A new dress

When morning break came around we were visited in the office by three girls: Maria, Magda and Lena. They presented them as the heads of the Prince's fan club. I never imagined there would be something like an official fan club. I think I really underestimated Valerie's popularity.

“We will cut to the chase. We demand to know what happened to the prince. We know you are responsible!”

Apparently Valerie had done a complete transformation over night, and was suddenly dressed very girly, but still really stylish. They told us her demeanor changed too, and she was acting like an ojou-sama in an anime. She was now asking to be called milady. This change had happened after she had visited our office and they demanded an explanation why their symbol of admiration had changed.

“Oh, so Valerie hasn't told you?” I loved poking into the anger of these types with innocent questions. “Well, I don't know if I should tell you girls what we discussed, but can you keep a secret?” That sentence has always been my best weapon to make sure whatever I was about to say reached every single last person in our school.

All three of them nodded with eager eyes.

“There is going to be a Romeo and Juliet play at the school festival in two weeks, and Valerie is going to be in it.”

Seeing the sparkle in their eyes, they were no doubt imagining their prince as Romeo.

“But there is a catch. She is going to play Juliet and Romeo is going to be played by Mia.”

Now I saw anger in their eyes. They were declaring me mad inside their heads.

“You must of course be asking yourselves, why they are cast like that.” Anna suddenly interrupted offering me support. I did not want to mention the whole yuri pairing of Mia and Valerie to Valerie's fan club at this point, so I let Anna continue to see where she was going with this. She then continued in a rather dramatic way.

“You should know the prince and Mia are childhood friends, and however unbelievable, the prince has wronged Mia in the past. A lot of Mia’s bullying was an indirect consequence of that. In order to be able to make up with Mia and to make the prince show her true intentions, Mia declared a challenge to the prince. She must play Julia to her Romeo. In order to prove her sincerity, the prince must become a princess. So you see the prince is being truly princely about it, by taking being a princess really seriously.”

Maria, Magda and Lena were clearly taken by the story but then asked the question: “But whatever did the prince do to deserve this? Isn't Mia just bullying the prince?”

To put an immediate stop to this kind of gossip, I answered: “You know I went on a date with Valerie last weekend,” all three of them suddenly glared at me now. I was clearly not forgiven for that transgression yet. “In reality we met to discuss this matter. It is a very private matter to Valerie and Mia so if they don't tell you themselves, I really cannot tell you either, but I guarantee, it is as Anna just said. The prince wronged Mia in the past and has to prove her sincerity on the matter.”

Now the three of them were swooning. “So it is a noble quest. That is so princely! We will support her all the way. If you need any help for the play you can count on our fan club!”

We then exchanged line identities and email addresses so that we could keep in touch. I was sure they would come in handy for the play. With a bit of luck, I wouldn't have to be in it. I really did not want to be on stage at the school festival. Someone else could take the spotlight for once, I have had my fair share, and the TV show tonight will most likely be enough to last the decade, in terms of my public attention needs. After having that thought, I quickly looked around suspiciously. Usually this was the moment where something would happen that would force me into the play. But nothing seemed to happen. I guess I was just being paranoid.

It seemed like we had some free time until noon, so this would be the ideal moment to go shopping for a dress for this evening.

Anna drove us to the city center. I wanted to go to a big shop where they had all kinds of things at reasonable prices, but Anna told me she would take me somewhere better.

So I followed her lead for a bit until we were in front of a little boutique.

When we entered the owner came with a large smile, like sales people always have, toward Anna. “Oh my goodness, Anna Lyst in person, how long has it been, it is so nice to see you again.” She gave Anna a kiss, and then continued “What can I do for you today.”

She was an elegant, but extravagantly clothed blond woman. My guess was that she had to be around the same age as Anna.

“Ah Thea, let me introduce you to my very dear friend. This is Claire, Claire this is Thea Trallic. She is the daughter of the owner of the famous Trallic brand. We went to elementary school together, so you can say we are childhood friends. Thea, Claire here is in need of some fancy clothes for tonight.”

I was rather impressed. Anna sure was connected to some very rich people. I had never seen Anna anywhere else but on the job or at my place, but it started to dawn on me that we had some seriously different backgrounds. She really was raised in a different world than the world I was living in.

“Tonight, that is impossible Anna! ” Thea said with an over-dramatic voice.

Then Anna also started acting super dramatic and said with a touch of sarcasm: “Oh, the poor thing, and she is going to be on national television, however are we gonna find a designer that would be happy with a chance for some free promotion?”

Thea then put the back of her hand to her forehead and looked upward, then the drama continued. “Oh no, the poor child, this young and already carrying this heavy burden. It seems like I will have no choice, but to offer up my free afternoon to make her a dress. We need to spare her the fate of having to appear on national television with an ugly mass produced design made for the masses.”

Then the both of them burst out laughing. The soap drama they were acting out was clearly an inside joke between the two of them and it hurt a little that I was being left out.

But then I saw Thea become serious, it was clear she was gonna start talking business. She then said in a lower tone, to make sure nobody was hearing it: “I know you don't rely on your parents anymore, my services aren't cheap. Can you afford it?”

Anna waved the argument away, took out a golden credit card and said “This is a business expense. But I do expect a decent discount since she will go on television with it.”

I had a hard time following, but apparently it was already decided that I would buy my dress here, and that I would not have to pay for it myself. The thought sprang to mind that lately I was getting a lot of money, but not really any chances to spend it. Each time I wanted to spend something crazy happened, or someone else was paying.

“That can be arranged, I will give you the usual friendship discount of 20%, and I will ask no extras for making the dress in one day. On top of that I will give you an additional 25% discount, if someone manages to say that I personally designed her dress on national television.

It sounded like we were getting a real bargain, but when I saw the amount flickering on the counter, I was wondering if I wasn't shopping for a car instead of a dress.

Anna swiped the card without doubting any second that spending so much on a single dress was worth it. I mean, the rest of my wardrobe was probably worth a lot less than this single dress that was not even made yet.

After the credit card was validated, Thea's eyes changed again to the soap drama mode, and we were treated like her best friends. She rang a little bell and some personnel brought us tea and biscuits. I was taken away to have my measurements taken, and to pick a style of dress.

I chose an off shoulder cocktail dress with see through sleeves and a nice amount of lace work. Due to my fiery hair color, Thea told me the dress should be a matching red to bring out my fiery personality. I had been swept away since I had entered this boutique, and had not managed to say a lot ever since. The only thing I did was point at some pictures to choose a dress and already my personality had been decided as a fiery personality. I wondered how that mind of hers worked. I could definitely see her being childhood friends with Anna.

While I was being measured up, and a lot of pieces of fabric were tried on me, Anna was watching me, and sipping her tea. I felt like I had been dragged away in her rhythm again. That woman. Even when she is being nice, I feel like I’m constantly being played. It really seemed to be impossible to get in control around her. At least this time, I felt myself enjoying the experience.

Anna was clearly savoring the situation. From time to time she gave suggestions to Thea who sometimes appreciated them, and sometimes looked at Anna with eyes full of disbelief.

After an hour or so Thea sent us on our way, she would deliver the dress to Femme Fatale.

This experience had been nothing like what I expected when I said I wanted to go buy a dress but it didn't feel all too bad either to know that a fashion icon was going to design a dress for me. So before we entered the car I said: “Thanks for doing this for me, Anna.” I felt myself go red in the face, so I did not wait for her response and quickly opened the car door and got inside. I noticed that Anna was also blushing when she entered the car.

It was time to go to our lunch break appointments at school.