chapter 44

Black and Gold - Sam Sparro

I also want to dedicate this chapter to catchersoftball for making the amazing cover above! Literally, seeing the cover made me so happy! I love it!! Thank you!!! If you want to make a cover then please do! I would love to see some!

Anna's dress below (imagine elbow-length gloves as well)

"Shopping spree!" Ren squeals like a five—year—old girl as she rushes into the first of many stores we will go into today. Cora gives her an unimpressed look from behind her back whilst Jess rolls her eyes. Me, I just laugh. I've known for a long time now, when it comes down to shopping, she has to go into every store.

After we found out about being invited to the party, Ren had immediately started planning a shopping trip after school. Of course, as soon as Xavier found out, he protested. I thought we had gotten past the whole possessive side of him but apparently not. He claimed at the mall there are too many people who can come up to me. He then went on to say its the perfect place for males to find a new target, his words, not mine.

I had rolled my eyes at him and he quickly changed his tactics. He argued Chris could take me seeing as its the perfect opportunity for him. Now, I agreed with him on the fact Chris could come up but I said that I could handle it. It's not like I'm going to be alone, I've got my girls with me.

Finally, he pulled the puppy eyes. I could see the reluctance to use that method but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.

So we compromised.

I would call Xavier every half an hour to let him know I was fine as long as he left me alone to do some girl shopping. It was hard to get him to agree but with a sweet, innocent kiss from me, he agreed.

"You're not thinking about him again are you?" Cora teased from beside me.

I tried to hide the smile on my face by looking down. "No," I mumbled.

Xavier has been on my mind a lot. Every time my mind strays from normal life to Chris, Xavier will suddenly pop into my mind and will calm my thoughts. It's like my mind uses him as a piece of reassurance. I know without a doubt that Xavier will protect me no matter what.

"Sure, sure," she replies, not convinced.

"Guys!" Ren hollers from the first shop, Target. "Hurry up, I think the security guard thinks I'm trying to knick something."

I laugh at her slightly worried expression as she glances between the buff security guard and us. Only she would shout it out loud enough for the people nearby to hear.

"About time," she mutters, grabbing Jess's arm as she drags her into there. Knowing Ren, she is going to dress each of us up in every outfit until we find an outfit she likes. The only problem is that we have roughly two hours here in the mall before we have to head back to Cora's house to get ready.

"Right, I will search this shop and if I don't like anything then we will move onto the next store," she orders. Cora beside me mumbles something under her breath about Ren but I choose to ignore it.

We search—I mean Ren searches—the store but don't find anything. So, Ren being Ren drags us into every other store. She forces us to try on every outfit that she likes but after trying it on, she ushers us onto the next outfit.

At one point, I was very close to strangling her. We had no say in the choice because we don't share the same 'fashion skills' as her.

"Ren, I swear to god I love you but right now, I am this close to attacking you," Cora tells her, pinching her fingers close together to show her.

"Don't be such a drama queen," Ren chirps, trying her best not to show how tired and annoyed she is. This isn't going well for her at all.

We have forty—five minutes to find something before we have to head back. I called Xavier earlier and borderline begged him to save me from this. Xavier only chuckled and wished me more pain—I mean fun. I bet he's happy I talked him out of going.

"What about this vintage store?" I ask Ren as we pass a cute store that doesn't look that busy. Ren shrugs and turns to the side to walk in there. We follow her and look around. The store must be new because last time I came shopping here a couple of months ago, it wasn't here. Its not too busy in here either; the clothes look really nice.

My eyes wander all of the dresses. I like some of them but they don't really shout, a teen house party to me. I don't want to wear something too uncomfortable or flashy. Xavier would lose his temper and go all crazy with me.

"Oh my god, this dress is perfect for you Cora!" Ren squeals, pointing her hand at a bright pink, sparkly dress. I have to stifle a laugh at Cora's horrified face, she genuinely looks like she'd rather gauge her eyes out then wear that.

"Dumbass," she says, hitting Ren hard on the shoulder.

I'm about to give up my search when a short, flapper dress catches my eye. The black dress is eye—catching with its different layers on the dress and the feather part to hang around the waist.  And the white sequences hanging from it adds a final detail that makes it even more beautiful. It's short but not too short. The gloves reach up to the elbows and there's a headband that has a little feather pointing upwards. I don't know why but I fall in love with it. It's not normally my taste but seeing as other people at the party will be wearing unusual clothes, I should go for it.

I shout for the rest of the girls to come over to see it and the hustle over. Ren immediately nods her head at the dress whilst the other two give me definite yeses. Later, the rest of them find outfits to wear and we all go to try it on.

The dress fits snuggly on me and reaches my mid-thigh. The gloves feel comfy and the headband holding my brown hair shows off the whole of my face. I can imagine doing my hair so that its tied behind me like they did in the 1920s.

Stepping out of the changing room, I notice the others are already looking in the mirror. They all look stunning to put it simply. Jess is wearing a vintage, red checkered dress that reaches her knees. It suits her really well and compliments her body.

Ren has a sixties looking sleeveless green dress that reaches her mid-thigh, with black at the bottom. Its something popular that would be worn out when partying back then. The green high heels add to its beauty and makes her look stunning.

Finally, Cora is wearing shorts and a white top. She has on brown cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. I can already tell what the theme of hers is.

"This is perfect!" Ren gushes as she looks at all of us in the mirror. "Let's pose and take a selfie."

I roll my eyes but do as she says, putting my hands on my hips and tilting slightly towards Cora. Ren makes a pouty face, Jess crosses her arms and Cora leans her arm on Ren. When the picture is taken, we all crowd around Ren's phone to see it.

The photo looks great. We all have bright smiles on our faces. After making Ren promise she will send me the picture so that I can print it off, we get changed and pay for the outfits.

I hope Xavier likes it, otherwise, it would kind of be awkward.

"Right, we have enough time to get a take away from here and get ready at Cora's," Jess informs us. Instantly, Cora and Ren get into a fight about where we should get the take away from so me and Jess being the responsible friends we are, go over to McDonald's and order four big macs with fries and milkshakes.

Ren and Cora eventually came over to where we are waiting for the food, frowns on their faces.

"You guys ordered without us," Ren states.

I shrug, "we didn't have enough time for you to fight."

Cora opens her mouth to reply but is hushed by Jess who hears our order being called out.

"Tally ho!" Ren yells, skipping out of the mall, receiving some strange looks from others as she passes them. Somebody is hyper.

After eating the delicious food that is McDonald's, we each get ready. Earlier, before we went to the mall, we dropped all of our school stuff at Cora's house so we didn't have to cart it around with us. So I don't have any of my make-up with me or any hairspray.

I know for a fact that Cora doesn't own a lot of make—up or any hair accessories since she's more of a tom-boy. Therefore, we have to rely on Ren's kit since Jess also doesn't like wearing make—up. I'm hoping Ren doesn't have a load of bright colors because I know for a fact it won't suit my outfit.

"Hey Ren, do you think you could do my hair later? I need it styled like they had it in the twenties, you know? I have no idea what they call the style but if I show you a picture, do you think you can do it?" I ask Ren, praying she can do it.

Ren smiles, "sure. I think I know what you're on about but its best if you get a picture up just in case."

Nodding, I do as she says. We decide its better if we help each other get ready in pairs. Cora and Jess are going to do each other's hair. Jess doesn't want it styled that much and Cora only wants braids.

However, me and Ren want to have it more styled. Ren wants it puffy at the top and then wants it straight so it flows down her back and curls at the end. When I asked her for an image, she told me to imagine Tracy's hairstyle from Hairspray.

Great.

"Right ladies, let's get started," Ren announces and with that, we do.

Word count: 1845

Hello! Wahoo! Early update! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I'm sorry if I didn't explain the dresses and the hairstyles very well. The woman in the photo at the top is what I imagined Anna's hair to be like.

Question: what's your favorite decade for clothing? I like the 1920s flapper dresses a lot. Hence Annabella's dress.

Next update: 20th March