Forever Luminescent

Chapter 43

"SHE WAS LIKE A beast let loose from captivity." Gwenn shuddered as Aura leaned in close to sculpt her cheeks with cream contour. Her other friends perked their ears, no matter what stage of getting ready they were in. Zilla scrunched her curls with mousse. Sierra dabbed concealer under her eyes, covering the suspiciously dark under-eye circles. Scarlet lined her eyes with the blackest kohl. "She marched right to the stage, grabbed the microphone from the literal President of the company, and had an actual slideshow playing in the back as she exposed that loser."

Aura stepped back to squeal and jump in delight. Her friends cheered behind her, clapping for Gwenn's mother's performance at the Christmas gala. After they spoke in private about her adoption, her mother's long history with Ruth Elizabeth Woods, and Ronan, she then went off to check the last thing left on her list: taking Russell Lawrence down.

Gwenn wasn't one to curse much, but the entire takedown was a literal shitshow. There was no other way to describe it. Russell tried to take the crowd away from her mother, hoping to turn the tables on her. He spewed lies about how she had been the one to embezzle money, and was acting out due to being caught. Unfortunately, his words were no match to the concrete proof that the money embezzled from Compass was being directed to one of his personal accounts.

Wolf came into the picture, defending his father until the very end. He screamed obscenities at her mother, then turned to the President-an old man with white hair but an upright stiff posture-and asked him if that was the type of employee he wanted to have in his company.

Gwenn almost rivaled the Joker when the President then gave the Vice President position that was soon to be vacant to her mother. She had grabbed the nearest glass of champagne and lifted it up to Wolf when he caught her eye and downed the bubbly liquid in one gulp.

The night took the sharpest turn for the better. Until the Lawrence men decided to destroy everything in their path. The winter wonderland soon became shreds, but it was a sight to see Wolf handcuffed when the authorities were alerted of the chaos.

After that, Gwenn spent the rest of the night wanting to have a certain tattooed boy witness the downfall of his rival and his father.

Aura sighed as if she had heard the most wholesome news. "Mrs. Davidson has always been the boss," she said, finishing off with a snap. Everyone else agreed.

"I need me some of that confidence for tonight," Zilla struggled out, staring at her reflection in her compact mirror. She closed the black compact with a decisive snap, and Gwenn couldn't see much else as Aura moved into her face to blend the makeup with a beauty sponge. "You think your mom could lend me some of that?"

"Z, relax," Sierra cooed. "You've performed hundreds of times before. What makes this any different?"

Zilla scoffed. "I have never performed for a festival. Much less the Christmas Music Fest. Literally everyone from Hales Bay, Lockfell, and even Old Watford attend. That's three freakin' towns. And I'm going to be on stage singing for all those people. I think I'm gonna puke over the front row."

Gwenn couldn't help but smile as her friend continued ranting about all the people and how terrified she was of opening her mouth in front of the mic and nothing coming out of her vocal chords.

The Christmas Music Fest was famous in Lockfell. It came for a weekend during Christmastime, and it spurred a frenzy in town every year. When they were in high school, Zilla would always say she would one day sing on their stage whenever they attended, and now it was happening. She saw the opportunity and signed up, and-according to Milo-immediately threw up afterwards.

"This is your moment to shine, dude," Scarlet spoke up. "Sing those horny Christmas songs without abandon."

Gwenn laughed when Zilla threw a light pink throw-pillow at Scarlet's face. Scarlet caught it mid-air and stuck her tongue out.