SCHOOOOOOOL'S OUT! FOR! SUMMER!

After getting everything done and a few days of therapeutic video games and chocolate, I am back in business! It's so nice to have the whole day (okay, let's be honest, night) to write, let me tell you what!

Respond, yes?

Galaxina-the-Seedrian: Oh, you don't know the half of it. ;) Stick around and see just how good it gets! I'm raising your expectations too much, aren't I? Oh well.

So despite my love of dresses (I swear, it's the only evidence I have that I am, in fact, a girl), I'm terrible at describing them the way I see them. I pretty much designed this dress on the Princess Maker thing on the Doll Divine website, so if you're having trouble picturing it, I suggest going there. You'll figure out which parts I used pretty easily (hopefully).

Also, I definitely don't use parentheses too much. Never. (Well, maybe sometimes.)

Onward to adventure!

Enjoy!

CinderJenna and James got to the fabric store in record time. CinderJenna quickly knocked on the door.

"We're closed!" They heard a girl's voice call out.

"It's me, Layla!" James called back.

The door opened. "Oh, hey, Ja-" She gasped. "Look out, there's someone behind you!"

"I know. This is my friend, CinderJenna."

"Nice to meet you." I waved.

Her eyes lit up with recognition. "Oh, you're that girl who helped James out when he was crying cause he lost his parents!"

"Hey! I was not crying!" James responded.

"My mom said you were."

"Well, I wasn't."

"You were too!"

'Was not!"

'Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"STOP!"

The two kids immediately turned to her.

She let herself smile inwardly for a moment. 'I've wanted to do that to my stepsisters for years.'

"Listen, Layla, I need your help." She started. "I really want to go to the ball tonight, but I don't have a dress, and I don't have much money. Any chance you could…I don't know, lend me one or something?"

The girl thought for a moment, then smiled. "I've got something better than a loan. Come with me."

James and CinderJenna followed Layla into a basement, where there were hundreds of clothes.

"These are rejects. Y'know, clothes my mom messed up on and stuff. And there's this one dress, right? It's super super pretty, but my dog got at it and ripped one of the sleeves. My mom was just making it for show anyway, so she never fixed it and stuck it down here. And that was, like, a year ago and she's never mentioned it since, plus it's really far in the back, so I think my mom forgot about it. But if we sewed the sleeve back on, you could wear it to the ball and keep it or whatever and my mom would never know!"

"I'll probably bring it back, anyway," CinderJenna said quickly. She still felt bad taking it, plus there was no way she'd be able to hide it from her stepfamily.

"Okay, whatever." Layla shrugged, looking through the racks. "Ah-ha!"

She pulled the dress off the rack. She was right-it did look to be in pretty bad shape on the right side-there was a big rip where the sleeve used to be, and the bodice was a mess of shreds. But the rest of the dress was not only untouched, but breathtaking. It was a beautiful bright lilac color with a full skirt. It had short sleeves (well, sleeve at the moment) with a long piece of fabric hanging off the end of the sleeve. The neckline was scooped enough to be flattering, but not nearly enough to be revealing. It was so simple and perfect.

She shook herself out of it. "Well, I have no sewing experience, and I doubt James does, so you're going to have to guide us on this one."

"Sure thing! I've been so bored all night-this'll be fun!" She ran up the stairs with the dress, and James and I followed behind.

"Okay so first we have to sew the bodice back up which means we need the sewing machine and I'm not old enough to use the sewing machine so CinderJenna can you use it?" Layla got this all out in one breath.

"She's a bit of a motormouth," James whispered.

"I heard that!" Layla fumed.

"So how does this thing work?" CinderJenna asked both as a legitimate question and a way to avoid another fight.

"Well, you pump your foot on that pedal, and then move the fabric down until it's all sewn up. Just stop when I tell you to."

"Okay…" She looked at the large needle, trying not to imagine all the horrible things that could go wrong, the least of which concerned the actual dress.

"God, please help me," She prayed, and then started.

It was actually a lot easier than she thought, and was over pretty quickly.

"Stop!" Layla said, and she did after jumping about five feet in the air.

Layla inspected it. "It's good, CinderJenna! The stitches are pretty even!"

She smiled, feeling accomplished.

"Now I just have to make the sleeve and then sew it onto the dress. OH! We should check how it fits first so we can make adjustments and stuff. Go try it on, come on, come on!"

Layla plopped the dress in CinderJenna's hands and shooed her into another room.

There was a moment of pause where James and Layla could hear the sounds of undressing and dressing, then a pause.

"No way…" They heard her whisper.

"What?" James asked.

"It fits perfectly!" They heard her say, sounding stunned.

"What? Let me see!" Layla walked in. James tried to come in too, but Layla shoved him out.

"Hey! No boys allowed!" And she shut the door.

After a brief moment, Layla came out. "Wow. It does fit perfectly."

"Wow. What are the chances?' James asked.

"Alright. James, you're going to be fetching and cutting fabric while I sew the sleeve." She ordered.

"What? I don't want to do this girly sewing stuff!" He crossed his arms in defiance.

"Do you want to help CinderJenna or not?"

James considered this, then sighed. "Fine."

"Excellent. First, find me some fabric in the same color as the dress."

And they went on like that for a while-Layla sewing, James cutting and fetching more fabric, and CinderJenna offering her arm for measurements whenever needed.

After what seemed like forever, the sleeve was finally done and hand-sewn back onto the dress.

CinderJenna gave Layla a hug when it was all over.

"Thank you so much, Layla. I owe you big time."

"No, thank you. You saved me from dying of boredom." She laughed.

"Layla, can you bring the dress to this address at ten?" CinderJenna handed her one of the slips.

"But…aren't you going to wear it now?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Not yet. I still have some things to take care of."

That reminded her, and she looked at the clock. It was 8:59.

"James, can you get back home safely?" She asked, feeling guilty-she had promised to walk him back, after all.

"No worries, I'll be fine." James nodded.

"Okay. I have to go, but thanks guys!" And she ran out the door.

'More than halfway there. I can do this.' CinderJenna kept telling herself as she sprinted to her next destination.

Oh, I do so love the next chapter.

This one was good, too, but I REALLY love these next two coming up. I'm looking forward to it, so I hope you guys are, too.

See ya then, folks!