Chapter 3: 2 Hours Later
2 Hours Later.
The doorbell rang and it wasn't much of a surprise to see who would be on the other side of the mahogany doorway. Bonnie was behind the door, her baby blue feathered and sequined mask on her right hand, a light blue with silver lining purse on her left shoulder, and a powder blue, halter sequined ball gown covered her dark skin. Her hair was curled and she wore a straight face. I could tell she wasn't too happy about this, but if she wasn't, then why was she going?
"Hey Bonnie, you're going too, huh?" I asked her quietly and she entered the house with no hesitation. She sighed and nodded with that same face she wore when I saw her tonight.
"Do you know what the worst thing about this is?" She asked rhetorically. I knew it was a kind of question she would answer all by herself so I needed not to open my mouth. She immediately answered her own question afterwards. "It was just announced a few moments ago, literally just 3 hours ago, and we're rushed to come to this ball. I can't even believe the whole town is coming. Caroline and Matt, the whole school, I mean everyone's coming tonight. Do you know how hard it is to get a dress when apparently almost everybody's out on the dress shop renting something for themselves?" She added in an irritated tone. Her eyes rolled and she looked at me. She scanned my appearance with a confused look and added, "Speaking of dresses, where's yours?"
I sighed and bowed my head down in disappointment. The hardships and difficulties she's been through to find a dress for tonight, I didn't even get to do all four things in my to-do list. I continued to search for Stefan in the whole town for a whole hour and thirty minutes. Then, I had to take a shower and do my hair and makeup, which took about 30 minutes. Now, one hour is left and I haven't even found a ball gown. I didn't take time to explain all of these to Bonnie, so I simply summarized it all, "I don't have one."
"What do you mean you don't have one? You're Elena Gilbert! You're one of the people who always have a backup plan when something comes up." She exaggeratingly began stamping her feet repeatedly, a worried look on her face appeared. "What do you mean you don't have one?" She repeated, and I was pretty sure I didn't need to hear that for the second time.
"The Masquerade was announced about a quarter to four. I came home at 4 and began looking for Stefan. I searched everywhere, downtown, his house, literally everywhere, and all I've ever come across to was Damon. I came back at 5:30. I spent the last 30 minutes taking a shower and doing my hair and makeup, then suddenly I heard the doorbell. It was you, and now we're here." I told her everything, something I was definitely avoiding to do, but since I already explained it, I couldn't take it back. She stared at me with a hanging jaw and I know I still had to continue. "Well, I have a dress, but it isn't a ball gown, and it isn't something that should be worn to a masquerade."
Bonnie's jaw remained opened as she stared at me with wide eyes. I knew she was about to speak when suddenly, something high pitched and loud rang and shook the whole household. It was coming from the living room, and I didn't need to dig deep into my thoughts to figure out where ¾ or who ¾ that irritating soprano came from. I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes as Bonnie followed the sound, from the door to the living room. She was startled to see that the loud voices were coming from Elaine's victorious cries over a game with Jeremy on the XBOX. They probably have been playing Need for Speed: Carbon, after all, I have been hearing a lot of engine noises.
"Yeah, beat that, Jeremy! Uh huh, oh yeah, boom! Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 SP, custom made!" Elaine began screaming aloud as she waved her hands up in the air and began chanting those same cries, over and over again. Jeremy suggested another game, saying 'Best 2 out of 3' and Elaine replied by stating these words in a very discomfiting tone, "Game on!" And the looks on her face and by how she pronounced her statement kind of reminded me of one of the 4 worries I've been thinking about a while ago. It reminded me of how Katherine took away Caroline's life and turned her into a Vampire, asking Caroline to send a message to the vampire brothers, Game On.
I returned to my rational state of mind when I heard Elaine's voice transform from a terrifyingly annoying high octave voice to something more pleasant to hear, as she stopped her premature celebration of winning a simple 3 lapped circuit on the video game with Jeremy, and came to wave at Bonnie. "Hey Bonnie, nice dress!" She commented with a wide smile covering half of her face. Just like me, Elaine decided to do her hair and makeup before anything else. Bonnie mouthed back 'Thank You' and she dragged me back to the other room. Elaine placed her hands back on the joystick and the realistic engine sounds began booming off the room once again.
"Where's her dress?" Bonnie asked, concerned that the both of us might have nothing to wear. Well, that's one of her specialties; she inevitably starts worrying for everyone else, after she's done with herself. If she figures out I didn't have time to study for the quiz on Trig, she probably would've helped me review as if my life depended on it. "And how come she could play an XBOX, and win?" The second question made me laugh uncontrollably, but silent enough for Elaine and Jeremy not to hear. I looked at her and began answering the questions one by one.
"Well, she's been raised by wolves, and by wolves, I mean in an all-boy society. She learned how to get down and dirty with them, she learned how to act and dress like them, heck she even learned how to understand and talk like them. You know, sports, cars, hot celebrities." I smiled at her widely, loving to know that information. Elaine has a boyish side to her, and that made me feel a lot closer to her than ever. She could give me advice about boys, and we could exchange. "She's also more of a music person, and an academic goddess. When it comes to charm, we're almost as the same, but somehow, she's a lot better than me at that too." I mentioned and laughed, too forcibly to be addressed as someone who is jealous. "And for her dress, it's upstairs. She said she didn't want to ruin it. She didn't want to sweat in it, she didn't want to have food fall on it. She wanted it to be a surprise." I answered her question and an immediate perplexed expression spread across her face.
"Oh, well she's a real talented girl. Too bad she doesn't have the talent of communicating with the supernatural." Bonnie added and then let out a short giggle. "She may be able to be good at academics, co-curricular and socializing with humans, but you still have the unique gift of having to be a magnet for abnormal people. I mean, you have 2 vampire brothers on each arm, even though one of them is a complete jackass," She added, absolutely referring to Damon. "You have a vampire and a witch as best friends and of course, your classmate and his uncle happens to be a werewolf. Oh, and have I mentioned that you have a weird doppelganger that's sent to make your life miserable." I laughed at the fact almost every one of those statements were true. A smile crept up to my face, and lightened my chocolate brown eyes.
"You could deal with the supernatural, and still maintain your sanity. It's a gift I tell you." She raised her eyebrows and grinned widely. She grabbed my hand afterwards and began dragging me upstairs. I looked at her with such confusion that my forehead probably crumpled. She choked out another giggle and then immediately spoke. "Are we going upstairs, or what?" She added.
"Huh?"
"Well, we're going to fix up your dress, so that it will be masquerade appropriate."
"How will you do that?"
"I'm a witch remember. I'm capable of revising clothes; making masks appear from nowhere, oh and apparently make vampires fall in complete and total torment and pain in a single look." She added and that was when I suddenly got the picture. She was kind enough to spend her last hour with me to fix my dress and make it ball gown worthy. She's like my fairy godmother now, only she's my best friend, and instead of being a fairy, she was a witch. A smile crept up my face and I hugged her without even thinking that we were in the middle of the stairs.
"Come on! We've got less than 50 minutes to fix up that dress!" She led me to my room, and as soon as we got inside, she opened the closet and closed the door to my room, locking it behind her. Then, behind those closet doors, appeared a peach colored cocktail dress with a perfectly carved halter in silver lining.
