A/N: Thank you again for all of your reviews; fanatic4fiction, crazyshipperfangirl, crazylikeafox, theoriginalbitch, luisamendoza, rayn913, and kats02980416. I appreciate the questions, the feedback and your appreciation for the story so far. I hope to continue working on it and updating it frequently.
Diana, Melissa, and Faye had taken the girls to a local boutique after they found their dresses in order to find shoes, purses and jewelry. After, they had gone to an early dinner before heading home.
Celeste took the garment bag and hung it up in her closet. Unzipping it, the blonde reached out to feel the material and a smile crept onto her face. She didn't know why but she was calmed when she felt the silk charmeuse, instead of anxious or excited for the next day. There was something static in the air and Celeste knew there were good things to come.
Turning toward her bed, she collected tomorrow's accessories and put them on the top shelf in her closet. Yanking her shirt off, Celeste changed into a sleep top and a pair of boxer shorts, and then pulled her hair up into a high ponytail. Climbing in, she settled down in the bed that had once been her mother's and looked up at the ceiling, watching the glow in the dark stars transform before her eyes.
Adam pulled up to the school and grabbed his daughter's arm before she could make her escape. It was hard to look at her without seeing her mother and knowing that Margaux blamed him for her leaving them. The truth was that he had loved Laura the best that he could.
They had met when he was twenty-two and had just finished his culinary training. His father was still taking care of the business side of the business seeing as he was too young to retire, but Ethan had decided to let Adam take care of the restaurant and the everyday management.
Laura had come in out of the pouring rain with a newspaper held over her head, her long red curls completely drenched. Adam was serving breakfast to some locals when he saw her. Tall and thin, she had been wearing a blush colored tank top and denim skirt when she got caught in the rain.
She had walked right up to him, lowering the newspaper and shivering from cold, and asked if she could use his phone to call a tow truck. Her car had gone over a pothole and before she knew it her car had veered off the road with a flat tire.
Adam had just stared at her and Laura smiled. "It must have been fate; getting a flat right across the street from you," she had said. They were married a month later and soon Margaux was on the way. Now she was on her way out.
"I'll see you at the boathouse," he told her and let go of her arm. "I'm gonna need your help to set up for tonight."
"So not only do I not get to go to the ball but now I have to serve and clean up after everyone who does," she yelled. "No way!"
Margaux booked and stormed up to the school leaving Adam with a headache and a throbbing behind his eyes.
Margaux yanked her locker open and stared at a picture of her and Mark. It was from their first date, when they had doubled with Grey and Phoebe and went to the carnival. Grey had taken the picture to have proof that Mark actually spent time with a girl other than in the backseat of a car.
Ripping it down, Margaux took it and threw it into a trash can. This was the last time that they were going to be breaking up, she vowed.
Spying Grey and Phoebe hanging all over each other, Margaux turned to avoid them and began walking in the opposite direction. Making it to the side exit, she glanced around to make sure no one was watching her as she left school grounds.
Nick pulled up on his bike and killed the engine before walking into the abandoned Blackwell house.
The text he got had said to meet here and Nick really didn't need a reason to ditch his courses at the community college. He didn't hate school; he just didn't care as much as his dad did.
Climbing the steps to the second story, the eldest member of the circle spotted the youngest. Only two years separated them and yet it felt like an eternity, probably because everyone treated him and his father like outcasts.
Still, that hadn't kept him from noticing her from time to time. Nick had always had a thing for redheads and the fact that both of them had parents that had just up and left them was a bond that only the two of them were unfortunate to share.
Hearing his steps on the stairs, Margaux turned and smiled at him. "It took you long enough," she said finally in a good mood. "Are you interested in a little magic?"
Nick smiled. "What were you thinking of?"
Phoebe slammed her tray down and sat next to Grey who was with Mark and Celeste. "Have any of you seen Margaux today?"
"What, did she throw another fit," Mark asked before shoveling another bite of awful cafeteria food into his mouth.
"Aren't you supposed to be her boyfriend," Phoebe asked pointedly. "Are you not at all concerned with how upset she must have been after her dad told her she couldn't go to the ball? Not that that's your fault," she said to Celeste.
"Yeah," Celeste said and started to push the food on her plate around with her fork, "but Mark and her breaking up last night might have had a little to do with me."
"Woah, wait a minute," Grey said. "You two broke up again," he asked his best friend. "Why the hell didn't I know about this?"
"Look, she threw a fit after you guys went home," Mark said. "She tried to threaten Celeste out of going to the ball."
"Yeah, and she didn't take too kindly to me telling her to wait her turn," Celeste added. "I couldn't really help it. I don't want to make enemies within the circle but she wasn't exactly making being friends easy."
"That's great," Phoebe said sarcastically. "Well, there goes the senior ball," she said and grabbed her phone.
"What do you mean," Celeste asked her but the other girl was already dialing a number.
"Margaux is Phoebe's best friend," Grey said. "They're protective of each other and Margaux has a history of being destructive and vindictive. Phoebe's probably going to spend e rest of the day looking for Margaux to make sure that she doesn't do any permanent damage."
"Is Margaux really that bad," she turned to Mark for answers.
"You probably don't want to get in her way again," her cousin said. "She's gonna be aiming at someone and right now it's better if she's aiming at me. I can handle Margaux," Mark said.
Phoebe hung up the phone and let out a sigh. "Well, that was Margaux. Apparently she decided to skip school in favor of teenage rebellion." She opened a picture that her friend had sent her minutes earlier. "She used her fake to get a tattoo."
"Great," Mark said. "One more thing her Dad can blame on me."
"Do you like it," she asked Nick.
He traced the design with his finger, gently passing his hand along her bra. "I've got to say, it looks pretty hot right there."
"Well, boyfriends come and go but tattoos are forever," Margaux told him. Pulling her shirt down, Maggie turned to face her newest partner in crime. "Are you ready for tonight," she asked.
"Yeah," Nick grinned. "I got everything we need. Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, what did she ever do to you?"
"She's the reason this happened to me," Maggie replied heatedly. "If it weren't for her than I wouldn't have been tossed aside."
Getting all of her stuff together, Maggie jammed it into her bag before walking to the table and grabbing her father's book of shadow said, "Just make sure that you can do this. You can't change your mind once we start," she told him.
Nick nodded. "Okay, but make sure you go to your Dad's so he doesn't realize you skipped school today. The last thing we need his him snooping around."
"Will you meet me there, before the ball?"
"Sure. I'll pretend to help you guy's set up for the lameness that will ensue," he joked exposing bright white teeth.
Faye opened the door, allowing Diana and Melissa in. "Ladies," she drawled. "The girls are upstairs getting ready. Can I offer you anything to drink," Faye said shaking her glass in front of them.
"Faye," Diana said grabbing the glass and sniffing it, "we're chaperones; we can't be drunk at the ball!"
Grabbing her drink from the other woman, Faye said, "It's a mocktail, ladies. Calm down."
"Oh," Diana said. "Okay. Grey should be here in about twenty minutes with Mark. Are the girls almost ready," she asked as she and Melissa followed Faye into the kitchen for their mocktails.
"Last I saw," she told them, "Phoebe was doing Celeste's hair in some kind of half-up half-down do. By the way, Melissa," Faye pointed her glass at her best friend, "kudos on the dress you picked out for Phoebe. I always thought of her style as more of a prudish middle school garb. It's nice to see she's got a little flair. I totally had her pegged as another Diana."
"Hey, I am very stylish," Diana defended her self. "I just happen to be a more classic touch than you, Faye."
"Whatever," the other woman said before taking a sip of her drink. "I just want to get this night over with."
"I'm really excited," Melissa said. "It's like being back in high school. I used to love the dances."
"Do either of you actually remember what happened at those dances," Faye asked.
Diana and Melissa both frowned as they thought about everything that happened back when they were teenagers.
"Exactly," Faye said right before the doorbell rang. "Looks like the boys are here," she said with false excitement, her eyes lighting up. "I'll get it!"