The day already smelt like a celebration.
Students were going back and forth getting ready for the afternoon. Most of them were boarders while the rest were day students who arrived early. Mostly because there were lots of hostel students that sewed dresses and did other things for them.
The president and vice were moving around, supervising all the teams created to put the day in order. They have been moving from the decorating team to the welfare team to the PR team to the computing team.
The Principal and members of the board were having a meeting together with the members of staff.
★
Gymnasium
Most students who were making their hair or doing their makeup were scattered all over the gym. The gym was arguably the largest building in the entire girls' dorm. All the equipment were packed giving them more room.
Natasha and Amelia were styling for one of their classmates. The moment they fixed the last pin in place, they both heaved a sigh of relief.
"Can you help with my make up Nat?"
Natasha almost yelled till she saw it was a junior student. She gave a weak smile and motioned for her to sit.
"Liam, please can you help me with my dress from Nikky?" Natasha pleaded as she press foundation on the back of her palm.
"Oh, mine too." Ven added.
"Just get all class 12 girls dresses. We love you." Natasha blew a kiss at Amelia. She rolled her eyes and headed out.
†
Amelia got out of Nikky's block holding a small box that contained dresses for all her friends. She was heading down to the gym when she saw Elena. Elena smiled and waved. Amelia walked past without saying anything.
"I think you should wear the dress though." Elena simply said before heading to Nikky's. Amelia ignored her and continued walking her own way.
She saw Mavis and Grace walking out and immediately went to join them.
"You got them? I love you." Mavis hugged Amelia.
"Get off! You and fake love, 5 and 6." Amelia shrugged her off.
"Girl, you need to see Lisa's dress. God! It's giving!" Mavis gushed.
"Giving? It's screaming!" Grace added.
"She made it herself?" Amelia asked.
"She and Nikky." Mavis answered. "Yeah, take the dresses to Vee's room."
"Speaking of which, Nikky said you didn't give her any clothes." Grace asked, turning to Amelia.
"I'm not going." She muttered.
"God forbid. Over my living body." Mavis immediately snapped in her native tongue, snapping her fingers over Amelia's head like she was actively trying to throw her sentence away.
"Amelia, are you mad?" Grace shook her.
"Stop it. Why are you being dramatic?" Amelia shook her friends off.
"Dramatic? Seriously?" Mavis pinched the bridge of her forehead in frustration.
"Drop it. Okay?" Amelia said with a note of finality as they ascended the stairs to Vee and Cody's room.
The two remained silent but their stares said enough.
★
Block 20 room 10
Lisa burst into the room in a hurry but immediately paused when she saw Grace's and Mavis' dress. She smiled and spun Mavis.
"Girl, you look so pretty. Plus the makeup too." She gushed and Mavis was giggling and hiding her face behind her customised hand fan. Her dress was deep blue with bold gold embroidery. She used a gold feathered fan and gold purse with a blue heel.
"And blue was supposed to be my colour." Amelia muttered from where she was spraying Grace's face with makeup spray to make it last long.
"Wait, Grace give me a 360." Skye carefully turned Grace. She was dressed in a dazzling black fitted outfit that stopped just above her knee. The neck of the dress was stringed and tied behind her neck. Her heels made it more pretty.
"You guys. Like I'm actually feeling insecure." Lisa pouted.
Skye suddenly burst in. "Girl, we have no—" She stopped short when she saw the two ladies and gave them a surprised smile. "I'll come back to that." She winked. "Lisa, we don't have time, quickly get dressed."
Lisa nodded and brought out her dress from Cody's closet. She turned to the bathroom and before she could turn the knob, the door opened and Cody stepped out. Lisa squealed before groaning and walking back to where the girls are.
"Choco." She whinned. "See." She pointed to Cody and everyone's jaw dropped. "Can you see what she's doing?"
"Fuck! Cody why do you look so..." Mavis trailed off.
"Deliciously single." Grace completed.
Lisa glared at the two before turning back to Amelia with the same sad pout. "Do you see what I mean?" She stormed into the bathroom, ignoring Cody who was trying to call her back.
The girls laughed.
"Bro, dope three piece. And did you use a corset, why is your vest so snatched?" Amelia teased and tried to touch Cody's stomach.
"I'll break it." She warned playfully before stepping out of the room.
"We're off. Bye." Mavis kissed Amelia on the cheek before she and Grace left. Amelia herself was about to leave when Skye came out. She wore a three piece that consisted of baggy pants, a body hug strapless top and a big kimono. The pants and kimono were made with the same green dazzling fabric.
"You looking good vicey." Amelia teased. Skye smiled, still impatiently putting on her heels.
"Won't you get dressed?" Skye asked while adjusting her nails.
"I will." She lied, but Skye was too occupied to realise she did. Amelia quickly helped her doll up her face.
Just then, Lisa stepped out, looking absolutely breathtaking. Her dress was long white corset gown with a cape and a long slit. Simple but absolutely beautiful. Amelia gave her an approving look with a touche sign before leaving.
★
Kingston West Hall
The principal just finished her speech and descended the stage with a thunderous applause. The hall was dressed in red and cream right from the ribbons tied around the pillars to the decorative clothing to the balloons. Standing AC units were fully functioning and the hall was beautifully lit in decorative lights.
Lisa came on stage as the applause died down. "Can we give another round of applause to our pretty principal." Lisa joked and the audience laughed but still cheered. "Now, we all know after the speech is the award ceremony. But before that, can we give a round of applause to the female finalists? They're so fine." Lisa guestured towards the table where her classmates were seated. The spotlights immediately fell on them as they were showered with applause. "Most especially Victoria Vierra. She completely took my lungs away. Not just my breath. Babe, please stand." Lisa urged. Victoria groaned before standing.
Everyone was in total awe before they all started taking pictures and cheering.
For the first time, they all saw Victoria in a dress!
And she looked so stunning!
Victoria took her seat and Lisa got back to addressing the audience. "I will call my honourable vice president, Skye Jason, and my principal, Miss Emily Kingston forward to help me with this awards." Skye and the principal came forward and the award ceremony began.
The moment passed in a blur of tension, cheers and clapping, a bit of hyping and even screaming, some tears and a lot of flashing cameras.
"Before we bring the award ceremony to a close however, the board wishes to openly thank the finalist for the provision of a freaking all encompassing buffet. And I mean, no limits to how many spoons you can take, how many dishes you can eat, how many drinks. You can even come for seconds or thirds." The audience was clapping and cheering as Lisa spoke and she started laughing. "Let's have it for our finalists guys!" The applause eventually died down as Lisa stepped down for Skye and the head of the statistics team, Davis.
"Good afternoon everyone. Good afternoon vice president. You're looking good." Davis complemented and Skye blushed a bit. The audience started murmuring and chatting excitedly.
"You don't look bad yourself." Skye replied and the audience got even louder while the two laughed.
"The news reaching me is that Mavis×Davis pulled out. Why?"
"Well, Mavis and I realised we are finalists and we have two crowns and literally nowhere we wear it to." The audience laughed at that. "So yeah, step down for these new people."
Skye nodded thoughtfully. "I want team Venedict to win." She said and half the hall erupted into cheers while the others were screaming otherwise.
"It's cause they are your classmates." Davis rolled his eyes and brought out a folded card.
"And the new Founders couple are..." The two called together and unfolded the paper. They smiled at each other.
"Team Adica." The two called at the same time and the hall erupted to cheers.
"Get this, they won by just one vote." Skye added as the poll was displayed on the screen behind the two. Everyone gasped as they saw that team Venedict was the second runner up.
"Don't worry Veneta and Benedict. Your finalist promised the second runner ups a spa day with Liyah. So, meet your president for the card. Now, can Adelaide and Mica kindly step forward."
A cannon popped confetti in the air as the two couple, both in red, came forward to collect their sash and crown along with flowers.
"Your finalists have provided a full day date for you too. Meet with your president. Now, couples dance. Clear the dance floor everyone." Skye and Davis stepped off the stage as the couple got in the middle of the floor and the spotlight fell on them.
The song "fire on fire" played and they started slow dancing.
Davis went to the midst of the girls.
"Where in the world is Amy?" He asked the girls. Skye looked around.
"True. She said she was going to get dressed before I even came out." Skye added.
"She's not coming." Mavis announced and Davis laughed.
"She is. She's joking." He immediately went outside the hall. He muttered something about Amelia being impossible while calling her line. It rang several times before the calm dropped. He called her again and again, same thing. He was about to give up when he saw a familiar figure approaching while wearing a sleeveless jumpsuit with it's arms tied in a knot behind her neck.
"Amelia, did you check the freaking time?!" He thundered before looking at her dress. "And where did that materialize from?"
"I ordered it a few weeks ago." She simply shrugged with a smile. "The event is practically over. Everyone is just dancing, eating and mingling. I doubt that any plan Elena had would work." She explained while removing a strand of her hair that got stuck to her lipstick.
"Just go in." Davis guided her back into the hall.
†
Amelia was hiding under the shadows cast by the overhead shade by the drinks stand, trying to get away from her juniors, alumni and parents who wouldn't stop taking pictures and telling her she was pretty. Shamelessly, she bit into her chicken nugget before digging into the fries. It was part of the snack package that was shared round for everyone.
"Table manners sis." Elena said with a practiced smile while pouring herself a cup of wine.
"Would you have me use a spoon and fork Elena?"
"Maybe sit at least." Elena nodded vaguely at a table. Amelia's eyes drifted from the table back to her. "Last chance."
"I dare you."
Elena smiled and lifted the cup to her lips before turning and going back to her table. Amelia watched her take her seat and then realised her parents were seated right at the table reserved for special guests. She rolled her eyes and poured some juice into a party cup.
"Girl! There you are. Come on." Mavis immediately dragged Amelia before she could take her cup. "We need to make a video." Mavis said as she dragged Amelia outside to where Grace was setting a tripod.
"You made me abandon my drink for a video?" Amelia scoffed but adjusted her hair for the video.
"You can definitely get another." Grace muttered as she finally set the camera.
The timer counted down from five to one. The girls were about to start dancing when suddenly, Skye—who seemed to have materialised out of nowhere—suddenly dragged Amelia back into the hall.
She turned her to face the screen. Amelia saw a fighting scene and rolled her eyes, clearly not in for a movie.
"Senior Amelia?" She heard a voice mutter.
Her eyes immediately snapped up back to the screen.
Then she saw it.
A girl in uniform raining punches on an older man.
The man wasn't moving.
The girl wasn't stopping.
Her fists drew blood.
People tried to stop her.
Then the camera fell.
Amelia went as white as a sheet. Her body was covered in goosebumps. Her fingers went numb. Breathing grew heavier. Her vision started getting disoriented.
Then, voices.
"Amelia stop!"
"You'll kill him!"
"Leave my dad!"
"Please. He's dead."
Beeping hospital monitors.
The cold biting feeling of metal around her wrist.
Flashing lights.
Every form of music in the room faded with the voices that still haunted her. She blocked her ears. She didn't even realise she'd fallen till she felt Cody grab her.
Everyone immediately paved way.
Suddenly, phones were out.
Victoria, Lisa and Mavis immediately created a shield in front of Amelia while Davis carried her out.
Before Amelia's vision blurred entirely, she caught it.
Elena smiling.
Then everything went dark.