I opened the door and there she was, bouncing where she was standing. Why was she so excited?

“Ready to go?” I said in a monotonous tone.

“Of course!” she replied.

I grabbed the keys to the old, crappy, rusty, white Chevy truck that was out front. I hated to drive it so much, it was just so ugly! I had asked for a car for my birthday, but I doubted that it was going to happen.

We talked a bit on the way to the strip mall, Lacey casually asking questions about the party. Eventually, we pulled into the parking lot and all the talking stopped. I wasn’t very good at parking. So far, I’ve taken out 5 shopping carts, two other cars, a bicycle, and almost an elderly woman in one of those motorized scooters once. It was really embarrassing.

I was able to park safely without killing or damaging anything, so we got out and walked to the mall.

“So, what store should we go to?” I asked Lacey. She knew the mall better than I did.

“Let’s go to the newer one. It’s like Dresses Galore or something.” We walked a bit and found the store. It was huge! There were so many dresses inside and every color you could imagine. Black, red, white, orange, pink, green, blue, violet, fuchsia, multicolored, patterned; you name it, they had it. I didn’t know what I would do if I couldn’t find one here. My mouth hung open in awe.

“Yeah, I heard it was nice.” Lacey whispered to me. She took my hand and pulled me in, and I couldn’t help but be giddy with her. I was excited to find my perfect party dress.

We dove straight in, taking opposite sides. We scoured the racks, “ooh-ing” and “ahh-ing” every time we found something nice. I heard Lacey scream, and I dashed over to her, just to make sure that Roxy wasn’t shopping with us as well.

“Roxy?!” I yelled.

“You mean, Lacey. And I’m right here. Who’s Roxy?” She was still Lacey, thank god.

“Oh right, sorry. So why did you scream, then?”

She motioned to the dress in her arms. It was beautiful. It was pure white, and it had a black bow that went over the waist. It was low cut, and went to her knees. The back was cutout in a razorback pattern and the whole thing had a slight shimmer to it. The white would be a nice contrast to her tanned skin and brown eyes.

“Wow, Lace. It’s really pretty. Pair that up with some heels and your set!” I was really happy that she found a dress.

“I think I’m gonna go pay for it. Keep looking, and tell me if you find your dress.”

I nodded and walked over to the other side of the store. I searched rack after rack, but couldn’t find anything I liked. I was about to give up when something caught my eye. I looked over and gasped.

It was an incredibly pretty dress, and I loved it immediately. It was a deep red, and it hung just a few inches above the floor. The whole dress was strapless and it had that fine, black fishnet-esque flower pattern over it. You know, so you could see the red, but the black pattern was prominent too. There was a cutout point near the knee where you could show off your legs. It felt very Moulin Rouge, but was very elegant at the same time.

I heard Lacey come up behind me and let out a low whistle. “Wow, Em. That would look great on you! Try it on!”

I went over to a sales employee and asked for a dressing room. She commented on the dress, and then opened up a door.

I peeled off my clothes and slipped the dress on. Wow. It looked very pretty on me. It brought out my greenish blue eyes, and accentuated my not-so-tan skin very well. I walked out to show Lacey.

“Emery…you have to buy it. You look STUNNING!” She couldn’t help but yell, and the woman at the register shushed her.

“Really? You think so?”

“One hundred percent yes! And Craig will love it.” she added with a smile.

I blushed. I didn’t think that she knew about my crush on Craig.

“Thanks, Lacey.” She was turning out to be not so bad. Maybe it wouldn’t be all bad having her at my party. That was a big maybe, however.

I changed back into my clothes, bought the dress along with some black heels and an elegant black and red pendant and we were on our way.

I talked to Lacey on the way home with actual enthusiasm. I felt bad about not wanting Lacey, when the real her was so kind. But Roxy was far from gone, that’s for sure.

Not worrying about Roxy, I thought only about tomorrow. Lacey wished me happy birthday again when I dropped her off, and then I was finally home. I showed my parents the dress and they loved it.

They took me to see the decorations for the party in the building. It looked incredible. Everything was black, red, and white just as planned, and there was a huge DJ system, which is when my parents told me they hired a DJ for the party. You could tell the theme; the large room just had a 1920’s feel to it. I absolutely loved it.

“Thank you so much! I love it all!”

“Anything for our little girl. Now, off to bed. You have a big day tomorrow!”

I laughed and said goodnight to my parents. I walked up to my bedroom, and tried to sleep. Tomorrow would be the best day ever.

Or so I thought.

Chapter 3