"You are not wearing a pony tail to a wedding!" Eliza basically screamed at me from across the room

"It's not a wedding!" I retaliated

"Both of you shut up! I need focus on my makeup" Aunt Jen exclaimed

"Juliette don't you dare put your hair in a ponytail!" Eliza threatened

I rolled my eyes "Shut up Eliza!"

"You guys fight over the most stupid things!" Aunt Jen interrupted

"All I'm saying is that a dress that beautiful needs pretty hair to go along with it" Eliza shrugged

"It's my hair" I groaned

"Here's an idea!" Aunt Jen started, basically throwing her eyeliner across the room in frustration "Juliette can wear her hair in those fancy vintage hairstyle things. It's pretty, and it's a ponytail. Is that okay with the both of you?" She asked

The anger in her eyes told the both of us not to argue. We nodded.

So I sat down as in front of the mirror as Eliza stood behind me and worked on my hair.

Today was the day of the rehearsal dinner. Apparently, I had been saying it wrong the entire time. We were just going to practice everything that would happen with the bridesmaids and their dates. And then with the best men. After that we would practice everything that would happen with the dinner, the speeches etc.

I was wearing a black low to high dress, it was pretty plain, the neck wasn't too low and it had no sleeves. The front of the dress came mid thigh and the back almost came to my ankles. I paired it with black toeless pumps, along with loads of silver bangles on my wrists. It showed my stomach a little bit, but not too much that I was uncomfortable with it. Eliza was wearing a mini dress, it was white lace at the top, the sleeves coming up to her elbows, and a dark black/navy blue colour as the skirt. It had a silky underskirt, but a sheer top skirt. She wore a silver necklace along with a pair of white lace heels.

I looked into the mirror to see her have swept my hair into a high pony tail, teasing the top section of my hair to create a little bump thingy, sweeping my long bangs back to make it all elegant looking. She then grabbed the hair curler and began curling a thick strands in my hair.

It looked super pretty.

"Take these too" She said handing me a pair of earrings to put on.

I smiled at her, before giving her a hug "thank you. It looks nice"

"Good for you, now sit down, I'm putting makeup on you" she demanded

"Go near me with anything to do with makeup and I swear I will murder you!" I exclaimed. I hated makeup. I had nothing against it, I mean props to the girls who were able to wear makeup all day without rubbing their eyes or something, but I know I can't go more than two hours without messing it up.

She groaned, knowing she wouldn't win this fight. We have had it quite a few times. She then proceeded to curling her entire hair, and brushing them out, making them look like beach-y waves.

We took a cab to the wedding hall, and obviously through out the entire ride, Eliza was taking selfies.

We finally got to the hall, to be stopped outside. Cousin Isla was outside, along with all the other bridesmaids, basically bossing them all around.

As per usual.

She was wearing a short white dress, which I was guessing was her rehearsal dress, considering there was no way in hell she would show anyone the wedding dress before the wedding. I was told that she actually went and bought the dress herself, no input from the rest of the family.

Which actually sounded like something she would do.

"Everyone's probably inside. I'll see you girls in a bit" Aunt Jen said before stepping out of the cab, paying the driver, and rushing inside.

Eliza and I looked at each other, nodding simultaneously before heading out out of the cab ourselves. We were both terrified of what Isla would say about is being late, but we were pretty surprised about how calm she was. "Juliette, Eliza, you're here. Great. I need you two to stand in the front, either one of you besides Emma" she ordered

Emma was at the front, she was holding a basket of flower petals, Eliza and I both stood on either side of her. The rest of the bridesmaids stood behind us. There were three other bridesmaids behind us.

"Actually, Emma swap with Juliette please" Isla said. Emma looked pissed, but she did so. We both swapped so that I was in the middle, Eliza on my right and Emma on my left. "Okay now Juliette take three steps forwards". I took another three steps forwards, and it now looked like a triangle of bridesmaids. I was right at the front. I was pretty confused to why I was at the front, considering it should have been the brides sister: Emma. But I didn't dare argue with Isla. Nobody did.

"You forgot to hand Juliette the basket, Emma" I winced when Isla said it. Emma basically shoved the basket in my hands.

Isla stood directly in front of me, but at a two meter distance. "Play the music!" She all but screamed before 'here comes the bride' was played throughout the hall.

Uncle James then joined Isla and walked her down the aisle, as I through the petals on the ground. Of course we stopped and started again and again due to the fact that the bridesmaids were either walking too fast, or too slow. She repeatedly said that we had to be walking at a 'perfect' pace or everything would look tacky.

When we got to the alter, Isla once again began telling us what to do, although I didn't blame the girl. It was her wedding, and no matter how terrifying she was, she anted everything to go well. I mean, I fee like I would be as stressed as her if it were my wedding. Of course I wouldn't be as terrifying as bossy, but I sort of understood the poor girl.

She placed me right besides her, Emma next to me, Eliza next to Emma, and so on. We were at an angle, so that we could all be seen perfectly. The groomsmen were perfectly symmetrical to us.
Emma would have had the ring had it been their actual wedding, and I was beyond glad that it wasn't given to me.

At first I found it weird that every single groomsmen would have their own date, and every single bridesmaid would have their dare instead of just pairing us and making life simpler. But Isla said she wanted everything to be perfect which meant to awkward bridesmaids and groomsmen. I guess that if you thought about it, it was her being nice in her own twisted way.

The couple went through their vows, and of course Isla demanded for her fiancé to re-write his vows, because according to her they weren't good enough.

Isla the proceeded to repeat the entire wedding process, three more times. Including walking down the aisle and saying their vows.

It all had to be 'perfect'.

The entire process took up two extra hours than necessary. By the time the rehearsal had concluded, we all headed back to Isla's place for dinner.

Of course we had to take another taxi back to Isla's place and of course we all would have preferred to go home, but there was no saying no to aunt Jess or Isla

After that the groomsmen, and the groom, had then proceeded to go bowling once they had eaten dimmer. Eliza and I were invited but Isla strictly demanded all the bridesmaids stay behind so she could go over wedding protocol for next week.

All seven of us, including Isla, had gone upstairs straight after dinner and discussed what would happen the day of the wedding.

"Juliette are you still wearing black to the wedding?" Isla asked kindly

I heard Emma snort from besides me, something along the lines of "goth freak" but immediately shut up when Isla glared at her.

"Actually no, I bought a white dress" I answered

"Really?" Isla asked, her eyes lighting up. I knew she hated the thought of me wearing black to her wedding, but she never said anything about it. "That's great!"

I just smiled in response.

"So here's what is going to happen next month. You should not forget. I want you all to be at the house at 6am, there we will get dressed and have our hair done. There will be two hairdressers and two makeup artists. Of course, I get my own hair dresser and makeup artist." She started.

We all nodded simultaneously, none of us daring to interrupt her. Although I knew that pretty much all of us were groaning at the thought of 6am.

"First I will get my makeup done. Whilst I'm getting my makeup dome, three people can get their hair done. Those three people will be Juliette, Emma and Eliza. They will then move to makeup whilst the rest of you get your hair done, at that time one of you will have to wait, because by then my makeup should be done. Then the rest of you move to makeup. As soon as Juliette, Emma and Eliza are done, they will be escorted by their dates to take pictures. Once all of us are done, we will take a group picture. Any questions?"

"Are we still doing the dance, because someone can't hold hands without crying" Emma retorted as I rolled my eyes. Obviously she was referring to me.

"It's not crying. It's a panic attack and it's a serious matter you uneducated bitch" Eliza retaliated.

I snorted.

And that, is why Eliza is my best friend.

"Girls!" Isla interrupted "No the dance will not happen"

"Wow, well done Juliette. You messed up the dance" Emma smugly attacked.

"Emma!" Isla demanded "Shut up. This has nothing to do with Juliette. It's because you, my maid of honour, cannot dance to save your life"

I wanted to laugh, but above all I pitied Emma. Slightly. Her sister basically just embarrassed her in front of all of us. She looked furious.

"The dance between Jacob and I will happen" Isla continued, referring to her fiancé. "Dad and I are going to dance as well, but the bridesmaids dance will not happen. Of course whilst we have the live music, everyone is free to dance if they wish. We got a band to perform at the after party, isn't that exciting?"

"Hey sis" Emma started, a smirk on her face "Did you hear about Juliette's new boyfriend. He's coming to the wedding"

I wanted to face palm. I looked across at Eliza and glared at her, she just smiled at me sheepishly.

"Really?" Isla asked "That's so great, what's his name?"

"Levi" I muttered

"You should've seen their texts yesterday. He literally wouldn't stop texting her. He's so in love with her" She continued.

I had no idea where she was going with this.

"That's amazing, Juliette, I'm so happy for you" Isla smiled.

"I have an idea" Eliza suddenly interrupted. We all turned to face her, wondering about her brilliant idea. "Why doesn't Juliette dance with Jordan and I'll dance with Levi" She suggested

I glared at her almost in a 'what the fuck are you doing' fashion.

"Yeah! Because Juliette is comfortable enough with Jordan to dance with him and I don't mind dancing with Levi. Then the bridesmaids will have their dance!" Eliza practically squealed

"That's a pretty good idea, Eliza" Isla congratulated, which was a first considering she pretty much hated her. "Emma will just need to brush up on her heinous dancing" she joked.

Yeah it's a pretty good idea.

If Levi were actually coming.

"Did you know he even said she's hot?" Emma continued, disregarding Eliza completely. "I mean, I don't see it but he does. He's totally good looking too"

Where the fuck is she going with this?

"I get it Emma" Isla replied patronisingly "Juliette, I can't wait to meet him. I hope he's better than Tom, I can't stand that kid"

"Tom?" Eliza asked smugly. Emma went silent

Why did that name sound so familiar?

"Yeah, Emma's boyfriend. He's good looking but he has nothing in that brain of his" Isla laughed.

Well that was rude.

"He's smart" Emma replied through gritted teeth.

"Except Emma doesn't really care about brains. She thinks anyone with an IQ of over 70 is a nerd" Isla continued.

Nobody said anything. I knew that Emma could be a complete bitch to me but honestly, as her sister, Isla should really have been supporting her.

Emma stayed silent.

"Excuse me" She said after a bit of silence,  the room abruptly.

I honestly had no idea what had just happened, but something makes me feel like Emma doesn't hate me for me. She hates me because Isla likes me.

And I was determined to fix that.

Written: 12/09/15
Posted: 10/12/15