Dolled Up and Underdressed (G/t)

1 // Promises, part I

(A/N: Uploading pics is being difficult, so see a visual of the introductory scene on my website: https://altitudeattitude.home.blog/2020/05/24/dolled-up-before-the-storm/)

The 27th. The day had come.

Hailey didn't know how to feel. Was she even feeling anything? There was just too much going through her mind at the moment: too much, all too quickly. But the excitement of it all didn't turn her away. It only made her want to go through it more.

She had to know if all of this was worth it, and this was the highest chance she was ever going to get.

"I never thought I'd see the day." Hailey stood in front of her bedroom mirror in complete awe of the girl she saw. "What is this? Who am I?" Her caste-bound shackles locking her to the dregs of society vanished, and her appearance finally matched the whimsies and wonders she kept inside.

The markup of any purchasable item, from the everyday necessity to the extravagant pleasure, was one of many scarlet letters set solely for those in her stratum, and it left no found crumb or earned coin to be wasted. Every member of the family that could work did work – some, including Hailey, having multiple jobs – but that effort was only displayed in what was inherited and passed down.

Keep your head high, your grades up, and your family first. With those in order, anything was possible. Hailey and the rest of the Wainscot crew usually lived day-to-day with forced hand-me-downs, homemade stuff, and refurbished goods. Yet, here Hailey was in an elaborate ensemble enhanced with sparkles, glittering, and jingling from head to toe, with a ticket – a literal S-pass – straight to the top of the social hierarchy and a party within it.

A party.

A party some cute dude on the internet invited her to. A dude with style, coolness, and chiseled features that were only seen in models. A dude with sweetness like a cake atop talent like a savant. A dude whose portrait was plastered to her mirror with a heart-shaped sticker. A dude that paid her entire way – outfit, travel, and all – to get her with him tonight.

A dude she's only ever met in real life once.

"Hailey?" her mother Brooke called from the foyer below, breaking the blissful silence and her spacing-out session. "Your ride is here."

The damsel was so caught up in the glamorous abnormality of her look that, during that moment, she forgot she was at home, let alone not alone. If she wanted to make a good impression at the affair, then she couldn't stay there much longer, despite the comfort in being somewhere she knew holding her in place. One more glance in the reflective glass – her cheery yet nervous grin and blushes comparable to her cherry dress – and the retrieval of her shoulder bag, and she was off.

The light clicks of her strappy heels as she walked to the stairs were a new sound: an extreme difference to the normal squeaks of sneakers or thuds of boots. They went in a balanced rhythm, however, as she suppressed her only reason to falter her steps: her emotions. It was rare when she wore them, but she had enough experience to know how to walk the walk well.

The walk and the presentation, apparently.

"Lee! Lee!" The cutest voice to ever grace ears greeted Hailey at the top of the stairs. Its owner beamed from down below with a smile almost as bright as Hailey's dress. If Hailey had been showing any sort of negativity at the time, it would've flown off her face.

"You like my dress, Addy?" Hailey responded to her sister, flattered. "You think I'm pretty?"

Brooke replied for both of them, turning away from peeking out a window to the front yard. "I think she does, and so do I. Hailey Rose, you are... a doll."