wouldn't have it any other way

Winter Formal I

The last day of school before everyone went home for the holidays was just around the corner and with it the annual winter formal. Everyone was excited and some girls had been choosing every detail of their fabulous outfits for a year.

Charlotte and Sahra were no different, Sahra had been thinking about this year's winter formal since last year and for Charlotte it was special since it was her first.

Only for special events were the girls allowed to bring anyone who wasn't a pupil at the academy in it, these events were three yearly formal dances; the Winter Formal, the Spring Formal and the Prom.

This meant Charlotte and Sahra could have one of their friends be their date to the event, unfortunately Charlotte didn't have many friends to accompany her. Unlike Charlotte, Sahra had a pretty clear idea of who was going to be her date to the dance, one of Sahra's old friends had been wanting to visit the academy for a long time in hopes of checking out the place to see if she was interested in enrolling.

Although she didn't have a date, Charlotte was excited as one can be for the dance,after all, they say a girl never forgets her first dance. And she was also pretty excited about some other parts of the event.

As for Sahra, she had already been to three dances so her excitement was divided into different sections; free entertainment, punch, dancing and of course, her favorite part, getting to wear a pretty dress.

Charlotte's aunt owned a dress shop down the street where some of the girls had been spending their afternoons in search for the perfect dress. Charlotte and Kayla went down to the shop every afternoon and stayed there until it was time to go back to the academy, they had tried on almost all the dresses and were close to giving up when Charlotte's aunt called them.

- Charlotte my dear, come over I have something special for you - Said the gray-haired lady as she signaled with her hand

Charlotte and Kayla looked confused at each other and walked over to the door leading to the back room. Before they could even ask Charlotte's aunt pulled out a short, light blue dress from a box and handed it to Charlotte.

- I just got this one and I thought you'd like it - Said Charlotte's aunt as she handed the dress to the girl

-It's beautiful - Charlotte said as she looked at herself holding the dress in front of her in the mirror

She tried it on and walked over to the mirror, the dress fit perfectly, like it was made for her.
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The day of the dance arrived, every single girl was rushing to their room as soon as the end of the last class was announced to get ready. For some reason Charlotte felt butterflies in her stomach, of course this is nothing out of the ordinary since this was her first dance, but that's not what she was nervous about, but for some reason she couldn't figure out why.

The clock stricked 9 pm, which for the schoolgirls and their dates meant dance time.

The doors of the ballroom opened and a crowd of teenagers barged in, the music started playing and everyone started serving themselves punch. Charlotte was about to serve herself some punch when a a view caught her eye, it was Sahra, she was wearing a pink dress, tight around her waist and reached just before her knees. Charlotte felt something but just couldn't explain what. Charlotte was caught by the view of her friend when someone else walked in, she was wearing a red dress and clearly was there with Sahra.

Charlotte was taken out of her trance by Kayla waving her hand in front of her face.

- Uuuuuh looks like someone's got a thing for Sahra's friend -Kayla commented with a playful smirk on her face

-stop being weird- Charlotte laughed

Charlotte and Kayla went over to Sarah to greet her and her friend.

- Guys, this is Ava - Sahra introduced her friend

- Nice to meet you -Charlotte said with a smile

-Hi - Ava addressed both girls nervously

- Ava wanted to start school here next year but she wanted to check out the school first so I invited her - Sahra explained

- Well I've been here for just a few months so I really can't say yet but I think you'll really like it here - Kayla says reassuringly

The four girls continued chatting for a couple minutes before Charlotte's phone rang in her pocket and she excused herself to go pick it up

- Mom? What's up - Charlotte said confused, her mom was supposed to pick her up the next day and she knew about the dance so if she had anything important to say she could say it when picking her up the next morning, right?

- Hey honey, I'm so sorry but you're gonna have to stay at the academy for the holidays, I know I promised we were gonna have a family Christmas together but a work thing came up, I hope you understand I didn't mean for this to happen but I can't ignore work

Charlotte felt her heart drop and couldn't find the words or the strength to respond to her mom at that moment.

- Honey?

- Yeah, sorry. It's okay mom, don't worry about it. - Charlotte said but, in reality, she didn't mean that, she was so heartbroken, ready to cry.

- I'm so sorry- Charlotte's mom said, not having time to finish before Charlotte hang up

Charlotte stood there, staring at nothing while processing the news she had just gotten. In complete shock, she sat down on the floor and started crying to the muffled out sound of the music coming from the ballroom.