Message in a Bottle

Chapter Thirteen
“I think that he should take you to prom,” Emily mumbled as she took a bite of her salad.
Here we go again. I rolled my eyes.
“I think you should shut your mouth because I’m not going.” I bit into my pizza.
“I can help with that,” she said with an evil grin.
“Emily, the last time you tried helping me with something-”
“You got a boyfriend.”
“My point is that I’m not going and you aren’t going to tell him about it.”
“We’ll see how that works out.” She pulled out her phone.
“Don’t you dare!” I yelled, trying to snatch the phone from her.
“What’s the harm?” she asked, putting the phone down.
“Prom or school dances or crap like that just isn’t my thing.”
“Yeah, getting your hair done wasn’t your thing last week so explain to me why your hair isn’t down the middle and tangled and now has highlights?”
I smoothed down my hair and frowned, thinking to myself how much I loved my new hair but not wanting to say anything to Emily about it. “I’ll think about it, okay? Sheesh.”
She clapped her hands. “So are you two hanging out today?”
“He said we are. I don’t know what we’re doing though. For some reason he seemed pretty excited about it so I’m kind of nervous.”
“Wait a second…!”
“Ew! No! Get your mind out of the gutter, Emily. You’re so gross!”
“Okay, I was just checking,” she laughed. “What do you think it is?”
“Some kind of huge romantic date that I’ll probably be caught off guard with as I walk in with…,” I looked down at my outfit, “jean Capri’s, tennis shoes, and a purple long sleeve shirt.” I frowned.
“Come with me to my house after school. I have something you can wear.”
“You’re a life-saver,” I sighed in relief.
“I know, right?” she said and smiled widely.

After school Emily and I ran to her house because Carter said he’d be at my house when I came home from school.
“What do you got?” I asked, panting as we exploded into her bedroom.
She slammed open her closet doors. “What do you prefer?” she asked, digging in her closet.
“Give me something pretty but not too girly.”
“I’m sorry, Morgan but I have nothing like that. You can check my dad’s closet, though,” she joked.
“Okay, something light and happy. Not too skimpy, not too colorful.”
“How about last years homecoming dress?” she asked, throwing the strapless hot pink dress on her bed.
“I said not too skimpy!”
“This?”
She tossed back a bohemian dress that covered the feet and had brown, teal, forest green, and magenta patterns with beads dangling down the front.
“There’s too much going on. I said not too colorful.”
“So picky! This?”
“No.”
“This?”
“No.”
“This?”
“Oh gross! Why do you own that?!” I squealed.
“Pretend you didn’t see that.”
“This?”
“No.”
“This?”
I gasped. “That’s perfect!”
I grabbed the dress from the pile on her bed and ran into the bathroom, quickly changing into the white knee-length dress with braided straps with the vintage crumpled effect.
“How do I look?” I asked, opening the bathroom door.
She examined me, looking me up and down. “You need flip-flops and a headband.” She ran back into her room and came back with regular white flip-flops and a golden headband that she pulled back my hair with. She stepped back to look at me again. She smiled.
“What?”
She took my hand and brought me to the mirror that hung at the end of the hallway. “Look at yourself.”
I gasped. It wasn’t because of my new attire but because of what I saw. In the mirror I saw the little girl I once used to be… but just grown up. My cheeks were naturally pink, my brown eyes sparkled with child-like wonder, my hair was glistening, my skin seemed flawless, and my outfit was just the cherry on top. I spun around and the dress fluttered around me perfectly.
“Okay, enough Cinderella! Prince Carter awaits you!”
I giggled. “Thank you so much, Emily! I owe you!” I hugged her and ran off to meet my Prince Charming.