Disclaimer: I claim most of the plot, but not much else.
Kitty tied on her silver shoes that cost more than her wardrobe form when she was three years old until she was thirteen. They were on the plain side, but no one would be looking at her feet. They were shiny, and pretty in a simple way. Her dress was simple too. She turned at Rebecca's voice and slid the zipper up on her best friend's gown. It was a white silk, with blue/gray watercolor detail. It had an empire waist, with a sweetheart bodice. It was long and moved with Rebecca as if it were water. Rebecca had her mother's charm bracelet strapped to her wrist, and her sister's, who had been taken by the demons all those weeks ago, navy blue pumps. Rebecca was so excited she was shaking. Kitty was too. Neither of them had ever seen anything like this before. They had never been to any sort of formal party and never worn anything remotely close to these dresses. Kitty's was wearing only the earrings that Bartimaeus had given her yesterday, sliver and dangly with navy beads that somehow matched her dress perfectly. He cheated, and she knew it. Her dress had an empire waist as well, but with a tube top. It was a rich navy blue, with gentle pleats that touched the floor. The bodice had silver beaded leaf embellishments that sparkled in the light. She felt Rebecca zipping her own dress and smiled. She raised a hand to her head and loved the way her hair fell straight, all of it pulled to the right in a silver butterfly clasp. Rebecca's hair had been done in spiral curls and pulled into a half ponytail with a plain black clasp. She was stunning.
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The knock at the door made both girls jump. It couldn't be time yet! Kitty pulled the door open to reveal Jakob and Bartimaeus in their tuxes looking nervous.
"You two ready to go? Wow, Kitty! You look beautiful." Jakob said. Kitty smiled at her best friend, but couldn't wait until he saw Rebecca. Kitty looped her arm through Bartimaeus' and called Rebecca out. Kitty laughed out loud at the way Jakob's mouth dropped open at the sight of Rebecca. Kitty pulled Bartimaeus along ready to get this night over with.
Kitty walked into the ballroom and was hit once again by how beautiful it was. The room was filled with people. The room was filled with laughter and Kitty felt herself relaxing. At this point everyone was standing around talking, but in about five minutes tables would appear and dinner would be served. Bartimaeus led Kitty to the corner of the room where a group of commoners were huddled speaking in whispers.
"Hello, I'm Kitty Jones." Kitty said clearly. The group turned and nodded to her.
"I guess we should thank you for being invited. You're a commoner too." One said.
"No, Bartimaeus here handled the guest list. He handles the big things. I'm just here to tie up loose ends and handle the little things." Bartimaeus laughed out loud.
"Kitty, dear, you have never done anything in your life that was little!" Kitty giggled.
"Things are changing. We are making a difference. Commoner is going to become am obscure reference in a textbook soon." Kitty said with confidence. The group looked shocked, but a few smiled. Kitty thanked them for being there and moved to the shorter table in the front of the room. She rang the bell sitting there, calling for attention.
"I'd like to thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate the coming in of a new Prime Minister, and a new era with him in England." Kitty paused for applause. "I'd like to ask that you all move to either side of the room so that the tables may come down without injury. Please feel free to sit where you wish, move around throughout the meal. Thank you." Kitty sat down at the small table and waited for Rebecca and Jakob to come to the table. They finally arrived as the tables were seemingly falling from the sky. Jakob's smile was strained and Kitty felt her stomach drop. She saw that everyone had taken a seat and rang the bell again. New people filed into the room carrying trays laden with food. She heard the chair beside her shift and turned to see Nathaniel sit down. He smiled at her quickly before turning to the room. He was nervous. Kitty could tell. Bartimaeus patted her hand and Kitty felt herself relaxing again. She wondered a bit about his good behavior but shrugged the irksome thoughts away. He was always nicer to her anyway.
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The food was put away and the tables were buzzing. Kitty turned to say something to Nathaniel. He was staring right at her. Kitty felt her breathing hitch and yelled at herself for it. She swallowed hard and forced her eyes back to the room, forgetting what she'd been ready to say. A server stepped up to Kitty and tapped her shoulder. Kitty smiled at the boy.
"If you would ring the bell, miss, the tables will be removed and dancing can commence." He informed her politely. She thanked him and raised the bell. The tables disappeared and music started drifting in. The people started dancing immediately. Kitty noticed commoners dancing with some of the magicians and smiled. She looked pointedly at Jakob and nodded at the dancing. He sighed and leaned in to whisper something in Rebecca's ear. Rebecca fairly beamed as she stood and took Jakob's hand. You could almost see the blush on her friend's magic-stained cheek. Kitty stood and led Bartimaeus on to the floor.
"I want to thank you for being nice to Na-err, John these past few weeks." She said to her friend quietly. He nodded once.
"He saved my life in there, Kitty. He did exactly what Ptolemy did. I may be sarcastic and admittedly, deservedly mind you, one of the most conceited beings on Earth, but I'm not bad. When the kid is back to normal I will be too." Kitty nodded and smiled at him. Pretty soon they would all have to make speeches, but Kitty was going to enjoy dancing at her first ball, with her one of her best friends for as long as she could.
A/N: Okay, I know this one is short and kind of sucks, but I wanted to put something up and I've started work on a Percy Jackson fic, and well, I'm too excited about it to really focus on this and give it the attention it needs. I'm going to take a break and be back to this in a few weeks when I can do my best. Thank you guys. Review please, it really does help me!