"Mandie, have you decided what you're going to wear tonight?" Came Celia Hamilton's sweet but slightly annoyed voice from the far end of the room.
"Not yet, are you okay over there?" Said Amanda Shaw as she flipped through the dresses inside of her huge wardrobe.
"Um, yeah I'm just having a hard time with these stupid hair pins." She said using emphasis on the last three words as she stomped her foot.
Mandie's wavy, dark blond head shot up in shock as she stared at her pretty sixteen-year-old friend who never let herself get so upset. "Are you sure you're okay?" Mandie asked, concern filling her blue eyes.
Celia looked up at her friend and smiled, "Yes I'm okay, I just need a little help with my hair."
"Well you could have just asked you know, you didn't have to throw a fit." Mandie teased as she made her way over to the big, floor-length mirror where her green-eyed friend was standing.
"Oh, Mandie I'm sorry, I don't know what's gotten into me, maybe it is just the pressure and drama surrounding the final social this year." Celia said with a sigh.
"It's okay I know how you feel, I am not so sure about all this either. Just take down your hair and brush it out, then I will help with it." Mandie silently watched her friend take the hair pins out of her long, very curly, red-brown hair and start to brush it out. "Then after I'm done doing your hair, I'm gonna need your help finding a dress for tonight." Mandie added. "What did you pick out?" She asked. Celia pointed across the room at the dress lying on the bed, it was a dark green silk with a black lace neckline, black lace sleeves that came to the elbows, and a flowing skirt that came five inches above the ankles. "Wow, you want to give them a night they'll remember, huh?" Mandie teased.
"Mandie what are you talking about?" Celia asked innocently enough.
"Well I think you know as well as I do, that shade of green just so happens to brings out your auburn hair so nicely that it looks like it's on fire, and makes your eyes the color of an enchanting emerald." Mandie told her while taking the hair pins and arranging Celia's thick hair into a beautiful dutch braid tuck-under.
"It's perfect Mandie!" Celia exclaimed when she saw her hair. "Now for the dress." Celia said as she made her way over to the bed, picked up the dress, slipped it on, and came back over to where the mirror and Mandie were.
"Oh... Goodness... Celia, your... beautiful." Mandie softly exclaimed as she watched her red headed princess of a friend spin around the room.
"Now, we need to find you a dress." Celia said as she made her way over to the huge wardrobe full of outfits and just as quick, whipped out a floor-length silk red dress with a low neckline and cap sleeves. "This should do just fine." She threw it at Mandie and motioned for her to hurry and get dressed.
"Well Celia, if you think it's appropriate..." Mandie looked hesitantly at the low neckline and wondered if it was too low.
"Oh Mandie your going to a social dinner party, it's okay. Besides you wouldn't have owned it in the first place if it were inappropriate." Celia said as she tied the white silk sash that came around the waist of the dress. Celia pinned Mandie's hair up on top of her head leaving a few curls framing her face and going down her back.
"Wow Celia your really good with hair considering the scene you made a while ago." Mandie continued to tease her friend of four years.
"I know, I can do really good on other people's hair but when it comes to my own, I'm stumped." Celia told her.
"Same here." Mandie stated.
"Well I guess we're all ready, you coming?" Celia asked as she opened the door for them both.
"Ready as I'll ever be." Mandie muttered as she thought about what lay ahead: dancing, small talk, tea, refreshments, not to mention George Stewart the British fellow who had asked her to the social, she wondered as she left if he would try to kiss her after the party and she hadn't made up her mind as whether to slap him and run away when/if he did or to just let him, and-Mandie stop thinking about that, what is wrong with you? She thought to herself and hurried down the stairs to get her mind off it.