Apparition

Chapter 4: Encounter
The following weekend, Chloe, Alex, Maddie and I made plans for going prom dress shopping in downtown Seattle after I did my ghost training that morning.
Chloe’s date was her boyfriend she’s been with for the past two years. His name was Kevin Dooley. Since Alex’s parents were really strict, they wouldn’t let her get a real date so instead of going with the guy who asked her, she decided that her and Maddie should go together as friends.
“I feel really bad for Lawren,” Maddie sighed as we walked through the city. Chloe and Alex walked together as Maddie and I followed them from behind. Since prom was less than a week away, all of the dresses were nearly cleared out so we’ve all just been walking around town looking for at something that caught our eye.
“Have you spoken to him lately?” I asked.
“Yeah. Ever since that little incident with you two, he turned to me to talk to.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, right?” I was trying to be optimistic.
“Well… yeah. But he’s talking to me for the wrong reasons! He’s always talking about you and how stupid he was to ask you knowing you have a boyfriend. Natalia, have you even talked or looked at him since the day he asked you to prom?”
“No.”
“You should because he’s nothing like he used to be. He always seems bummed out.”
“Okay. Maybe I do regret screaming at him but in my defense, he was being ridiculously rude.”
“It hurts me to say this, but I think you should go to prom with both Nathan and Lawren.”
I shook my head and laughed. “I can’t.”
“Just so Lawren will get better, Natalia! You’re going to be with Lawren as best friends but you’re going to be with Nathan as your date.”
“How about you, Maddie?”
“It’ll be fine,” she pressed. “Just do it. For Lawren. Your best friend.”
“First, I have to see if it’s fine with Nathan and if he’s fine with it then maybe I’ll grant Lawren’s wish. But I still wish he’d go with you.”
“It’s alright, Natalia. I assure you.”
“Wait a minute! I have an idea!”
“What is it?” She asked.
“Since my Singular Ability is to basically temporarily control people, I can make Lawren go with you by just telling him to.”
“You’re diabolical,” Maddie said and laughed.
“But as much as I like that idea, I don’t want to go to prom with a senseless zombie robot.”
“Alright,” I sighed.
Chloe found a little boutique that had a pink dress in front of the window and we went into the store. The boutique was near the outskirts of town and was barely populated with people. The dresses there were cheap and beautiful. The store was having a blowout sale for prom dresses which meant we were all bound to find something there.
I wasn’t very enthusiastic about shopping-especially for dresses-as the rest of the girls but I had to step out of my comfort zone to find the perfect dress that will take Nathan’s breath away.
Chloe on the other hand was fantastic with this kind of thing. We been in the store for at least five minutes and she already had a stack of dresses on her arm that she was going to try on. I decided that since Chloe wasn’t going to buy all of them that I’d take one of the dresses she wasn’t going to buy. Chloe had magnificent taste in clothes why not get some help from her?
“Alex, will your parents be fine with you wearing a dress?” I asked and laughed.
Alex has extremely strict parents. They wouldn’t let her go out to parties that wasn’t family affiliated, they made her wear a private school outfit even though she wasn’t in private school, and a million of other things. Since Alex was their only child they made sure she was perfect not only in school but everywhere else. She seemed to have these two completely different personalities. When it was time for school work she’d be so focused that she probably wouldn’t realized a tornado right outside her window but when school was over and she wasn’t with her family, she’d be this completely different girl. A high-powered ball of positive energy and sass. Before I ever met Nathan-who I saw as my tranquilizer-she was the one who always stood up for me since I wasn’t capable of doing it myself. If I did, I’d transform and that was something I tried to avoid.
She rolled her eyes. “They have to approve of it first. They said to take a picture and describe the fabric and everything else to them in a text.” She chuckled. “They were so close to going out and buying the dress themselves.”
Chloe ended up buying a light pink dress that was above her knees. The dress had a tutu-effect and was strapless. The dress was perfect on Chloe considering the fact that she resembled a Barbie doll. Her heels were the same shade of pink with a large silver bow. Chloe was nominated for Prom queen so she would look perfect up on stage if she won which I was totally confident she would since she was running against Taylor Tank and another girl named Lori Carlson.
Taylor was like the mean girl at school. No one really liked her but they felt they had to respect her. Since the day Taylor and I met, I was always her target and everyone else outside the center dot didn’t matter as much.
Alex bought a midnight blue dress that went down to the bottom of her ankles. The dress was the same color of her school girl outfit. To be honest the dress did look a bit bland and that’s why Alex bought two dresses. The blue one was the one she was going to wear when she left the house and came home and the edgy crimson was the dress she was going to wear for prom. Her parents didn’t see the crimson dress of course. We were all excited to see Alex in her dress because we’ve never seen her in anything like what she bought. She was the only one who saw herself in it. It was going to be a surprise on the day of prom.
Maddie’s dress was very floral. It was white and was right below her knees. The dress had tiny red and yellow flowers pinned to the bottom of the dress. It gave it the effect of flowers being dropped. A braided piece of brown leather was tied around the waist area. At the end of the belt were six red and yellow flowers dangling down.
I thought it was fascinating how each dress matched their personalities.
I ended up with… nothing. As hard as I tried I still wasn’t able to find the perfect dress. All of the dresses Chloe didn’t buy were beautiful but none caught my eye or were something I’d ever wear.
“I’m so sorry you didn’t find your dress, Natalia,” Chloe said.
“It’s alright,” I said and laughed like it was no big deal. “I could just… try somewhere else.”
“We’ll all be searching for a dress for you. Don’t worry. I promise you that you won’t go to prom wearing jeans and a shirt.” Alex laughed.
“Thanks,” I said to them.
After we all went out to dinner, we waited in downtown for Nathan to come and pick us up.
In downtown Seattle there was a large diversity in people. Not in ethnicities but their beliefs and styles. There were many people going around town holding picket signs saying some of the most craziest things. There was music around, too. Even when it was late at night people would still be out on the street creating music.
A man walked up to the four of us. “Hello, girls,” he said. He said girls but it seemed like his eyes were on me.
Maddie clung onto my arm and Chloe clung onto Maddie. We were all standing behind Alex who of course was the brave one.
It was late at night and his back was toward the light so I wasn’t able to see his face. The man was tall and had a deep voice that made me shudder. From his voice, I was able to tell that he was Hispanic.
“We aren’t supposed to talk to strangers,” Alex said. She didn’t make any effort to keep her voice down so that the people around us were able to hear just in case anything happened.
“Oh, c’mon,” he said and laughed ludicrously. “You aren’t children anymore, are you?”
“Go away!” Alex said in a stern voice.
The man ignored Alex. “Hey, what’s your name?” He asked one of us.
I cringed when I realized he was speaking to me. “Where’s Nathan?” Maddie whimpered.
“Natalia, you don’t have to tell him anything,” Alex said. “If you don’t go away, I’m going to make a huge scene,” she threatened.
“Natalia,” the man mused. “What a beautiful name.” He was about to stretch his arm toward me when a car behind us honked it’s horn. We all jumped and turned around and when we realized it was Nathan we all ran to the car parked near the side walk.
We all rushed into the car, slammed the doors shut and quickly locked the doors.
“Who was that?” Nathan asked. Anger was evident in his voice.
“It’s no one, Nathan,” I said. My voice was trembling.
“Do you need me to take care of it?” He asked.
“There’s no need,” I quickly said before he unbuckled his seat belt.
He stared at me for a moment then turned his attention back to them man who was still standing in the same spot, facing Nathan’s car.
“Let’s just go,” I suggested.
He put the car in drive and got back into the lane full of cars. I looked in the side view mirror and saw the man. He was on the curb and was obviously still staring at us. I got a glimpse of the side of his face before he turned around and walked off.
He was wearing a baseball cap, glasses, jeans, and a hooded sweatshirt zipped to the top. He was tan and from the looks of it, haven’t shaved in about a month. He appeared young.
“Natalia?” Nathan said.
“Yeah?”
“Are you all alright?”
I twisted around in my seat to face the girls. There was tears on Maddie’s cheek, annoyance in Alex’s, and Chloe was trembling. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. “Yeah. We’re fine.”
I shook my head, trying to get the frightening grin the man had out of my head.