The Parade
The parade float was parked in front of the school, and Gaia stood in the doorway excitedly bouncing as I walked forward with my makeup bag in hand. "Hurry up! I have the dress right inside here and the light is going to be perfect for the photoshoot!" I laughed as she called to me, fumbling to lock my car with the key fob. The quick chirp sounded as I closed the door to the school, taking in the sound of chatter as parade float volunteers ran around excitedly. The buzz of an extracurricular activity in the school always made me smile, because even when it was someone who had no intention of helping, they still found something to enjoy.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" I laughed as Gi ripped the makeup bag from my hand and pulled me along.
"Come on! Alice is on FaceTime! She wants to see you in the dress." Gaia skipped forward merrily, dragging me down the hall until she made it to the yearbook room.
"You still have a key?" I was shocked, maybe she wasn't going to give up her editor position just yet. She had discussed it towards the end of the school year with me, but I still didn't believe it three months later.
"I'm still officially editor until next year." Gaia corrected with a smirk as she released my hand and picked her way through the room.
Fear filled me, the finality of her decision felt too real, too… final. "Are you really gonna step down?"
"I want to enjoy the photography side again, and expand my portfolio, of course. Rose is gonna try for editor anyway, it's her senior year." She lowered her voice suddenly as she glanced around. "Again."
"And you're not worried about what it will do to your college applications?"
"Well I'm taking a gap year to work with my dad overseas, Paul is going to apply for technical school, he said he wants to stay near the tribe." The way she said "the tribe" suggested she was talking more specifically about the pack. "He's talking about opening a mechanic shop, he and Jake kept kicking around the idea of opening the shop together. Work around the schedule. I fully support his idea, and he wants to travel with me from time to time once I get deeper into photography."
"It sounds like you guys have it all figured out." I smiled, my hands becoming slick with nerves. We were only going to be juniors officially as of next month, but she had the first two years after graduation figured out. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to take the ACTs or the SATs… both?
As I began to spiral I felt Gi take my shoulders and force me to sit at her desk. Rose's desk… another change. There was a mirror sat where the school issued laptop usually was, Gaia's iPod Touch propped against it with Alice's grinning face filling the screen. "Do her makeup first! Then the hair, then the dress." Her voice practically squeaked as she spoke, the excitement crawling through the screen to throttle me.
"Aye aye captain!" Gaia laughed, dumping my makeup bag on the table and taking in the foundation base I had made at home.
Somewhere along the journey of my makeup application Kate and Tanya joined Alice on the phone, their three stunning faces filling the tiny digital screen. "Damn this sun, I wish I could be there now." Kate groaned while Tanya excused herself and disappeared from frame.
"Oh! Put more of the blush on her cheeks!" Alice chimed in suddenly, her voice far away as she flirted across the room, watching both as it happened and slightly before. "To the left, up a little, bingo!"
Another fifteen to twenty minutes went by as we migrated from makeup to hair, Rose now eagerly joining the peanut gallery of spectators. I could only imagine what it would have been like had the sky decided on a gloomier lighting for the festivities. The mental image of hands flying around my head and face in a flurry of beautification. I had hives just thinking about the organized chaos. Glamor was always welcomed, but somehow the Cullen and Denali families just take it to another level every time. "No no, let it frame her face like this." Rose interjected moving front and center on the screen as she adjusted her own hair accordingly. Tanya had returned and watched with a glimmer in her eyes, Irina now by her side as they lurked in the background beside Kate.
Alice bounced forward and looked approvingly once my hair had met Rose's exact specifications. "It's time for the dress." She squeaked out as all five of the women as well as the new additions of Esme and Carmen filled the screen. My heart wept as the realization struck me- my mother would have been looking at me the same way the seven vampiric women did now. I may have lost my mom, but I gained a village. Some part of me, deep within, called out and told me that this was Mom's doing. She never would have left me completely alone. I wonder who she sent dad. The wistful thought crossed my mind as I was pulled up from the seat and ushered into the dark room to put on the dress.
It looked like the deepest blackest night as it hung in low light. When I reached out to touch the full skirt I felt the smoothness that could only be achieved by satin, my breath catching in my throat as I took the dress in all its beauty. Gaia really had a way of picking dresses that left you in awe.
As it slipped over my skin it felt cool and soft, the fabric thick but breathable, a sturdy kind of beautiful. I still couldn't tell the color and the makeup lent me no clues with the smokey nude eye and soft pink lipstick. I smoothed the fabric one more time before taking a long exhale and opening the door to the dark room. When I stepped out I heard Gaia's gasp, and when I looked up in her direction I saw her holding her iPod up so the others could see. There was solid silence at first, the feeling swelling in the air, and then I was sure the women who were bound by the sun would come crawling through the screen any second now. They were all singing praises and demanding I do a twirl.
Three twirls later I was promptly ushered out the door and through the school without being able to catch a glimpse of the dress. All I knew was that it was beautiful and blue, and I felt like Cinderella wearing it. "Oh my GOD! There's pockets!" I squealed as we came up to the edge of the parking lot, about to go running up the hill and into the tree line for the photos. I slipped my phone into one of the pockets, gathering the dress into my hands and staring down at my bare feet. "Wait. This is a continuation of the winter photos isn't it?" I thought back to the night Edward and I had fought about me meeting Gaia in the woods between our house. I had worn an emerald green dress of a similar style that night and stood barefoot in the snow and dry pine. At least this time I wouldn't freeze through the photoshoot.
"It is! I got this idea randomly and now I want to do all four seasons." Gaia smiled as she adjusted the camera around her neck and then picked up the back of my dress for me. "I have flats for when you're on the float, but for the photos I wanted your feet to be a little dirty, like you've been running through the woods for all the seasons." She smiled as she thought about it.
"I love it, and I am totally down for spring and autumn." I said as we began the short walk to the woods. Once we were through the tree line it was just a few minutes of walking until we got to the location for the photos. The sun shone through the trees in beams, a small amount of fog still whispering through the trees and dragging the golden light down to the ground. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a glimmer of light, just a faint twinkle in the sunlight like a distant parking lot in the summer, but the parking lot was behind us. I was confused only for a second before I heard the click of the camera. With a spin I saw Gaia standing there with the camera raised in front of her face. "Just move around, act natural, maybe strike a few poses." I gave her a quick thumbs up and began to move about the space.
After we started to lose the lighting we decided to call it quits, and I saw the glimmer again. "Hey Gi… wait a minute?" I waved my hand at her as she was walking over to me to help me hold the dress up and put on my flats. "Do you see that?"
"What?" She stepped up next to me, her eyes following where I pointed. "Oh! That looks like…"
"A vampire." I choked out suddenly as I realized what I was staring at.
"But the Cullens and Denalis would never…" The mass moved forward steadily, becoming more human like as Gaia spoke.
"No." I confirmed her unfinished thought.
"Run?" She said hopefully, making my heart break that I had to be the pessimistic one.
"How? They are faster than us?" I kept my eyes pinned to the mass that grew in size, there was no way the vampire was running towards us, we would already be dead, instead it was making a steady and easy pace.
"Think really hard about what's about to happen so maybe Alice has a vision?" She still sounded so hopeful despite the closing proximity and undoubted fear that tied us to the ground.
"Edward would already be here." I choked out, my chest tight as I thought about the fiery pain I had heard them all describe the bite as. I already decided, I will never be a vampire. I would rather go down dressed like Cinderella than rise like Dracula. I was making peace with the fact that at least my outfit as a ghost would be hot as I listened to Gaia's next words.
"A point I'm choosing to ignore if we are both about to die." Gi said as she pulled her phone up, clicking Paul's contact. Before she could even connect the call the glimmering mass swiped the phone from her hand, causing both of us to scream and flinch backwards.
The glimmering mass held up both its hands as my eyes adjusted to the light. It was a she, and she had golden red hair and brown eyes. She was Blessing, and she held up an envelope in one hand and Gaia's phone in the other. The envelope had swooping letters on it that was a familiar handwriting, something that felt like a dream to me. Blessing's smile was nervous, her eyes still not the exact same hue of the rest of the vegetarian vampires. Finally, after a few tense and silent seconds that were filled with the hammering of our hearts, she sighed and spoke. "Hey sis."