Chapter 2: The White Knight

Kirsten was sitting at her vanity in her room, just finishing up with her make up, when she heard a knock at her door.

"Come in!" Kirsten called. The door slowly opened to reveal Hailey. She was standing there in a cute pale blue dress that their mom had picked out for her to where last week. She was clutching a brush and her hair looked a little scuffed up, almost as if she had attempted to do her hair herself, but failed miserably.

"Hey Kiks…I was wondering if you could maybe fix my hair…I tried but I can't do it…and Dad told me that Mom was taking a nap and I shouldn't bug her…but if you don't have time…" Hailey rambled on.

"No, I have time," Kirsten said as she stood up from the chair she was sitting in. "Come on and sit right here." Hailey quickly complied. Kirsten ran a brush through Hailey's hair and parted it and then got out a curling iron and quickly curled the ends of her hair. She finished off her hair by putting spiral curls into evenly spaced, yet somewhat random sections of Hailey's hair. And then for a finishing touch, Kirsten added s few sparkles on Hailey's eye lids and a tiny bit of color to her lips. Kirsten looked at Hailey in the mirror, satisfied with her work.

"Thanks, Kirsten! I love it! You are the best!" Hailey exclaimed.

"No prob, Hails…Hey, since you're all ready, why don't you go downstairs and watch some TV…we should be leaving in about 45 minutes and it will give you something to do."

"Okay, Kiks, that's a good idea." And with that, Hailey left the room. Kirsten sat back down in the chair and sighed. Time to start on my own hair now…

Kirsten decided to do an up-do with small curls pinned down all over the back of her head. She was just about finished when there was another knock on her door.

"Come in," Kirsten stated. The door creaked open and there stood Kirsten's mother, looking beautiful as she normally did for events like these. However, upon seeing that it was her mother who had just entered the room, Kirsten felt somewhat surprised. She half-expected her mother to look at least a little haggard from her latest hangover, but instead there were no traces whatsoever.

"Oh, Kirsten! You look gorgeous!" her mother exclaimed!

"Thanks Mom!" Kirsten replied. "We should probably leave in a few min-" her sentence was suddenly cut-off by the telephone ringing. Her mother promptly answered it and handed it to Kirsten saying it was for her.

"Hello…Oh hey, how are you?...Really, oh my god, I'm so sorry…So you can't make it…Bummer…No, no, I swear I believe you…you actually really do sound sick, I promise…No, you stay home and rest, I'll be fine…I promise…Yeah, okay, I'll talk to you later…Bye Brad!...Feel better, okay?...Okay, bye!" Kirsten hung up the phone and turned to her mother.

"Brad is sick…He was hoping that by this afternoon he would be well enough to come, but he isn't…so I guess I don't have an escort now…" Kirsten sighed.

"Well, that won't do!" her mother replied. "You are the lead deb…you have to have an escort…Mrs. Hall is coordinating it, right?" Kirsten nodded. "Well, I'm going to give her a call right now, before we leave…You just finish getting ready, Kirsten, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Kirsten replied. A few minutes later, the family was out the door and apparently Mrs. Hall was working on trying to find Kirsten a last minute escort as the Nichols were headed to the ball…

When Kirsten arrived at the gorgeous hall where the annual debutant ball was taking place, she carried her garment containing her long white dress into the back room to finish getting ready. As she entered the room, she was greeted by her so-called "friends."

"Kirsten, your hair is so gorgeous!" Taryn raved. "It's going to look fabulous with your dress."

"Well, of course it is! Kirsten always looks fabulous! I mean Kirsten is always perfect," smirked Courtney.

Well, they all had been her friends for ages, but it bothered Kirsten that so many of them seemed to be so phony and insincere, even when trying to give compliments. A few of them were genuinely nice, including Kirsten's best friend, Kelly Connor.

"Hey Kirst!" Kelly greeted her! Then she proceeded to whisper, "Don't worry about them." Kelly was wearing a white halter dress that was tight at the top and slowly flared out past her waist to the ground. It had concentrated sparkles near the top of the dress that spaced out more and more on the lower part of the dress. The whole ensemble was completed with Kelly's golden brown hair done half up with pinned curls, leaving the bottom part of her hair curled and flowing with her dress.

"Oh, Kell, you look so beautiful!" Kirsten told her friend.

"Thanks Kirst! You better get that dress on…I think we're starting fairly soon." Kelly told her.

Kirsten went over to the side of the room and put on her dress which Kelly promptly zippered up for her. As Kirsten turned around in the mirror, she smiled slightly at the sight. Her dress had thin spaghetti straps and the top of it was cut straight around. There were three folds on the top, with the fabric overlapping itself, accompanied by gorgeous beads arranged in a pattern. The top of the dress was tight and it began flaring out slightly at her waist, ending in three folds at the bottom matching those at the top. Although the dress as fairly simple, it had a classic look to it and Kirsten looked beautiful in it.

"Oh, Kirst! You look so gorgeous!" Kelly stated.

Just then, the debutant coordinator, Mrs. Hall, entered and approached Kirsten.

"Oh good, you're here! Good news, I found a last minute white knight to replace Brad. He's waiting outside. Very nice boy, just moved into Newport last week." Mrs. Hall told her.

"Great! Thanks so much, Mrs. Hall," Kirsten said.

"Oh, it's really no problem. And we couldn't have our lead debutant without an escort, could we?" Mrs. Hall said. "You better come with me and met him quick."

The white knight stood waiting outside. He couldn't believe his mother volunteered him for this. He didn't mind watching, but he wasn't so sure about actually participating in it. Suddenly the door opened. Mrs. Hall came out, followed by none-other than the girl he had seen by the pool earlier this afternoon. And she looked even more gorgeous now in the white dress she was wearing.

"Ah, okay! Jimmy, this is Kirsten Nichol, the debutant you'll be escorting and dancing with. Kirsten, this is Jimmy Cooper."

"Nice to meet you," Kirsten stated as she stuck out her hand.

"You too," Jimmy stated, in utter disbelief that he actually was meeting the girl of his dreams. Now he was glad that his mother had volunteered him.

"Okay, Kirsten, you better go line up with the rest of the girls," Mrs. Hall told her. "Jimmy, you come with me."

Kirsten waited in the long line, which seemed like it was an eternity. Why did the "lead" debutant have to go last anyway? Finally, I'm up! she thought.

"Now presenting our lead debutant, Kirsten Elizabeth Nichol, daughter of Caleb and Katherine Nichol."

Kirsten walked out with her father and as Jimmy bowed before her she curtsied. She let go of her father's arm and Jimmy escorted her down onto the dance floor.

"Presenting the 1979 Newport Beach Debutants!"

Everyone started clapping, the music began playing, and the couples started dancing.

As they were dancing, Kirsten looked up to Jimmy, "Hey, thanks for doing this. My escort got sick at the last minute."

"It's no problem," Jimmy told her.

"So where are you from," Kirsten inquired.

"San Diego. My dad got a great promotion, but the one downside was we had to move to Orange County. But I'm hoping things will be good here." Jimmy informed her.

"It's pretty nice here…good place to grow up I guess," Kirsten started. She hesitated for a moment and then said, "Hey, after the fancy party stuff, one of the girls, Courtney, is having a party at her beach house to celebrate. You can come if you want. Probably would be a good way to meet some people before school starts."

"I don't know…I promised my dad I would help him arrange some more stuff in the house…move some furniture in the morning tomorrow…" Jimmy said. Just as he said it, he wondered why he was trying to get himself out of it when his dream girl asked him to come.

"Oh, come on, it will be fun…you can just stay for a little bit if you want. The address is 103 35th Street. And if anyone asks, tell them I invited you," Kirsten told him.

"Okay, you win. I guess I'll come for a little bit, anyway," Jimmy said.

"Great!" Kirsten replied. The song slowly came to an end and the couple broke apart. Kirsten headed toward the table where her family was sitting, silently hoping that Jimmy would join the elite few that she actually enjoyed hanging out with.

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35th Street actually exists in Newport Beach. I made up the #103…I have no idea if it actually exists or not.