Truly Selected (Book One of The Next Selection Series)

Chapter 31

"Good luck tonight Miss." Starlet said as she handed me my second turquoise shoe. Taking it from her light grasp, I slid the sparkling heel onto my foot. 

"Thank you," I replied as I stood up, "I'll need it." 

Tonight, Saturday night, was the Grateful Feast. One of the biggest events of the entire summer, of the entire year. One of the biggest televised events... 

"Don't forget your gloves Miss." Juliana called out as I grasped the door handle with my bare hand. 

"Oh," I said, turning around as Juliana approached me and handed me the gloves, "Thanks."

 I blushed and slipped the bleached white gloves over my hands. Once the gloves were stretched to their full length, the ends resting on my upper bicep, I opened the door.

*************

"It's so strange" Darling said as some of the Selected approached the large doors leading into the ballroom. 

Everyone, being all twenty of us together, looked like the rainbow. We were all dressed in different colors, but each of our ball gowns were designed exactly the same. They all draped to the floor, billowing like a cupcake.

 The corset of my dress was wrapped in a turquoise-teal color. A sweetheart neckline was cut into it, and covering the chest were diamonds. Yes, real diamonds. Diamonds also clustered on my left waist, looking tight and compacted. But really, they were concealing a minuscule silver hook and eye. Dropping down to my hips, three rows of thick diamonds encircled it. However, the diamonds weren't in neat rows, but rather messy ones; giving off the illusion that they were making one thick row instead of three individual ones. 

My hair was curled slightly this afternoon, after our dancing lesson which seemed to have lasted for hours. A chunk of hair towards the front of my face, the part that swept across my forehead due to my side part, was loosely twisted behind my ear. Then, all of my hair was piled into an elegant bun at the nape of my neck. 

Clipping the loose curls into a bun, as well as connecting the twist behind my ear with the bun, was a beautiful silver clip bedecked with diamonds. A flower was at the clip's center. It had six "petals" and minuscule diamonds were placed in between the silver. Then, spiraling outward a little curve, were six branches. They all curled at the end. And on each branch, like little leaves on a tree, were diamonds, ranging in size as well as shape. Some were circles, and the other's were slightly larger in a diamond shape. 

Inside the flower was a smaller flower. This one also had six petals, but this one, however, had a center. And also unlike the larger flower that the smaller one was resting inside of, all of the petals were full diamonds, not tiny ones that made an outline of petals. This, the dress, and my makeup, which consisted of pale turquoise eye shadow, clear lipgloss, and a little bit of rosy pink blush, made me feel beautiful. And looking around, seeing everyone dressed similarly to me, minus their hairstyles and the fact that there eyeshadow matched the color of their dresses; they looked beautiful too. 

"What is?" I asked, "That we are at the Grateful Feast?"

 Darling nodded her head, sending a cascade of chocolate brown curls from her low ponytail over her shoulder. She had a diamond covered headband in her hair, and in my opinion, it looked almost like a tiara. When I first saw it, I had to admit, I was a little jealous. 

Switching from her usual shiny black and square glasses, Darling's glasses tonight were a creamy looking orange. Not very bright, but not dull either. They were still square in shape, but they were lined with small diamonds around the frames. But besides this, the orange matched perfectly with her eyeshadow; and her ball gown. Which looked exactly like mine.