rolled my eyes when Caro said that.

While a part of me wanted to think "do rich people have nothing better to do with their time than throw unnecessarily extravagant parties?", another part of me was super curious and excited to see what a real lavish party would be like.

And it was almost ethereal. The whole "magic of the night" illusion was real, doubtful as I'd been. I really couldn't identify anybody's face –that extra element of mystery was thrilling. Caroline seemed at ease, so I tried to emulate her poise. The fact that we are the same height made it easy to walk in tandem through the crowds of people. Occasionally she'd point out some people to me, and I even recognized Jean and Victoria from our year. Guess Tom invited them too. I had felt a little flattered thinking I'd been the only friend he invited –well, other than Caro.

The two of us were chatting in a corner after socializing for some time, when a couple of young men in suits approached us. One of them reached out and asked Caroline for a dance, so they headed off arm in arm, her looking back at me with a wink.

I chuckled to myself and swirled the champagne in my glass. I had the weird feeling that someone was staring at me., but I ignored it and watched Caro and her dance partner glide across the floor. They were both really good dancers, and so were the next six men who she danced with. Bloody hell, this girl has a lineup forming. Though I hated to admit it, I was starting to get a bit annoyed; I mean sure Caroline was gorgeous and bound to attract plenty of male attention, but I couldn't believe she has ditched me for some boys! And she didn't even like any of them! I went to get another drink.

"Excuse me miss?" A voice called out.

"Would you give me the pleasure of one dance with you?" I turned to see the boy who called out to me with his arm outstretched towards me, and what I could see of his face behind his mask was as bright red as a tomato.

"Erm, sure." I replied, mentally kicking myself. I don't know how to dance! I awkwardly set my drink down, and he pulled me onto the dance floor just as the song was about to start. As if he could read my mind, he leaned in and whispered, "Don't worry, I know this dance, just follow my lead."

And that I did. It wasn't so bad, and after a few minutes I actually started to enjoy myself. The song was slow, and I began to get the hang of it; by the end of the first song I could dance without watching my own feet. I looked up only to see a man staring directly at me. His hair was slicked back and he appeared to be wearing a jet black suit with a red tie. Of course, his face was almost fully covered by a white mask rimmed with gold. I was so taken aback, that I stumbled and lost my footing, bumping shoulder with the couple behind me. "Sorry!" I winced at their dirty looks. I saw Caroline shoot me a 'thumbs up' across the floor, but when my mystery partner twirled me around, I saw the same man staring at me again. What the hell is his deal? I wondered to myself.

Suddenly, the music stopped. "Everybody out!" An old man had burst into the room, stopped for a second to catch his breath, and yelled at the top of his lungs, "FIRE!"