The Shadows

Chapter Twenty-Five

It was the day of the ball and to say Annabella was nervous would be an understatement. The only time she had ever gone to a ball was to assassinate someone. Now she was having one held in her honor. This is a very big step up for her, but it made her realize how powerful her family truly was.

Isabella was coming over to help her get ready for the ball. Her dad had offered to hire people to do her hair and makeup, but Annabella was doing her own makeup and Isabella was going to do her hair. When Isabllea had finally showed up, Annabella had just finished her new speaker set-up. They were probably going to annoy everyone in the mansion with their music, but they did not care one bit.

Isabella smiled at Annabella and told her to play their favorite playlist. Annabella nodded her head and went to grab her phone to find the music. Luckly, she and Isabella had very similar tastes in music. They had finally finished their hair and makeup after nearly three hours. Annabella knew that was a long time to spend on hair and makeup, but they did end up taking almost four snack breaks. What could she say? They were hungry girls. Annabella looked into the mirror and she was shocked. She rarely wore any type of dress. She looked over to Isabella and thanked her profusely.

Putting on their shoes, they headed downstairs to meet up with Annabella's brothers and her dad. When they had got about halfway to the stairs, they could start to hear them talking. Annabella had gotten nervous suddenly hearing her family talk to one another. Seeming to sense her nerves, Isabella pulled Annabella's hand into hers and made her look her way.

"Look, I know you are nervous, but you don't need to be. You need to shake those nerves away and be the confident woman that I know you are. Now let's go down there and show those boys how gorgeous we are." Isabella said to her sternly. Annabella smiled at her. There were certain reasons that she was Annabella's best friend, but her ability to read what Annabella was thinking and calm her down had to be one of the top ones.

When they had stepped onto the stairs, all the chatter had stopped and it became deathly silent. For a moment, Annabella was worried they had passed out. She still didn't look up till both her and Isabella had stepped off of the stairs. Even then, Annabella was extremely hesitant to look at her family. What if they didn't like her dress? Or thought her hair and makeup was terrible? By then, Annabella was beginning to have a panic attack when her Dad spoke up.

"Oh my baby girl! You look so much like your mother" He said in Italian and started to tear up.

The other boys also had started spewing out compliments to both her and Isabella.

"You two look gorgeous!"

"Woah!"

"You guys are stunning"

"We can't leave tonight! She is going to have boys all over her!"

"Nope! Absolutely not. Go change!"

Annabella rolled her eyes at the last two comments and thanked the rest. After the pleasantries and her brother's trying to convince their dad that she couldn't go to the ball wearing the dress that she had on, the family was in the limo heading to the location.

Annabella had thought that it was really boring and quiet in the limo, so she looked over to see what Isabella was doing. She was already looking at Annabella, staring at her with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. Annabella knew that whatever Isabella was thinking would probably get them into trouble but she smiled at her to let her know she was in. Annabella couldn't let Isabella do something stupid without her.

They communicated through their eyes and Isabella let Annabella know that they were going to be stealing the aux cord if the limo had one. Annabella immediately started looking around, being inconspicuous while she was doing it. She didn't want them to get caught before the fun could begin.

After a few minutes of looking around, Annabella noticed something near Isabella's head. She pointed it out to Isabella, who smiled at Annabella knowing that they had just hit the jackpot. She quickly plugged the aux cord into her phone and played annoying kids songs. When the beginning of the songs began to play, all the boys looked around and spotted the aux cord connected to Isabella's phone. They all just groaned, and leaned back into their seat, preparing themselves for the torture they were about to endure. .

As the limo finally pulled up to the venue the ball was being held at, Annabella felt her nerves skyrocket, but she did not show it. Now it was time for her to put on my facade and become the ice cold killer she was.