EXPLODE

nine

"Ow!" I cry out as I feel another sharp pinch in my side. I had officially become a human pin cushion; I was being fitted for my speech later today.

The tailor sighs, and I glance down at the dress I was wearing for the umpteenth time. I couldn't help but admit it was beautiful.

It showed off my almost non-existent curves, and authenticated my figure. The minty greenish-blue color of the dress brought out the golden flecks in my hazel eyes, and every time I looked in the mirror I thought I was looking at a different person.

But was it worth the pain? Not at all.

"We're going to have to do something about your hair," the stylist announces from a different corner of the room, where the vanity sat. He had already done my makeup, which thankfully wasn't much, and was setting up his tools for my hair.

"Well, she's done now," the tailor, Marcus, announces, as he finished off the last thread in the back of the dress. "And she was extremely hard to work on."

Marcus takes my hand and helps me step down from the pedestal, bringing me over to the stylist, Jesse.

"What did you ever to do to your hair? It's so stringy, and the texture- ugh, it's like straw," Jesse remarks, grabbing a handful of hair in his hand and combing it out. I had an extremely sensitive scalp so every time he found a knot to comb -or should I say yank- out, I winced in pain.

"Nothing!" I exclaim.

He takes one of his bottles and puts a handful of... whatever it was in his hand and starts lathering it through my hair. I tilted my head back in pleasure; it felt like a massage.

"Don't get relaxed just yet, I still have to style it." Jesse quips, taking a clip and pinning part of my hair to the top of my head. He takes out a pair of scissors and starts trimming the edges and adding layers.

When he's finally done trimming it, he takes out a special kind of spray that makes hair wavy; said it was found in the remnants of the war and copied the ingredients until he perfected the spray.

His magic started to show in the mirror before me. My hair seemed fuller and had more volume, and a nice curl to it that I'd never noticed before.

"Wow," I comment, surprised.

"And one final touch for our future Queen," he whispers. He opens a box on the vanity that contains a beautiful clip. He gently clips it into my hair, and moves my hair so that its billows across my chest. "Beautiful."

I blush, "Thank you, Jesse."

He leans down and begins to whisper in my ear. "Don't tell Marcus, but I'm really hoping you get what you want for the Third Faction. I'm rooting for you."

My mouth hangs open in shock as he announces he's done. Marcus rolls his eyes and takes my arm again, leading me outside the room and dropping me off with Liam.

"Are you ready to go make your speech, Dawn?" He asks, taking my arm. My heels click across the aluminum and I feel sick with anxiousness. People were counting on me.

"No," I whisper.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine," he tells me, giving my arm a firm a squeeze.

"I feel like I'm being wed, not going to make a speech," I say. I shake my head in frustration. "Either way, I'm in it for life."

"Dawn?" A voice interrupts. I see Evan at the end of the hallway, wearing a suit and tie that coordinated with my dress. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm making a speech," I tell him, my eyes furrowing in confusion. Liam stands off to the side, respectfully becoming still as a statue. "Why are you here?"