Sydney.

I know when I agreed to this formal party I knew what was coming for me. Dress shopping, shoe shopping, and other forms of shopping. Lots of squeals and choruses of "OMG that dress is SO cute!" and "Look at those sandals!"

But while dress shopping in the fiftieth store, I had apparently found the "right dress".

"Oh my. God." Maya choked out as her eyes popped out of her sockets like a dead fish.

"What? Come on. You guys it's a dress. Now what's wrong with it, do my boobs look unequal or something?" I asked hotly.

"No! No!" Tarea cried standing to admire.

The dress was something I'd picked out on my own. It was the first dress I'd picked out myself since I was ten and wanted to be an "Undead Zombie" Marilyn Monroe. It was a soft black satin strapless floor length dress.

Not just any ordinary black. The soft lustrous expensive black.

You know, the kind your eyes just sort of slip into.

There was a thin black lace embellishment under the bust line it really made the dress worth a second glance.

"It's the last one in stock. We didn't order many of them in the black, a lot of them crazy brides think black for a wedding dress is unlucky."

The saleswoman said in a Brooklyn accent. I shrugged, yes, when I had declined all of the formal prom dresses that were on a sale at some Multi-Designer sample sale, Maya dragged me down to a Bridal shop, to get me and Ally something "more dazzling". Ally had settled on a dark blue knee length halter and moved, but I was still procrastinating.

When the saleswoman showed me the picture of the dress on the model in a magazine, my jaw dropped.

The model was astonishing yet shockingly thin and she was rather tall. "The dress had all the effects on her height. She's actually just a bit bigger than you." The saleswoman informed us. "Here's the mirrors." She said, turning to a set of three side by side mirrors.

I was stunned. It was me, no doubt, but the saleswoman hadn't been lying when she said that the dress did all the work. It made me look taller. Definitely taller. I was looking much thinner. In a good way of course. Though everyone believes it won't, everyone's first dress can work wonders for their body.

But even though I knew this. I still hadn't believed the dress could make me look so… Good.

And I feel as if I'm in a Prom Chick-Flick movie.

As I shook myself back from staring at the new me. I tried to hide the shock, "Well looks good. Let's get it. How much?" I asked the saleswoman, placing my hands on my well shown hips. "That dress is…" She flipped through binder until she reached a page and ran her finger down it.

"79.85." She answered casually.

"Yikes… Well though it is a lot of money, it's a fair amount for a bridesmaids dress. I guess I'll take it."

I hope it ain't over my limit. I thought as I went back into the changing room.

I walked with the saleswoman to the register, barely listening to Ally, Tarea and Maya's babble over the dress. I handed the woman the card and she smiled and rung it up.

I couldn't help, but smile myself. After all, to be honest, I always wanted a little black dress.

I got back to the hotel room, exhausted.

Tarea and Ally had left and Maya had me all over the place looking for a "half damn decent" necklace. She said that shoes were not going to be a problem she'd just lend me a pair.

"You know the strappy black heels that go around your ankle that I got from that place for that thing!"

"Yeah cause I know exactly what your talking about." I told her before pausing then saying.

"Excuse me, but exactly how many pairs of elegant heels did you pack for this trip? Never mind. Don't answer that." I remember saying,

She finally settled on a long necklace made from black pearls and a dark silver bracelet and said the rest was all me.

I walked straight out of Zales, which I could not afford, and right into Hot Topic.

Where I then bought a leather choker with an old fashioned key hanging from it. I knew this choker well, it was always admired from me. I had loved it so much, and now was my chance to grab it.

When Maya saw what I'd gotten she pursed her lips.

"What!" I cried.

She just shook her head and asked.

"You mind if I go get my hair down real quick? I just wanna get it shorter."

I shrugged.

"Sure. Let's go." She smiled and grabbed my hand, running me to the salon in the mall. I sat on one of the benches while Maya set up her hairstyle with the stylist. Then, I saw out of the corner of my eye a woman braiding butterfly clips into a woman's hair. I dug into my bag as the stylist took the woman to the counter to pay.

I finally found the feathers. The two albatross feathers that symbolized all who Iggy was.

When the woman left the counter, I called to the stylist. "Excuse me!"

After she finished she took the cover off me. "You look great honey. If I do say so myself. But if I may ask, why the feathers?"

"It's a symbol." I answered getting lost in my thoughts of Iggy.

She smiled at me and guided me to the counter. "Of what, might I ask?"

I spit out the first thing I could think of. "My last name. It's Falcon."

Well that's necessarily not a lie. It is the truth, but that isn't what the feathers symbolize.

"Feathers a part of the family?"

"Oh, yeah. These feathers came off a my deceased grandmothers hat. It was quite a funny hat, had lots of feathers. Lots of feathers."

Where did that come from? The truth: I do have a deceased Grandmother. The lie: She was actually pretty fashionable and If I knew Nana, she didn't wear feathered hats.

Nervously I stroked where she'd woven the two feathers together into one lock of my hair, she had used only one bobby pin, but with my dark hair, you couldn't see it.

"Well it's great you honor your ancestors." She said, smiling wider. And if your ever in the mood for a trim, cut or wash. Come see me." She handed me her card and I thanked her and left with Maya, when we were out of earshot of the store she finally asked. "What's up with the feathers?"

I shrugged.

"Dunno. They just looked cool."

But I smiled to myself, as I stroked the feathers.

But my smile quickly faltered, when I thought I saw a familiar flash of bobbed blonde hair on a small child.

I turned around, but what I thought I saw wasn't there.

"Huh." I mumbled to myself.

But my telepathy hooked onto something. Someone I knew was nearby. I could feel them.

"Syd? You okay?"

"Yeah just thought I saw someone I knew." I said.

"I guess I didn't."

"Okay then, you ready to go?"

"Yeah." I said, shaking it off.

As I sat in front of the hotel TV with a can of Coke. I couldn't help, but think about the blonde hair.

I finally convinced myself it was nothing and let myself get lost in the reruns of Chuck they were showing on NBC.