The alarm went off at 7:00 a.m. It was the big day. I still couldn't believe that I had agreed to this. It was described in high society as the greatest day in a young woman's life. One thing that I hadn't known when I decided that I wanted to have a debutante ball was that I would have to take classes on how to behave like a proper young woman. They were incredibly dated. I wished that I had known that I would have to do such a thing beforehand. Did they think that I would actually be following such a thing? What was the point of them? The good news was that they were over and I would never have to do them again.
"So are you excited?" Max asked after she woke up.
"Well it is my birthday party, my big upper-class birthday party." I answered as I got out of bed. "Though I'm a little upset that Bailey can't come."
"Yeah I was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to." Max explained. That was another thing that I was upset about. I wished Max had told me those things ahead of time. "There was no way in hell that the committee would let a farm girl from middle of nowhere Kansas attend a prestigious party."
"That might have been nice to know before I decided that I wanted to do this." I pointed out. She definitely could have given me a list of rules or something before I agreed.
"Well sacrifice is one major part of this. There are a lot of things that you can't do." She stated. That had become pretty clear. "I'm just glad that I won't be doing it anytime soon."
Had Max actually told her parents that she didn't want a debutante ball, or did she just assume that they would say no? I wasn't actually sure if she really talked to them about anything. It seemed like she had these preconceptions about her parents but had never even tried to disprove them.
We were about to spend another full day of preparation for my big day. Max's mom had even booked a trip to the spa for both of us. Actually, her mom was handling the entire preparation since my mom didn't know anything about this stuff and was honestly surprised the fact that I even wanted a coming out party. Max told me that was the official term for when there was a single debutante. Anything with multiple debutantes was called a cotillion.
I had seen my dress ahead of time. I was a white ballgown with a pair of gloves. It was supposed to be designed to look like a wedding dress. I was pretty sure that one of the original ideas for this type of thing was that it was basically a wedding auction or something. That sounded very unpleasant and also extremely sexist and I was glad that they weren't doing it anymore.
We went to breakfast where we both had to use several different forks for each portion of the meal. Luckily we both knew which ones to use. I still didn't understand the purpose of using all of these different forks. It seemed like a waste of dishes to me.
After breakfast we were on our way to the massage parlor. Max told me that she had been there before for her Sweet 16 party. I hadn't been there since I thought it was too girly. I was pretty sure that only girls were invited to it. I did have to admit that I liked being pampered like I was. I even managed to fall asleep during the massage and I was pretty sure that Max did the same.
After we left the spa, we went through the series of salons that we had been to before. However, it seemed like it was taking long because they were trying to spend extra time on me. I wanted to tell them that I wasn't getting married, I was only celebrating my birthday, but I supposed that was a special occasion in and of itself. We went left, my hair was style into an updo. I didn't know the name of the exact style, so I was just going to call it an updo.
However, I was a bit surprised by the last stop because I didn't think that I would be going there and Max seemed to be surprised by it as well. We were taken to the jewelry store. What were we getting from here? As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with a surprise.
"Ms. Martin, your father asked you to be presented with this as soon as you entered the store." The saleswoman said as she approached me. How did she know my name? I was presented with a diamond necklace. On the back, the inscription read 'Zoey, remember to always shine bright like this diamond, Love Dad.'
"It's beautiful." I replied as a few tears came to my eyes. I couldn't believe that I was crying. I also guessed that my dad had given them my picture or something. It was still a little bit weird. I watched as they put it around my neck. I wasn't sure why since I wasn't going to be wearing it until the party. I had also been given a pair of 14-karat diamond earrings, which I also wouldn't be wearing until the party.
We returned to Max house at 4:00 for some downtime before the rehearsal at 5:00. We went to her room and turned on the TV. I was already feeling a little worn out and the party hadn't even started yet. I hoped that I wasn't making a mistake, but there was also no way that I could back out now. I didn't want to back out after everything everyone had done for me.
"Wow there is a lot more to this than the last one." I commented with a sigh as I laid back against the headrest.
"Well at the last one, you were just a guest." Max pointed out. That was true. Part of me thought that Max really enjoy this, but she was so set in her ways that she said that she didn't want to. "This time you are the guest of honor, the main attraction as your make your debut into society."
"Yeah I guess that is true." I agreed as I held the box in my hand. "I'm kind of surprised that my dad got me this necklace."
"I can tell that he really loves you." She stated. She seemed like she was a little bit jealous. I was pretty sure that her parents did love her. "I wouldn't be surprised if he always wanted a daughter. If your parents had divorced you probably would have gone with him since you two are so close and all."
"Well I'm happy that they never did." I stated. That sounded like it would be terrible. "I also can't imagine what it would be like being separated from Cody. I mean we're not as close as we used to be but he's my brother and I love him."
"That's one thing that sucks about being an only child." She remarked. There were probably good things about it as well.
"Yeah, but everything else is probably great." I commented. Not having to share a room would be a good thing. "So I can see now why you don't wanna do this."
"Well could you ever possibly see someone like me as a debutante?" She asked. I wouldn't have before, but now I knew that she had this girly side, I actually could.
"Well…a little bit now." I told her. "But before I knew about it, probably not."
"Yeah, I guess I can see where you're coming from, but I don't really want to be." She replied. She really didn't need to keep telling me. I had heard her the first time.
"So have you ever been to one of these rehearsals?" I asked. Maybe she could tell me what I was in for.
"Only for one ball." She answered. Was she going to tell me the rest? "When I was thirteen, I was a flower girl at my cousin's debut. She actually did meet someone at hers, she got married last spring. That was around the time, my mom decided that I should become a debutante and I could meet my Mr. Right."
"Do you think Marcus might be?" I questioned. I really did think that she was using him. She seemed more interested in a business relationship with him than anything else, but maybe she did really care and I just couldn't see it.
"I don't know." She answered. "I have no idea how to tell. You should probably get dressed."
"So what does your cousin do?" I inquired as I took off my clothes and started to put my dress on. I would actually need her help with it because I couldn't reach the zipper.
"She's a housewife." She answered. "She doesn't need to do anything. That's another reason why I don't want to do it. I want to do something with my life. I'm not sure what but I don't wanna be just a housewife."
It seemed like it was a personal choice for her cousin to be a housewife. Had someone told her that she couldn't have a job or something? Max started to put on her own dress. Hers was baby blue and backless. She looked stunning in it. I was still attracted even though I felt very strong feelings for, maybe even loved, James
"So how do I look?" I asked nervously. I put on the necklace and the earrings as well.
"You look like nothing I've ever seen before." She replied That was why I was pretty sure that she didn't like Marcus as more than a client.
Rehearsal had quite a few people there. James was there as were Mom and Dad. Cody had decided to spend the night with Bailey instead. Bailey had said that she would be fine but Cody was against it. I felt that if Cody was more happy with Bailey, then he should be with Bailey. It would have been weird to leave Bailey alone in the suite as well. I was also pretty sure that they were going to be having sex in there. We went through all of the rehearsal stuff which including curtsying and dancing with my father. It was a little weird but also felt kind of nice.
After dinner, everyone except James and I left to the go to the ballroom. I was pretty nervous about everything. I hoped that I would get a chance to talk to Miley. I understood why I wasn't going to be meeting the guest right away.
"So how long are we supposed to wait for this?" James asked me.
"I think it's about 20 minutes." I answered. "I'm not sure how we're supposed to fill the time. Maybe we can talk."
"I'm okay with talking." He agreed.
"So what did you think of Universal Studios?" I asked.
"I thought it was a lot of fun. I wasn't expecting there to be a ride based around Hogwarts." He answered. "Did you like it?"
"Of course I did. It was a great birthday." I stated. "I also liked how we kept getting to skip all of the lines."
20 minutes later, the two of us stood outside of the ballroom. I forgot that the Tipton didn't have stairs that went to the ballroom. It would have made for a better entrance, but I supposed that this would have to do.
"Are you ready?" He asked me
Yeah, I am." I stated. I was still nervous but I knew I needed to do this.
James took my hand and the two of us began to walk into the room.
Mr. Moseby noticed and held out his microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Zoey Martin, escorted by James Garrett." He said.
As we walked into the room, I noticed that a lot of people wanted to take pictures of us. I had to smile even though I was a little uncomfortable with it. People also wanted to take pictures of just me and then they wanted to take some pictures of me and my dad. I was a lot of pictures which I also wasn't ready for.
After all of the photos were taken, some music started to play so James and I could the first dance of the night. We slowly began to move to the music. James had a smile on his face.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked him.
"I just think it's kind of funny." James said. "The last time we danced it was the last dance and this time…"
"It's the first." I replied, finishing his sentence. "Yeah it is kind of funny how that works. Maybe if we danced more often it wouldn't happen like that."
"Well there aren't very many places that we can dance like this." He pointed out.
"That's true but who says we need a fancy venue to dance. Somewhere like your room would be just fine." I argued.
"I get what you're saying. Next time we're all alone, I owe you a dance." He proposed as we continued to move.
"Yes you do." I agreed as I leaned against him.
After I was done dancing with James, I then went through a father daughter dance. I noticed that Max was dancing with Marcus. She had actually gotten him signed and I had written a single for them that going to be sent to radio. I hadn't actually heard the recording of it though.
Later during the party, I went over to get a glass of punch. It was then that I was approached by a familiar face.
"So what happened to 'I don't think I'm going to have one'?" Todd asked as I grabbed a glass.
"A girl can change her mind, can't she?" I responded with a smile.
"I guess so." He agreed. "You do look lovely tonight."
"Thank you. So are you here with London?" I asked.
"I am actually." He replied. "My father doesn't know that I'm here."
"Well good luck to you." I offered. I didn't see why they didn't just come public with their relationship. They were both adults after all.
Once the night and the party were over, I headed back to the room to grab my phone. I wanted to out the necklace and the earrings up as well so I didn't lose them. I was going to be heading to a private suite with James. I was strongly considering having sex with him, but I wasn't completely sure that I wanted to. I also took off my gloves. I then heard a knock on the door. I didn't want to deal with anyone at the moment, but I knew it could be Mom or Dad, so I put on a smile. It was not. It was Cody.
"This had better be important." I told him. I was a little bit irritated that he was interrupted.
"It is very important. It's about Bailey." Cody explained. Now I was concerned.
"What happened?" I questioned. I hoped that she was okay. I really hoped that she was okay.
"She's pregnant." He replied.
So Bailey is pregnant and Zoey had her big party. How is everyone going to react to that? Please don't forget to review.