Chapter Four: The Halloween Costume Ball, Part One
"But Merida, you have to come with us!" Jasmine whined. Merida twisted the phone chord in her hand, thinking. It had been a few months since her arrival to Wonderland, and everyone had the Halloween Costume Ball on their minds. Everyone except for Merida, of course.
"I don't know, I really could be sleeping then…"
"Is that Merida on the phone? Merida? Merida!" Merida rolled her eyes while the girls on the other end seemed to be fighting over the phone.
"Merida, this is Tiana. Now, we are all going costume shopping today, whether you like it or not. We'll be over just as soon as we find Mulan."
Merida groaned and hung up the phone. She knew that there was no getting out of this, so she tried to see a bright side.
Since her first date with Jim, she had been on three more, but he told her that he had to go away for a while. That was three weeks ago, and she hadn't seen him since. Well, two good things could come out of this: Either he would be there, or he wouldn't be there, but her friends would be able to make her forget that little fact.
During this thought process, Peter walked through her front door. Peter was his usual happy self, and he smiled at her. The two never talked about Jim, but Merida got the distinct impression that Peter didn't trust him, though she couldn't fathom why.
"Hey Merida, whatchya doin'?" Merida sighed.
"Tiana and Jasmine are making me go costume shopping for the ball." Peter's smile widened.
"You're going, too?"
"I guess so." Merida said, and then looked back at Peter. "Wait, you go to those things?" Peter looked at her like she had just said something crazy.
"Of course I do! Those things are soo fun! You can dress up like whatever you want!" Merida laughed. Of course Peter would like that.
"Well then, if you like it so much, you're going to have the best costume ever, right?"
"Definitely! No one will recognize me." He winked at her, and they both laughed.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Tiana. Peter looked at Merida, smiled, and then jumped out her window. Right after he did, the door flew open. The girls were all standing there, bustling with excitement. Merida sighed, but happily got up to join them.
When they got to the store, the girls ran off in different directions, grabbing dresses and accessories. Merida walked around the back of the store, looking at the different options. Nurse, squirrel, princess, pirate, flower… Tiana shoved three dresses at Merida.
"Go try these on and pick one." Merida laughed, but went into one of the dressing rooms to try on the costumes. She looked at the dresses, deciding which one to try on first. There was a dark blue butterfly, a deep green and purple that was probably a mermaid, and what she thought was a wedding dress. She sighed. She had thought about being a zombie, but it looked like that wasn't going to cut it.
Merida thought about what Peter had said about the ball, that it was about being something that you're not, so she grabbed the mermaid costume and put it on. When she looked in the mirror, she gasped. That had to have been the most skin tight thing that she had ever worn in her life. The dark purple top had no sleeves, and at the waist, the fabric turned deep green and clung to her legs until her ankles. She looked back at the other dress (the wedding dress was out of the question), which would have fallen far too many inches above her knee. Merida sighed, but walked out of the door of the dressing room.
"Tiana?" Merida asked. Tiana turned around, and squealed.
"Honey, you look so beautiful!" Jasmine laughed.
"She has the hair for it, too."
Merida smiled and quickly went back to the dressing room to put her clothes on. After another hour and a half, all of the girls had their costumes. Merida was going to be a mermaid, Tiana was going in a princess costume that she already had (She said that she was partial to it, because she met her husband in it.), Mulan was going as what looked like a cherry blossom (The other girls laughed, was this some kind of inside joke?), and Jasmine was going as a "peasant" (She used the same explanation as Tiana.). The night was definitely going to be a fun one.
On the evening of the ball, the girls went to Tiana's house to get ready. Merida gasped when she saw it; It was so beautiful. Tiana smiled at her.
"Did I forget to tell you? Naveen turned out to be a prince." She winked at her, and the girls walked in.
Tiana was already wearing her costume, and she looked beautiful. The dress was floor length and light blue, complete with a matching crown and heels.
The girls all got to work right away, Jasmine and Mulan doing their own hair and make-up, and Tiana doing Merida's.
"I would tell you that you need to learn how to do all of this stuff yourself, but you don't wear it all that often." Tiana joked as she spread colors over Merida's face.
Merida laughed and sat patiently thinking of what this party would be like. She had to admit, she was at least a little excited, because this would be her first one. When she looked in the mirror, she gasped.
Her eyes had purples and greens all over their lids, and her lips were coated with clear shine. Her hair was left down and untamed, because that's what a mermaid's hair looks like, apparently. She studied her reflection. Even though the coloring wasn't even close to natural, she got the impression that she looked beautiful.
After the girls were all done, they waited for their carriage to take them. Merida was suddenly thankful that she picked a mermaid, because she was allowed to go barefoot, so long as she had jewelry on her feet. The other girls were already massaging their feet and complaining about heels.
When the carriage came, they jumped into it excitedly.
"Where to?" The driver asked. Tiana laughed
"You know where, Major!"
"As you wish." He smiled at the girls.
When they arrived, the party was already in progress. There were decorations everywhere, and pumpkin lanterns were floating in the air. Jack and Sally Skellington were hosting the event, and they had done a wonderful job. Merida looked over to the left and saw that Alice Liddell and Reginald Theophilus seemed to be in charge of the music, and she briefly wondered if they were dating.
Merida looked around herself and realized that her friends had all gone their separate ways, so she walked over to the drink table. While she was pouring herself some punch, she heard a noise. She looked around but didn't see anyone in particular, so she continued to get her drink.
"Pssst!" This time, she looked up and saw the culprit. Standing on the other side of the table was a tall man, dressed in a smart black suit, with a red shirt underneath, which had the top button undone. His hair was smooth and shiny, and he was smiling at her.
"…Peter?!" Peter started laughing so hard that she thought he might hurt himself, but she continued to stare. Maybe she was still asleep, because this was strange, and weird, and wrong, and he shouldn't look like that.
Peter walked around the table and stood next to her.
"Like it? I went as an adult. I bet no one will know that it's me!" Merida stared at him, mouth open, trying to find words. Peter smiled at her, seeming satisfied. Maybe he thought that she was in shock because of how great his costume was, she hoped.
"You look really nice. I always thought you had mermaid hair." Peter laughed. Merida managed to close her mouth and clear her throat.
"So," She tried to find something to take her mind off of what was standing in front of her. "so what do people do here, exactly?" Peter smiled at her.
"What people always do at balls! Eat, drink, sing, dance, laugh, and have fun!" Peter got himself a drink and the two walked to a table to sit down.
They talked of people's costumes, and what they thought. Rapunzel had gone as a street rat, Kuzco was dressed as a female princess, Grumpy was a clown (The pair agreed that clowns were downright scary, and no one should purposely be one.), ect. After laughing at Tarzan's attempt at a Doctor Who costume, Peter smiled at Merida.
"Do you want to dance?" She laughed.
"I don't dance." Peter laughed at her.
"Of course you dance, everyone dances!" Peter put on his best puppy dog face, which was absolutely heartbreaking. "Please?" Merida sighed, smiled, and stuck out her hand. Peter jumped up and dragged her to the dance floor.
The two danced for a while, laughing and swinging around, until they were out of breath.
"I'm," Merida gasped. "I'm going to go get something to drink." Peter smiled at her. "Okay!"
Merida walked to the table and got a glass of water. As she was drinking, she watched Peter twisting around the party. He looked so happy, but then again, he always looked that happy.
Behind her she heard a noise and turned to see what it was. She didn't see anything, except for Captain Jack spiking the punch. She reminded herself to not let Peter drink that. She didn't think she could handle a drunk Peter.
Suddenly, a group of people dressed as pirates came out of the trees near Merida. One of them walked up to her, and smiled.
"Jim!" Merida beamed up at him.
"Merida, you look beautiful!" Jim looked her up and down, which made her blush. She looked around him at the group of people he had walked up with, who looked nervous.
Peter's warning from the first time she went out with Jim shot up in her head, but she gently pushed it back. Jim was nothing to fear; He was a nice guy.
"So," Jim said, smiling at Merida. "I was wondering if I could steal you away for a while." Merida smiled at him.
"Sure." She said, and she followed him away to where the group of men had been standing. She expected him to stop, but he continued to walk, so she followed him.
Again warnings went up in her head, but she pushed them back with more force than before. "No", she thought, "he's probably just taking me somewhere a little less noisy.". After they were a good distance into the trees, Jim looked at Merida, with an expression that she couldn't pinpoint. What was going on?
"I'm sorry, Merida."
"Sorry? Sorry for what?" She was confused, until she realized what the look on his face was. The look was… morbid. Suddenly, the group of men from before jumped out of the trees, and everything went dark.