Chapter 56: November 10th

I went out of Cayden's house by morning to go shopping with Amelia. It's kind of late to go shopping for outfits to wear now, knowing that homecoming starts in 8 hours. But we have plenty of time to prepare, at least for me.

"I told you that it would be better to shop yesterday for clothes," Amelia whines as we both enter the mall, met with noisy people.

"I was busy yesterday," I told her, and she rolled her eyes at my excuse.

"Yeah, right. Busy sleeping," She said as I chuckle innocently. We enter a store that sells formal dresses, and I still don't know what kind of dress I'm going to wear and color.

"I still don't know why I should go to the homecoming. Like, it's boring, and all you do is dance all night," I said as I find some dresses that are hanging on the rack. I stopped at the beige lace dress and scanned it.

"That would look good on you," Amelia says. I turned around and smiled. "You think?" I asked, and she nods her head, smiling at me and smiling at the dress.

"Yeah, try it on," She said, and I grabbed it from the rack and walked towards the fitting room. As soon as I entered the fitting room, I placed my bag on the floor and started stripping my clothes off.

I grabbed the dress and wore it. After successfully putting it on, I looked in the mirror and smiled at how cute the dress is. It has a long cut on the side that will reveal my left leg, which is kind of sexy, though.

I opened the fitting room door and called for Amelia to let her see what I'm wearing and to hear her own opinion about the dress, "I think you should get that," Amelia says as her eyes scan me from head to toe.

"Like, seriously. Cayden will be head over heels for you if he sees you wearing that," Amelia says as she plasters a smirk on her face. "Now, come on and help me find a dress to wear too," She says as I close the fitting room door to change back to my original clothes.

I left the fitting room and started looking for dresses for Amelia to wear. I skip all of the neon and bright colors on the rack and found a beautiful, stunning dress that caught my eye. I grabbed it and scanned the dress.

It's pastel pink and has cute diamonds attached to the top area of the dress, while the long skirt of the dress is flowy and pink. "Like this one?" I told Amelia. She turns around and smiles widely. She grabs the dress from me as I roll my eyes, "You're welcome."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," She says as she ran towards the fitting room to fit the dress. I wait for about 3 minutes for her to fit the dress. Her door opens as I look at her, awestruck. "I'm buying this one."

She says, and she closes the door. I didn't even get to say my own opinion about the dress, even though I know it's already perfect for her to wear. She leaves the fitting room, and we both walked towards the cashier, ready to pay for what we have.

After all that shopping we did, which leaves us 5 more hours to prepare. Amelia suggested that we start preparing at her house, and I agreed since I don't know how to do a killer makeup for the event later.

"You wear the dress first while I go to fix my makeup," Amelia says, and I nodded my head. I went inside her toilet, grabbing the dress and the shoes that I bought with me. I stripped down all of my clothes, leaving my bra and panty on, of course.

Too much information.

Once I finished putting on my dress, I stepped out of the toilet and looked at myself in the mirror. The dress really suits me well, and I think I just fell in love with it. I look over and saw Amelia applying eyeshadow on her crease.

"I'll do my hair. You got any curling iron?" I asked, and she stops applying makeup. She puts her brush down and stands up from her chair. She walks over her drawers and hands me a curling iron.

"Once you're done using it, turn it off," Amelia says, and I nodded my head. I walked over to the socket and plugged it in, waiting for the curling iron to heat up so I could start curling my hair.

"So, is Cayden taking you to the dance?" Amelia asks, and I look at her. She looked back at me in the mirror as she starts applying red lipstick on her lips.

"Uh, no. I don't think he has plans ongoing," I said as I looked away from her.

"Oh, I can just ditch Noah to the dance, and we can just have fun on the dance floor," she says.

"No need. I'm good."

"Oh! I booked us a limousine so that it'll be fancier. At least cheer up, would ya? There's plenty of snacks inside the limousine, and it's free!" Amelia said as she puts down her lipstick and turns her chair around to look at me. "Come on, it's your turn now."

I turned off the curling iron plugged into the socket and decided to let Amelia finish my makeup first before I started doing my hair. I sat down on the chair and faced the mirror. She starts grabbing a bottle of foundation and a beauty sponge and starts applying a decent amount on my face. After that, she applied some concealer on my dark areas and my under eyes, spreading the product to even my face.

My mom told me that going to homecoming in high school is one of the best moments she had when she was my age. She said that missing a homecoming dance in high school sucks than not entering your choice of university. I mean, probably she's right.

It may suck 10 times worse but, I should just enjoy the night. Although this will be my last year in high school and I get to go to college in this year's semester, and maybe there are things I haven't been able to experience much in high school, and I may have had some tough times throughout this year but, this will be a year worth of remembering.

"Have you planned yet? On choosing the university you want to go to?" Speaking of college, "I mean like, I know we have like 2 months until graduation but, have you decided?" Amelia asks as she starts applying some eyeshadow on my eyelid.

"Uh, I think so," I told her. "I probably would go to Columbia University or maybe Stony Brook University."

"Wow. So, you're planning on heading to New York for College," Amelia says, and I smiled at her as I open my eyes as she finishes applying eyeshadow on my lids. She grabs a lipstick on her makeup bag and starts applying it to my lips. "And you're done."

I stood up from the chair and looked at myself in the mirror, amazed by the art she created on my face. "Wow, thank you!" I said as I hugged Amelia. "Now, go get changed," I told her as she starts grabbing her dress and rushes into the toilet.

My phone vibrates. I grabbed it from Amelia's bedside table, unlocking my phone and seeing a new message from Cayden himself. I turned off my phone and started heating the curling iron once again. I waited for a solid 5 minutes, and the light from the curling iron turns green. I started curling my hair, and Amelia steps out of the toilet, brushing the dress.

"You look fantastic," I complimented her as she smiled at me. "That dress really looks great on you," I say.

"Yeah, thanks for choosing it for me, and thank you because you're my first friend who ever went to homecoming with me," Amelia said. I blinked my eyes and stood up from the bed, putting the curling iron on her bedside table. "I really had a hard time when I was in freshmen, sophomore, and junior year of high school. I have had some friends but, they never really stick around much as you do, and so, thank you."

I stood up and hugged her, "Don't make me tear up. I just finished applying mascara and eyeliner on my eye, and eyeliners are really hard to wing and to be on point," Amelia said, and I broke off the hug, chuckling at what she said.

"I am honored, and I am thankful that you are my best friend. Even though you did something crazy that depends my life on it but, thank you for being there," I told her. I smile at her, and she smiled at me. Her smile soon dies, and she starts to give me a questioning look.

"What do you mean by something I did that depends your life on it?" She asks as I try to ignore the look she's giving me. I walked back to her bed and started finish curling my hair. "Hailey Felicity Jones. Speak up," she says.

"Okay. Now is not the good time for story time," I told her, and she raises her left eyebrow, "I'm sorry, Amelia. But, it's really not a good time for me to start."

"Fine, fine. No pressure. At least, just tell me anything if you are having a terrible time. I am here for you. I am always here to help," Amelia says, and I nodded my head. I curled the rest of my hair, started braiding half of it, and tied it behind my head.

Half of my front hair was braided, and half of the curled hair falls on my back. I watched Amelia braid her hair. After doing that, she grabs the two braided hair and starts tying them into a low bun—a way to look more sophisticated.

Amelia's phone starts to light up. She grabs her phone on her makeup table and soon turns it off, "Ready to go?" Amelia says, and I nodded my head. She opened her bedroom door, and we both left her bedroom.

We headed downstairs after, "I'll just go drink some water," Amelia said, and I went to the living room to wait for her. I started brushing my dress off, "Hey," Someone says. I look up and see Amelia's older brother, Caleb. Amelia appears in the living room and gives me a smirk. I roll my eyes and smile at Amelia. "I thought that since you are going to the homecoming, I could give you these?" Caleb says, handing me a bouquet of red and white roses.

The doorbell rings, "Oh, I'll get it! Probably, it's the limousine," Amelia said as she walked towards the front door to open it. I grabbed the bouquet from Caleb and smiled at him, and he soon plasters a smile on his face.

"Thank you very—"

All of a sudden, Caleb starts kissing me out of nowhere. I hear footsteps in the hallway, walking towards the living room.

"Hailey, I got you some roses—"

I opened my eyes and pushed Caleb away from me, "Cayden," I said, looking at him. Surprised by his sudden visit while wearing a black tuxedo, he probably changed his mind and decided to go to the homecoming.

"It's not what it looks like."