Chapter One: Golden Letters
Hayley leaned back on her friend’s couch. Her blonde hair splayed around her. The plush furniture always made her
feel like she was in a ritzy hotel. Mixed patterns and colors draped the edges of her windows in silky cascades. Chelsea’s taste was exotic. It was a sharp contrast to her own, quiet taste. Hayley always felt that she had been given a glimpse into another world when they were at Chelsea’s place. The rustle of paper caught her attention.
“Hey Chels, you dropped one.” Hayley leaned down to pick up a black envelope that had slipped out of the pile of mail her friend was going through. Gold lettering on the front shimmered in the light.
“Oh, that? You can open it.”
“Are you sure?” The flippant permission caught her off guard.
“Yep. I know an invitation when I see one.”
Invitation? Hayley’s fingers trailed along the crisp edges of the envelope. There was something taboo about opening someone else’s mail. Even with permission, she felt a little uneasy slipping her finger underneath the sealed flap. Thick black paper peeked out from inside. Gold writing and embellishments scrawled their way across the edges of the parchment.
“You’re invited to a masquerade tonight at Kyle Manor.” Silhouettes of a young woman in a flowing dress and a man in a suit danced across the page. Hayley traced their outline. A smile broke across her face. A masquerade! She had always dreamed about attending a masquerade for as long as she could remember. The dresses. The mystery. It was one of the small fantasies she had held onto.
Chelsea snorted, “Could you imagine?” She rolled her eyes. “All of those people roaming around in masks, pretending they don’t know who everyone is already.”
“Yeah. Sounds terrible.” Hayley tried to hide her initial excitement. Disappointment leaked through in her voice.”
Chelsea stopped flipping through the rest of her mail and looked up. “Oh, Hayley…I’m sorry.” She stood up from the chair she was curled up in and sat down by her friend.
“It’s fine. It’s just an invitation. There’s nothing to apologize for.” Hayley smiled earnestly. She didn’t want her friend to feel bad.
“No, don’t do that. You thought it sounded fun, didn’t you? Hayley, you don’t have to always put someone else’s views and feelings above your own.” Chelsea’s eyes searched her imploringly. A determined smile rested on her lips. “Let’s go.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Let’s go. Come on, you can be my plus one.”
“But I thought you just said—”
Chelsea waved her hands in the air, “Forget what I just said. I grew up with this stuff, so I’m a little disillusioned to it all. It’ll be fun for me to experience it through your eyes. Plus, you know me. I like to wear pretty dresses.” She winked and lugged Hayley to her feet.
“Where are we going?” Hayley stumbled down the hall after her friend.
“We are going to pick you out a dress.” Chelsea threw open her closet doors.
Hayley’s eyes widened. Inside, the closet stretched on with rows upon rows of designer clothing. Tucked into the far wall was a lineup of pageant dresses and slim fitting evening gowns. Chelsea pulled out two dresses and held them up to Hayley. The two girls were about the same size. One of the dresses was red with rhinestones crisscrossing across the bodice. Hayley wrinkled her nose. Red wasn’t her favorite color. It always seemed a bit too flashy to her. The second was a black dress with a plunging back. She shook her head no again. Instead, a white, flowing dress caught her eye. Her fingers delicately touched the silky fabric. Slowly, Hayley pulled the hanger out and held up the dress.
“That’s the one you want?” Chelsea put her hands on her hips. It was one of the plainer, more modest dresses in her collection.
Hayley nodded. “Would it be okay if I tried it on?”
“Knock yourself out.” Chelsea was still flipping through clothes to find her own dress.
The soft fabric slunk easily over Hayley’s frame. She pulled her own clothes off once the dress was on. She had known Chelsea for years, but she didn’t feel comfortable changing in front of her. She had never been one of those girls who could just change in a locker room or at a sleepover. She valued her privacy. Pulling her hair out of the back of the dress, Hayley stood in front of the mirror. Her reflection stared back at her, but she hardly recognized herself. The dress flared out at her hips but hugged her chest snuggly. The neckline was modest, but the shape was alluring.
“Wow.” Chelsea tugged off her top and peeled off her jeans. Hayley averted her eyes. “That looks amazing on you. You should take it.”
“What? Really?!”
“Yeah. It looks way better on you than it ever did on me. Besides, I never wear it.” She stepped into a black dress and wiggled into it. “You can look now, by the way.”
“You look very…” Hayley searched for the right word.
“Sexy. You can say it.” Chelsea laughed. The plunging neckline was distracting. A slit up the side revealed her thigh. “Come here.” She pulled out a drawer built into the closet. Rows of masks looked up at them. Chelsea pulled out a black sequin mask and held it up to her face. She pouted and turned towards her friend.
Hayley giggled and found a while lace mask that brought out her eyes. The two of them made faces in the mirror, and Chelsea snapped a photo of them for her social media pages. Hayley always admired the boldness that Chelsea carried herself with. She sometimes daydreamed about the exciting life her friend must have had. Hayley could never bring herself to dress the way Chelsea did. It was far too revealing for her own taste.
Time ticked by until it was finally time to go to the party. Chelsea phoned her father from the other room. The muffled conversation was hard to make out, but she sounded happy when she got off the phone. Her heels clicked across the floor back into the living room. “There’s no way I’m driving in these shoes, and we can’t show up in a cab.”
“Why not?”
Chelsea laughed. “The people at this party would never let me live it down. It’s okay. Daddy is sending his driver to pick us up.”
“I could have driven us. It really wouldn’t have been a problem.”
“Hayley, I love you, but your junker is barely hanging on. Plus, I want you to have a good night. So just relax, and let me take care of things.”
Pinching her lips shut, Hayley fought back against her usual flood of excuses. Just for tonight, she would let herself be part of Chelsea’s world. Tomorrow she could go back to her usual selfless self. Tonight would be hers.