I'm Belle and this is my story. Even as I write this I laugh at the irony of it, my name means beauty and yet I am anything but beautiful. My father named me a month after I was born, before then his grief over my mothers passing had been so deep he had been unable to see beyond it. Naturally father remarried, but not for either convenience or status. I was twelve years old by that time. He fell in love again you see, with another beauty. She had two daughters of her own already, who's father was out of the picture, I know no more than that about the situation as I never took the time to ask. One was fourteen and the other was eleven. I went from being an only child to a middle child without ever meeting either of my stepsisters, but with a mother such as there's they couldn't be that bad. You see, I never met them because they spent ten months out of every year at the boarding school they attended in France somewhere. My stepsisters are the typical blonde beauties who at my school would automatically be labeled richy-bitchy-beauties. This is where the story really gets good … they are as sweet and kind as they are beautiful … as is my stepmother Eloise. Okay well I'm beyond plain in the looks department, just average at my schoolwork and smart stuff, tactless, overtly blunt and rather cruel … no exaggeration there … anyone would agree with that description. And I'm not even living that harder life, my biggest bad thing in my life is that my own father is sooo self absorbed that he seems to forget that I'm his daughter … actually without Eloise to remind him I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't even remember that I exist at all … he is only interested in exceptional people … exceptional beauty, brains, courage, political tact, charisma etc. None of which are fields in which I come close at all … infact I'd lose all those races hands down. Only highlight in my life is 'Dragon', ummm I don't know his real name … I don't actually even know if it really is a he … all I know is what 'he' tells me in his letters, were pen pals you see, except we do it all on the internet, and we help each other with our problems. At least when I'm talking to him I don't seem like a complete idiot … we laugh and share everything … except the truth about who we really are, he knows me as 'Laideur' which is French for … well pretty much 'her ugliness' … I think … I don't really know as I barely passed French, even though the rest of my family are as comfortable speaking French as they are English. No, he often suggests us meeting up somewhere to talk face to face, but I don't want to … if he met me face-to-face he would never talk to me again. Eloise actually is taking me out to get a new dress today, because Sophia and Marie got dresses last week for some high society shindig we are going to on Friday. (It's Wednesday today) Poor Eloise seems unable to comprehend that no matter what she finds to dress me up in, I won't catch the eye of anyone to start dating and end up married, unlike Sophia who is engaged to be married to her long time on and off boyfriend Vicktor, or Marie who has probably dated at least half the eligible men in any of the acceptable circles. That doesn't include her number of conquests outside of these circles since she became old enough to go clubbing. I'm twenty and have never had a boyfriend … it is about time to face the facts … I'm going to die a lonely unloved old maid. Ahh well … at least I can talk to Dragon still.
Good god I'm tired, after dragging me through every god damn boutique around Eloise decided that we were going to go and see her dear friend Alyssa Malkin, and have a dress custom made for me … so then we had to go to her dress shop in London area. And low and behold on sight she decided exactly what she wanted to do without telling either Eloise or myself what the finished product would look like, she just measured me for probably an hour straight before shooing us out promising to have the finished product delivered to us by lunchtime Friday, so I will have plenty of time to get ready for the party. Eloise has already booked for a hair/make up team … yes TEAM … come over to get all us girls ready … problem is I probably won't get to even SEE my dress until I have to put it on … that's how long it usually takes them to finally release us from their clutches even if they start before lunch. Here's hoping I die in my sleep before Friday.
(Friday)
Damn it … still not dead yet … maybe I could be too sick to go … again … I haven't been to one of these stupid party's away from our house since I was fifteen … and that traumatized me for life … stupid gits of friends Marie has … long story short … some of her 'school' friends were introduced to me and naturally Marie introduced me as her middle sister and they broke up laughing because it was 'impossible for your sister to be that damn ugly what with how she and Sophia looked' … I have never since considered myself even possibly attractive. And as such have avoided not only form fitting and revealing clothes and all the parties I possibly could, but also avoided staying at our parties any longer than the most minimal time acceptable, of which I by choice was the designated child minder/ entertainer for the young children, who thankfully don't care what I look like, they only care about how fun I am. Double damn. Normally Sophia or Marie come to 'get' me before a party, they are usually happy enough to help me get out of going with some excuse or other, the dears know how much I hate parties. This time Eloise is obviously set on me attending this party, otherwise she would have supplied the usual outfit allowance and just let me 'buy' my own dress, which generally meant that I spent the money on baggy black pants and baggy t shits, or shoes, or bought whichever sister had gotten me out of the party a present. This time I had no choice but to go and have my hair and make up done for the first time in five years … nope … no better after some time away … still deathly boring and I insisted on having the mirror covered … no reason to depress myself unnecessarily …yet. After a forever of us all being primped and primed we were finally released to get dressed, naturally we had a little girly dress up party and all got dressed together. And even I have to admit that they looked absolutely divine, we dressed Eloise first, then Sophia, then Marie 'cos I still really didn't want to get ready or see the monstrosity the dress was going to be. Then finally I was out of excuses and they got to dress me up.
I was shocked to say the least when I saw the dress. There was no way that dress could fit me, infact I thought it had to be Marie's or Sophia's and they had gotten the boxes mixed up, though it was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen in my life, even Marie and Sophia were practically drooling over the dress. (see appendix A) Eloise on the other hand looked like the cat that had found the cream. She then insisted that I put it on immediately as we were running out of time. I robotically got into the dress and shoes and passively allowed Sophia who was now smiling again to wrap the matching sheer organza stole around my shoulders. Before saying something I had never imagined saying, "Can … Can I see myself in a mirror please?" Eloise already was drawing me over to her full-length mirror. The girl I saw staring slack jawed back at me was not the same girl who had five years ago sworn off parties and dresses like this, she was dazzling and sleek and rivaled the rest of her family for beauty since her 'puppy – fat' had faded away to nothing. Before I could comment father was there chastising us for taking too long and hurrying us away to the party, he as usual never noticed me, but that was probably for the best as I don't want him to die from shock anytime soon.
(The Party … dun dun dun)
When we arrived at the party I realized that not only would no one recognize me but more likely than not I wouldn't recognize anyone either, I was no longer 'Laideur' but instead I truly lived up to my name, Belle. As Sophia darted off to see her 'dahling Vicktor' (her words not mine) and father drifted over to some of his business associates I recognized from our parties, Marie was ambushed by her friends (most of the male ones trying to impress her), I dropped back only to find Eloise still there and as though sensing my nerves, draw me along with her to converse with the hostess of this party, her long time friend, 'Cissa dahling'. Lord knows if someone asked me who I met at these parties I could probably only introduce them as 'Cissa dahling' or 'sugah' or 'dahling', I don't think I was properly introduced to anyone. Growing bored with Eloise and 'Cissa dahling' 's conversation, I started looking round to see what the rest of the family was up to, father was now drinking something, knowing him probably scotch or whisky of some sort, and laughing about somebody (probably not 'worthy' of the party's mishap), Sophia was with Vicktor, and her best girlfriend Fleur and Fleur's Husband, William (can't miss him in a crowd), probably talking about the upcoming wedding, and Marie was ignoring her usual crowd of infatuated followers, and trying (rather unsuccessfully from my point of view at least) to seduce (I suppose that's the best word for it) this rather attractive icy looking guy who was so uninterested I just had to assume that he was gay, (no other male of the species could resist Marie). Then I was jostled slightly by someone causing my attention to come crashing back to where I was actually standing, a tall red-headed guy had just bumped into me while talking with who I presumed was his wife (they were both wearing wedding rings) after apologizing profusely he and his wife introduced themselves, (his name was Ronald and hers was Lavender) followed by there friends who were just behind them, (Virginia and Dean). Seemed they had 'misplaced' the rest of their party and were not in the least bit worried about dragging me along with them for refreshments, because they believed if they waited at the refreshment table long enough their missing friends would show up, eventually. It didn't take long for Luna and Neville to find them but it seemed they still had more friends floating around the place somewhere. I was rather shocked by that statement … how many friends could a person really have … especially people like these who weren't simply beautiful like most people I was used to were. Then after we were just starting to get to know each other (from my point of view…they all knew each other already) and I had discovered that we were the same age (or very close at least) their remaining friends showed up. I was rather startled when I realized Marie's next victim (gay guy from earlier) was one of their friends along with another couple. They were introduced to me and my brain tuned out after the gay guy named himself, Draco, my brain went wow that's really creepy and I opened my mouth and stupidly put foot in it (literally). "Dragon" I said without thinking, well I was thinking, just not meaning on saying it but my saying of it seemed to have a surprising affect on the blonde gay guy. Who paled, didn't actually know you could come paler than he originally was but obviously I was wrong. Then the as yet unnamed girl was like all 'OMG … that's what Draco calls himself on the internet when he's chatting to those e-friends of his' and it was my turn to blanche before I murmured an excuse and took off for the nearest exit, but being shocked and kind of foreign to the manor, I managed to not only have no clue where the door was but also physically run into William. He managed to stop me from falling over completely in those stupid party shoes, before Sophia reacted to ask me what was wrong, was I feeling ill. By this stage Draco had found out that the girls name was 'Belle' to which he swore and took off after her, he wasn't a complete idiot, as he had used to meaning of his name, she had used the opposite. Luckily for him she was easily located in the crowd, not many people were racing round running into people. Cutting straight through he reached her just as she was reassuring Sophia, whom she called sis, that she fine, just needed a little fresh air. To which being the dashing and gallant (and sexy in his opinion) man that he was Draco offered to accompany her out to the balcony for a short breather. Sophia thought this was an excellent idea of course, her middle sister was MUCH better suited to Draco than Marie was.
After making their way through the crowd to the balcony, Belle finally got the guts to ask the question, "So Dragon, looks like you won on that whole meeting face to face thing… hope your not too disappointed?" Draco looked at her, really looked at her and smiled a true smile before saying "Not in the least"
6mths later
We are now officially engaged, seeing how Dray finally asked me today. Duh I said yes, otherwise we wouldn't be engaged and how could I refuse? He loved me for my 'beautiful soul before he ever met me' … His words not mine … though I must admit I felt the same. But Sophia and Vicktor are happily married and expecting their first child (she actually got pregnant about a month before the wedding), Marie met her match in a dashing devilishly handsome man called Blaise Zambini (as much of a player as she was … both are actually true to each other) who is a friend of Dray's (yes another one), the couple who weren't introduced earlier were Harry and Hermione Potter (though they weren't engaged at the party … he asked her afterwards when he dropped her home … they got married about 2mths later) and they way things look now, we are all going to get our happily ever afters. Till net time at least … Gawd that's clichéd … oh well … adieu … au revoir … and all that good-bye stuff!
Okies folks … appendix a is the fact that I would have a picture of her dress up but as my scanner and computer won't talk to each other I can't … sorry … it is gorgeous even if I did design it myself … my passion is for fashion and shopping … same as usual … you review mine I'll review yours if you sign the review and I know the category … if not I'll just respond to the review … considering I wrote this in two hours while eating dinner and listening to Shania Twain's song Black eyes, Blue tears on repeat for the entire time I believe I am entitled to whatever insanity and evil, wanton, insane, maniacal destruction and torture of ideas characters etc … gaaah sooo sleepy can't even read what typing on screen … this really puts those touch typing skills (which are practically non existent) to the test … well better sum this all up 'cos I have to get up early and go to the gym tomorrow before trying to deal with a lot of un-deal-able stuff and go horse riding in the afternoon … which means I need to get at least some sleep … caffeine high and horses don't mix well with traffic on roads …. :P but any who
Luv ya all
DramaQueen4eva
(pssst … click the little button down here and review please … I'll love you forever if you do …. Mwah … ;) … )