Disarray [H.S.]

Chapter Twenty Three

'Cause we made it, underestimated and always underrated
Now, we're saying goodbye, waving to the hard times
Knew that we would be alright

_____

"C'mon Mace, just one picture and then I'll leave you alone."

"No, leave me alone now." I used my hands to cover my face, careful not to apply too much pressure since this is one of the rare occasions that I've done my makeup for. And I genuinely don't want it to get messed up. And when I say makeup, I mean I borrowed one of Dani's new mascara wands and coated my lashes a few times with it after using yet another of Dani's products to apply a thin layer of light brown eyeshadow to my eyelids.

I didn't want to wear any in the first place, yet here I am anyway. And as hard on myself as I usually am, I admit that it doesn't look terrible.

On my body, I'm wearing a white dress matched with nude wedges and my hair is all done. I styled it myself and I have to say I'm quite proud of it. Typically, I go to sleep with my hair still wet from my shower, and just wake up and roll out of bed the next day, not caring what it looks like.

Today, though, I borrowed Julie's curling iron, spent ten minutes just trying to figure out how to use it properly, and created very loosely done curls. It took some time considering I have never curled my hair before, but once I figured it out, I think they ended up looking good. Once I was done with the hard part, I brushed my bangs to the side and applied the smallest amount of hairspray to try and get them to stay in place.

After I was satisfied with my hair, I went back into my room to grab the dress that was hanging up in my closet and pulled it off the hanger, laying it flat on my bed so it didn't wrinkle while I stripped down.

The dress is not my style at all, but it was all I could find that fit into my very small budget. Now don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful dress and I do like it, I just don't think it's me. I'm not really a sequin kind of girl, yet this dress was littered in them. It was shiny and white all over, but across my chest, around my waist, and at the bottom hem was more of a grayish tint with even more of a reflective shine.

I shimmied the fabric up my body, managed to get it zippered by myself, and then slipped the three inch nude wedges onto my feet, wrapping the ribbons around my ankle and tying a bow securely on each side.

Walking slowly over to the floor length mirror hanging on the bathroom door, I braced myself to see my reflection, positive I was going to hate what I saw staring back at me. I've always struggled with mirrors, not wanting to see my reflection. All I ever saw looking back at me was disappointment. And if I saw disappointment in myself, I couldn't imagine what other people thought about me.

So when I finally opened my eyes and saw myself, I was shocked at what I saw and how I feel.

I feel pretty.

For the first time in a long time, I feel pretty. Genuinely beautiful. The white looks good contrasting on my skin, the fit of the dress hugs my body in a way that's so flattering, and the length of it is perfect. My hair and makeup look like it was done by someone who actually knew what they were doing. I just look perfectly put together. I smiled at myself and spun around so I could take in the outfit in its entirety.

Pretty.

It was graduation day, and Louis was currently trying to get me to take a picture with him.

He walked into my room twenty minutes before we were supposed to leave to go to our school and damn near dragged me out by my ear to get me to come downstairs. And as I was at the top of the stairs, I heard a whistle and saw that it was Dani, and she was whistling at me.