Annabel Lee ─ emily prentiss

thirty-two

Apologies in advance for all of the random original side characters. I tried to keep it to a minimum.

★★★

"OKAY." Isla twisted the red lip gloss closed. "Take a look."

Bel slid off the edge of the bed and examined herself in Isla's vanity mirror. The girls of their friend group were all getting ready at Isla's house, with the exception of Freyja, who was getting ready at home. Isla lent Bel a pale purple skater dress that fell an inch above Bel's knees and applied purple eyeshadow to Bel's eyelids. In return, Bel shakily helped Isla with her makeup.

"It's perfect," Bel breathed. Freyja got ready at home so she and Bel could get the full effect of seeing one another all dressed up for the first time the way Isla got to with her boyfriend. Hopefully Bel would live up to Freyja's expectations.

"How about me?" their friend Kira asked. She held out both her arms. Bel grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. "Is the lipstick too bad?"

She'd been sitting on the ground applying pink lipstick in a small makeup mirror.

Isla squinted. "No, I think you're good. You look great."

Isla's older brother was in trouble for getting caught coming home completely wasted at 2 AM. One of his multiple punishments was driving the three of them to the school. There they would meet Isla's boyfriend, Freyja, and a few other friends.

"Have you ever been to a dance before?" Bel asked, and Isla shook her head.

"Not a high school one, no. We had a semi-formal at the end of eighth grade that I went to, but it wasn't much."

Frankly, the thought of a high school dance wasn't all that appealing to Bel. There was nothing romantic about dancing while surrounded by her classmates in a room that smelled like basketball rubber and the sweat of the handful of people who actually took gym class seriously. She also didn't know how to dance.

She still hadn't decided whether she wanted to dance with Freyja in front of everyone. She spoke to Emily about it, and Emily told her she'd support whatever choice Bel made. Emily understood the hesitation and said it was a big decision, and Bel should consider both the possible negative reactions and the psychological consequences of choosing to not be out. She also said that if Bel did essentially out herself by dancing with Freyja and got shit for it from her classmates, she would go to bat with the administration and make sure there were consequences for those kids. She had no tolerance for hate like that in general, but especially not directed at Bel.

For the millionth time, Bel tugged on the hem of the jersey dress. "Do you think a lot of people will be there?"

"Honestly, probably not too many." Kira adjusted her hair for the millionth time. "I would be shocked if we fill up half the gym. Nobody cares this much. Most people will probably show up in jeans."

"Wait, then why are we all dressed up?"

Kira shrugged. "Why not? At least you two have people to dress up for. Ricky didn't ask me."

"Maybe because you've only ever spoken to him three times," Isla muttered, brushing mascara onto her lashes. Kira swatted her shoulder.

"It's called playing the long game."

Fun as this was, Bel wished she could have done her hair and makeup at home with Emily. That was the initial plan, but Emily got called away on a case yesterday. She made Bel promise to take pictures. Now Bel rummaged through her purse, which hung on the back of the desk chair, and pulled out Emily's small camera. She took a photo of herself in the mirror.