Chapter 20: Formality

Why not, it's Wednesday in Britain lmao 🙃

~SiriusCatBennett

~Rae's POV~

Sitting in my car, I read over the message I'd received from Allison earlier in the day. 

Ali-Cat: Hey. I wanted you to know that I'm really sorry about everything that happened. I didn't mean what I said. I was hoping you would want to come dress shopping with me and Lydia for the formal.

The single text made me realize exactly when and where Lydia got attacked; at the Winter Formal. I had completely forgotten about it seeing as my mind had been preoccupied with other things. 

Seeing as I didn't have a dress, and I wanted to work things out with my friend, I was now sitting in the parking lot in front of Macy's waiting for the two teenagers to get here. 

Flipping my phone in my hands, I let out a breath as I fiddled with the buttons. Soon, the phone vibrated, causing me to look down. 

Ali-Cat: Hey, we're here. Meet you at the escalators?

Quickly typing out that I would meet them there, I pulled myself out of my car and locked the door. Walking across the pavement, I reached the doors and went inside. 

Finding the girls standing at the bottom of the Macy's escalator, I sped up my pace until I was standing in front of them. 

"Finally, let's go." My sister said in frustration, pulling me onto the moving stairway with her. 

"God, Lyds. It's not like I've been waiting for you." I said snidely, rubbing my arm where she'd yanked me forward. 

"Whatever. Anyways, I was asking Allison what was wrong with her, because she was quiet the whole way here." 

"Nothing's wrong, I just, eh, have a lot on my mind." She responded, stepping on the elevator next to us. 

"You could smile at least. Ever heard the saying, 'never frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile?'" Allison scoffed lightly, looking over the side of the rail. "Smile, Allison. I'm buying you a dress." 

"Have to admit as far as apologies go, that's more than I expected." Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, I went to speak but Lydia beat me to it. 

"Excellent."

"But not as much as I'm gonna ask." She continued, making my brows furrow farther. I tried to speak again but was cut off once more, prompting me to wait until I could talk to Allison alone.

 "What?" Lydia questioned, bewilderment evident in her voice. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, you're going to cancel on whatever dumb, 'roided up jock you said yes to, and go with somebody else," Allison answered, turning to my sister with pursed lips as we stepped off the escalator. 

I looked to the girl with wide eyes, hoping she wasn't going to say what I thought she was going to. "Who?"

"Him," Allison said, turning her head to look at something to the left. 

My breath caught in my throat as I saw Stiles standing there, looking down at a bottle. Like the genius he was, he sprayed the perfume in his face causing him to rapidly sneeze aggressively. 

"Ohh. Don't frown, Lydia. Someone could be falling in love with your smile." At the condescending words that came out of Allison's mouth, I walked around the girls and sped toward the dresses. 

Ignoring Lydia pulling Stiles around, I stuffed my face into fabric; looking through different dresses. 

I looked mainly at blue and red dresses, knowing I looked good in them, but also checked out a couple gold ones. Getting closer, I looked over to her, wondering why on Earth she did that. 

Was she mad at me? Did she think I kissed Scott or had feelings for him? Was she trying to get back at me? 

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye that didn't fit in. Panic raced through me at realizing that it was Peter, and he was talking to Allison. Looking around for my sister, I was relieved to see her on the other side of the store.  

Rushing forward, I caught the tail end of what he was saying, "...not skin that perfect."

"Hey, Allison." I rushed out, looking between her and Peter. "Can I talk to you really quick? It's important." I said, sending her a pointed look. 

"Yeah, of course." She replied, looking slightly uncomfortable and panicked. I nodded behind me and she started walking away. I watched Peter for a moment, glaring at the confident smirk outlining his lips, before I walked away, leading the girl to the other side of the room closer to Lydia. 

When we got there, Allison grabbed my shoulders lightly. "Oh my god, thank you. He was freaking me out."

"Yeah, of course," I told her, shrugging slightly, trying to think of what to ask first. 

"Was that the only reason you came over or did you really want to talk?"

"No, no, I wanted to talk too." I told her, running a hand through my hair as I felt a pang go through my heart. "Why did you have Lydia go to the formal with him? Are-are you mad at me? I mean, if this is about Scott, I didn't kiss him back. You know how I feel about Stiles." I whispered, making sure no one else could hear me.

Allison frowned, looking apologetic. "No, Rae. I'm not mad at you. I already know about all of that." She smiled sweetly. "I know you love Stiles. I'm sorry I made Lydia go with him. I was trying to get back at her for making out with Scott." She told me, making my eyes widen as I looked over at my sister in a new light. 

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded. 

"You really didn't know?" Allison asked, looking surprised. 

"No. No one told me. I mean, I wasn't really talking to Stiles or Scott after that day and I'm not surprised Lydia didn't tell me she made out with my childhood friend." I told her, turning to look at a dress hanging in front of me. 

"Why weren't you talking to Stiles?" She asked curiously. I realized that we hadn't talked in so long, she didn't know what had happened. 

"Oh, yeah. Umm, that night Stiles and I got in a fight over what happened and he wasn't listening to me, so I kind of snapped and told him how I felt. I, uh, ran out of his house and I've been avoiding him since then." I told her sheepishly, a meek grin on my lips. 

Allison looked shocked for a moment as she held the material of a dress in her hand. "Oh my god. Wait, what exactly did he get mad over?"

"He got mad because he thought I made out with Scott and I had a guy friend over for the weekend that he doesn't really like and he was angry about it." I shrugged, looking through the rack for better dresses. 

"So you mean, he got jealous?" She asked, an amused smile playing on her lips. 

I scoffed in response, looking over at her with a dumb look. "Of course not. He was mad because he thought I didn't tell him I had feelings for Scott and he just doesn't like the other guy." I told her, looking away from her glowing eyes. 

"Okay. Whatever you say." She replied sarcastically, looking over with mischief dancing in her eyes. I glared playfully at her, glad we were talking again. 

"I'm sorry, by the way." Allison looked over in confusion, causing me to elaborate. "For everything I said to you that night at the school. What you said wasn't right, but it wasn't right for me to snap at you like that either. You're my friend." I told her, smiling timidly over the abundance of material. 

She simply looked back at me with a brilliant smile of her own. "All is forgiven. I think I kind of deserved it, anyway." 

We both nodded a little at each other and went back to searching for dresses. A couple minutes later, I realized I hadn't been able to see how she was doing since she and Scott broke up. 

"Hey, Ali." Waiting for her to turn around, I finished. "How are you doing? I know you broke things off with Scott." 

Allison looked down with a glum look on her face before looking up with a wide, close-lipped smile and misty eyes. "I'm alright. I, uh, I think that everything will work out how it's supposed to, you know?"

I nodded, understanding what she meant. "Well, I just want you to know that I still mean what I said that night. In softer terms." I chuckled earnestly. "Everything he did that night was to protect you. And he always will." I said softly, smiling over at her. 

"Yeah, I've kinda come to realize that," Allison responded, nodding with her lips set in a line. "There's just a lot going on and I don't know if I'm ready for any of that yet." She nodded a couple times, kind of rapidly before looking at me with a tiny, grim smile. 

"I understand. Come on, let's go over here." I told her, pulling her over to where I noticed some nicer dresses. Casually, I swept the room and let out a sigh of relief at seeing no Peter. 

For the next hour or so, we all searched high and low in Macy's for the perfect dresses. So far I'd found three, having put back dozens more. Walking around a rack, I backtracked when I saw a tiny black and orange number. It was a bit tighter than I would like if I needed to run, but it looked like the bottom fringe would make that easier than it looked. 

Turning to Allison, I held up the dress so she could see. "What do you think?" I asked her. 

"It would really compliment your hair." She told me, nodding her head as she ran her hands along the fabric of a dress she was holding. 

Looking back at it, I nodded my head in agreement before putting it on my arm. 

Eventually, we made our way back to where Allison and I had been at the beginning of the afternoon and started going through dresses. Picking up a silver gown, I turned around and looked down at the dress and back to the girl in front of me. 

Walking over, I stuck the material next to her arm causing her to look over. Seeing that it complimented her skin tone, I stuck it up in front of her. Smiling, I handed it to her. "You should try that on. I would probably look really nice." 

Allison nodded and slung the dress over her arm where another few choices resided. Lingering back over to the rack I'd been at, I started checking out the one beside it. A little blue number caught my eye and I snagged it up, holding it up in front of me. It was beautiful, and it was my size. Not to mention, it was on clearance.

Slinging it over my arm with the other dresses, I kept looking through the rack. I found one more dress that I liked, tossing it on top of the others before going to move on.

"Oh my god, Rae. Come look at this." Walking over, I found Allison holding up a gorgeous, red, sleeveless gown with a slit up the leg. "This is your size, right?" Nodding wordlessly, I looked it over once more. Normally, I wouldn't go with a long skirt but this dress was gorgeous. Not to mention, it would be very easy to move in.

Carefully putting it with the others, I pointed towards the dressing rooms my sister was currently in. "Hey, do you wanna go try on what we have?" I asked her, looking over curiously. 

Allison nodded, taking the lead as she was closer. Walking through the entryway, I tried to ignore that I would be half-naked near Stiles once again, even if it was behind a closed door. 

Walking past him and into a dressing room, I hid the blush burning my cheeks.

Locking the door behind me, I turned around and huffed as I hung the dresses up. Sliding out of the clothes I'd worn here, I was glad that I was smart enough to have changed into a strapless bra. 

Grabbing the first dress, I looked it up and down. It was another little blue dress. I didn't like it quite as much as some of the others, but I decided to try it on anyway. 

Sliding it up my legs, I zipped up the back on my own and smoothed it down before looking in the mirror. 

Deciding it looked alright, but wasn't really what I was looking for, I took it off without even showing anyone and hung it up somewhere else. 

Next, I grabbed the orange piece I'd found a while ago. Sidling it up my legs, I was happy to feel that it was very breathable and moveable. Tossing my hair over my shoulder, I unlocked the stall and walked out. Nerves shot through me as Stiles' head snapped over when he heard me. I saw his mouth fall open slightly before I walked over to Lydia's stall, knocking. "One second, I'm almost done." 

Waiting, I leaned against the stall until I heard the door unlock, sitting up. Lydia walked out in a pretty purply number than complimented her curves. "That's nice, Lydia. I really like it."

"Yeah?" She asked, twirling around as she looked at herself. "I think it kind of clashes with my skin tone." 

Bobbing my head, I nodded a bit. "Yeah, maybe a little."

Humphing, she stopped moving and looked over to me. Grabbing me by the shoulders, she pulled some of my hair forward and looked at me. "Oh, that's gorgeous, Rae," Lydia told me, looking me over as she spun me around. "Hurry, go try on more." 

With that, an excited looking Lydia spun back into her dressing room as I laughed. Walking back to my own, I took off the dress once I was inside and hung it up by itself. 

I tried on two more dresses after that, putting them both with the first blue dress I tried on. They just weren't what I wanted. 

Grabbing the next gown, I pulled it off its hanger and pulled it on, smoothing the silky material out.

Opening the stall door, I walked out once more and bumped into Allison. She was ironically wearing the dress I had given her to try on, and I thought she looked amazing. "Oh, wow. See, I told you it would look good."

Allison nodded as she looked down, twirling it around as she smiled. "Yeah. I'm not even going to try on my last dress. This one's definitely nicer." Looking up, she looked me up and down before shaking her head with a grimace. "That's a really nice dress, but it kind of says 'funeral' more than 'high school formal.'" She told me, laughing lightly. 

Laughing along with her, I looked down and nodded at her assessment. "Yeah, actually. You're right. Thank you." I told her, smiling before going back to the room. 

Taking off the dress, I put it back on its hanger and let it join its friends of beautiful rejects. 

The next dress I tried on was the red number Allison had found. The material glided on my skin when I pulled it on, making me shiver. Sliding it into place, I zipped up the back and adjusted the dress at my chest. 

Pleasantly surprised by the snug and comfortable fit, I tied the ribbon on the waist of the dress and picked up the piece of material falling from my chest. Wrapping it around my neck, I threw the excess over my right shoulder and turned to look at the back. 

The dress looked elegant and sexy and was incredibly comfortable. Moving from side to side and lifting my legs, I realized it was the most moveable and covering dress I'd grabbed. 

I followed Allison's sentiment of not even trying on my last dress. 

It was beautiful, but after pulling on this dress I couldn't even think of putting on another. Unlocking the door, I walked out to face Lydia, Allison, and Stiles seeing as I was the only one left. 

"Oh, wow." A voice spoke airily, causing me to look up. Stiles was looking me over with his jaw dropped, his eyes wide and dark. I squirmed slightly under his gaze, blushing as I looked over at the girls. 

Allison was smirking, amusement dancing in her eyes as she looked between the two of us. Lydia, on the other hand, was looking at me critically, her fingers raised in front of her mouth. 

Finally, she pointed towards me with slightly squinted eyes. "If you don't buy that dress, I might actually kill you." She told me seriously, looking me in the eyes. "And I would really hate to have to kill my sister."

Letting out a quick laugh, I nodded my head. Smiling, I twirled around, absolutely loving the way the material moved. 

Walking back in the room, I carefully removed the dress while shouting over the door at Allison. "I think it's funny that we found each other's dresses."

I heard her chuckling before she responded. "I guess that means we have to help each other get ready."

I chuckled before finishing up in the room, pulling on my regular clothes. Slipping my jacket on, I grabbed the beautiful dress and walked out to the waiting teenagers. "Alright, let's go."

Starting out to the counter, I stayed at the back with Allison as Stiles and Lydia raced ahead of us. 

"So.." Allison trailed off, nudging me with her shoulder.

"What?" I asked her, brow furrowing as I looked over at her. 

"What do you mean, what? Did you not see the way he looked at you?" She practically squealed in excitement, bouncing up and down. 

"Oh, come on. He's a teenage boy deprived of energy from Lydia pulling him around all day and I'm hot. It doesn't mean anything." Allison scoffed as she walked ahead of me, looking back over her shoulder.

"Seriously, one of these days you're just going to have to admit that he's into you and kiss already." Shushing her rapidly, I glanced ahead to make sure no one heard her. 

"Shut up," I growled under my breath, looking at her pointedly as we walked to the cash register. 

We all paid and left the store, heading outside. Allison and I made plans to go over to her house later, and Lydia dragged Stiles away to find him a matching tie. 

The two of us walked through the mall, spotting a nice shoe store to find good fits for our new dresses. 

Trekking in, my eyes immediately found a pair of black pumps and I grabbed them. Pulling off my shoes, I tugged them on my feet and thought about the dress I'd picked. I decided to carry them with me while I kept searching. 

Finding a pair of red platforms, I passed them by. I didn't want my dress and shoes to be the same color. I looked at them longingly as I passed, through. I would definitely be coming back for them at some point.

Continuing passed the shoes, a gold strappy pair caught my eye. Walking over, I picked them up and sat down. Pulling them on, I vaguely thought they would look perfect with my dress choice.

Carrying both pairs in my hands, I walked over to Allison to ask her what she thought. "I don't know Rae. They're both really nice."

"Well, you're no help." I huffed, sitting down in front of her. 

Looking back at the two pairs of shoes I had, I weighed the pros and cons. 

Pros of black ones: they were sleek, easy to get off, and sexy. 

Pros of the gold ones: they were gorgeous and pulled off the whole look, also sexy.

Cons of the black ones: they were taller; which didn't help with needing to run, and they didn't give me as good a feeling as the gold ones did. 

Cons of gold ones: they would be harder to get off. 

Looking back and forth between them, I sighed as I got up and carried the black shoes back to where I found them. 

On the way back, I grabbed the red shoes I'd passed by earlier, deciding to buy them for myself. Getting back to Allison, I noticed she'd picked a pair while I was gone and we both went up to pay. 

Leaving the shop, I turned to her as I adjusted the bags on my elbow. "Do you have everything?" I questioned her as she turned to look at me. 

"Umm..I think I'm gonna go look through some jewelry. See if anything pops out, you know?" 

Nodding, I pointed towards the exit. "Well, I'm gonna head out. I have everything and I want to take a shower before we get ready."

Allison nodded at me with a smile, pulling me in for a hug. "Alright, drive safe. I'll see you later."

"I will. Tell Lydia I love her." 

With that, I turned around and walked down the people filled hallway until I reached a door. Pushing it open, I made it outside and started the trek to my car. 

Getting in, I carefully set my bags in the passenger seat before starting it up. Pulling out of the parking lot, I sped down the roads until I finally reached home. I pushed away any negative thoughts and just focused on the exciting parts of the night lying ahead. 

Running in the house, I locked the door behind me and took off up the stairs. 

Depositing my goods on the bed, I went directly to the bathroom and turned on the shower. 

Stripping, I turned on music and got under the warm water, sighing in content. Putting shampoo in my hair, I quickly shaved my arms and rinsed it out. 

Conditioner slathered on my strands of hair, I shaved my legs next before repeating the process. Washing my face and body, I was soon done and took a moment to just enjoy the hot water cascading over me. 

Stepping away, I turned off the water and wrapped myself in a towel, getting out. I dried off quickly before pulling my robe on, grabbing my phone while walking back into the bedroom. Sitting at my vanity, I opened my jewelry box and was glad to automatically spot the beautiful, matching bracelet and earrings sitting within. 

Pulling them out, I set them aside. Next, I snagged up one of my nice hairpins and added that to the jewelry. 

Opening the drawers of my vanity, I pulled out the proper cover-up, foundation, blush, eyeliner, mascara, lipstick, and my dark eyeshadow pallet. Setting it all together, I sat up and walked back to my closet. 

Grabbing a pair of sweats and a cropped sweater, I snagged a pair of underwear and pulled them on. Walking to the bathroom, I dropped my robe and snapped my bra back on, sliding my new clothes on. 

Stepping up to the counter, I quickly dried my hair and brushed it out until it was smooth and detangled. 

Going back to my room, I found my flats and pulled them on my feet. Striding over to my bed, I pulled my red heels out of their bag and replaced them with my makeup and jewelry. Grabbing my phone, I waltzed back over and put the bag in with my shoes. Letting out a breath, I looked around the room, trying to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything.

Allison had a curling iron and hair ties. I had my clothes, shoes, and makeup along with my jewelry. Yep, I had everything. 

Grabbing my black trench coat from the door, I slung it over my shoulders and grabbed my bags while slipping my phone in my pocket. Picking up my keys, I made my way downstairs and left the house once again, getting in my car. 

Driving across town, I made it to Allison's house in record time and knocked on the door.

The door quickly opened, revealing a slightly excited Allison on the other side smiling at me. "Come in, come in. 

Following her orders, I came inside and we both walked up the stairs to her room. Entering, she pointed at her desk, a lit-up mirror standing there. "Okay, I am going to be in the bathroom doing my hair. You can use that if you want." 

Nodding my head, I walked up to the seat and sat down, putting my bags on the floor next to me. Pulling out my makeup bag, I set it on the table. 

Pulling out my coverup, I swiped it under my eyes and dragged it over my cheekbones. Rubbing it in, I wasted no time in blending foundation onto my face, making sure it blended out and onto my neck. 

Next, I pulled out my eyeshadow palette and just did what felt natural. Grabbing my liquid eyeliner, I lined my upper lid and then my waterline with a pencil. Curling my eyelashes with Allison's curler, I applied mascara making my eyes appear fuller. 

Carefully dusting on blush, I quickly put it away and finished off my makeup with a bold red lipstick. Happy that I'd already ironically painted my fingernails dark red the day prior, I put everything away as Allison walked out of the bathroom. 

"Oh, wow. Rae, you look beautiful." She gushed, raising her hands to her face. 

Looking over, I realized she also looked very nice; her hair twisted into an elegant ponytail. "So do you." Smiling, I got up and began heading towards the bathroom. "Nice timing." 

Disappearing around the corner, I grabbed the curling iron and plugged it in. Pulling my hair up and sectioning it off, I grabbed a hairbrush and the bobby pins still sitting on the counter. 

The next thirty minutes was spent making sure my hair was curled just right. 

The twenty minutes after that were spent making sure it was pinned correctly. 

When I was finished, I walked into the room seeing Allison in her full getup adding finishing touches. "Oh, wow. You look amazing," I told her honestly, nodding approvingly at the shoes I hadn't gotten to see earlier. 

"I'm sure you will too." Nodding, I grabbed my dress and shoes and carried them into the bathroom with my jewelry. Quickly changing, I made sure everything was laying perfectly and fixed my hair before walking out. 

Allison put her hands over her mouth when I came in, walking closer as I smiled timidly. When I reached her, she giggled a little and moved her hand. "You look hot." She said plainly, messing with one of my curls. "You're definitely gonna turn heads tonight."

Biting my lip, I smiled as I turned around to grab my phone, sliding it into the pocket garter fastened around my thigh. There was a knife already slid into one of the other sides, just in case. 

Hearing the doorbell ring, I turned to look at Allison. "Looks like your date is here." I told her, trying to sound like I didn't want to kill who was on the other side of the door. 

Allison inhaled, nodding as she made her way to the door. "Let's go." 

Following her, I paused when Allison's aunt Kate walked into the room. She gave me the chills. 

"Hi, girls. Don't you both look ravishing." She smiled, slightly resembling a wild animal. She looked both of us over and nodded in approval. Seeming to think of something, she turned back and looked over my ensemble once more, narrowing her eyes. "Red." She mumbled under her breath. 

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Have fun tonight girls." Looking at us like she knew something we didn't, the woman walked away. 

Allison shrugged when I looked at her and opened the door revealing Jackson. 

"Ladies." He greeted, tilting his head forward. "Come on, I want to get this over with." 

With that rude line, we followed him outside. Walking passed Jackson's Porsche, I waved goodbye as I got in my own car and drove off to Scott's. 

Scott wasn't supposed to be going to the dance, but he still was. My only other date was gay and sadly taken for the night, so Scott and I decided to go together. 

Getting there quickly, I carefully got out of the car and walked up to the McCall's door. Walking in, I knocked on the wall as I entered. "Hey, I'm here. Are you ready?" 

A rushing Scott suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. "One sec, hold on."

With that, he ran back to his room before coming back. Walking down the steps, he handed me a box. "Stiles told me you went with red so I got you a rose." Scott looked down with a dopey grin as I opened up the box, seeing a lovely wrist corsage. "My mom made it."

I looked up at him with a smile, giving him a light hug. "I love it."

Pulling back, we were interrupted by Mama McCall rushing down the stairs. "Wait, wait! Let me take pictures!" 

Scott groaned as I laughed and we both went to stand in a nicer spot. Melissa pulled out a camera as we stood in different places and posed for her. After about five minutes, she got her fill, waving at us to go before she didn't let us leave. 

With kisses on the cheek goodbye for both of us, we exited the house and made our way to the school. 

Inhaling, I hoped that we could all take whatever tonight threw at us.